I've had the X1 for a few weeks now and wanted to share my thoughts. I read a lot of reviews and my expectations were reasonably low based on what I read. I currently have a Harmony ultimate one and it serves my needs mostly, but would change a few things if I could. My needs are not too complicated, but I have a few things I need it to do properly for it to be a keeper.
Here's my experience. Right off the bat, I want to say I do not have anything connected via Bluetooth. If you're looking for a review on that, you can stop here.
My devices
- Yamaha Aventage receiver (sadly, my Integra beast died a painful death)
- Panasonic plasma TV (Yes, I still love my plasma)
- Panasonic UHD blu-ray player
- Roku ultra
- I use the Yamaha receiver to do my HDMI switching. All devices above flow through it
- I only use HDMI 1 on my TV and it comes in from the receiver so I have no need for HDMI switching here. All it needs is power on/power off (easy peasy)
What do I watch
- Live TV via YouTube TV streaming via Roku
- Movies via BD player
- Various streaming services via Roku
Setting up the remote
- The remote uses 2.4g networks only. I have a mesh that will pick 2.4g or 5g based on whatever it thinks is best at the time and location. I read a review where someone had an issue with that. Fortunately, I had already set up a 2.4g guest network (and 5g guest) on my mesh, so I connect the X1 to the 2.4g guest network, and when I need to configure the remote, I connect my phone (or tablet) to the same 2.4g guest network. This worked flawlessly.
- I set up the devices above
- The Yamaha receiver was found using the model number.
- I set the power command to separate power on and off
- The TV was not found using the model number. No surprise here since it's an old plasma TV. I rolled through the codes to turn on the TV and found it right away.
- I set the power command to "Only a power"
- Strangely, the UHD BD player model wasn't found either, so I rolled through the codes to turn on the player and it found that right away also. No issues there. The X1 did a good job of setting it up even though it didn't have the model number in their library
- The only change to the default setting were:
- I set Green to Play. This is different from pause/play
- I set Blue to Stop. There is no dedicated stop button on the remote
- The only change to the default setting were:
- I set the Roku up wi-fi and that worked well also. This was a bonus I wanted since the Harmony doesn't have that option
Setting up activities
- Movie
- Uses the Receiver, TV, and BD player
- Startup settings
- Power on receiver, TV, and BD player
- Switches to HDMI 1 (BD Player) on power on
- TV - set to do not switch
- BD player - set to do not switch
- Shutdown settings
- shut down receiver, TV, and BD player
- Changes to default button settings:
- I set the double left button long press to previous (Go to previous chapter)
- I set the double right button long press to next (Go to next chapter)
- YouTube TV
- Uses the receiver, TV, and Roku
- Startup Settings
- power on the receiver, TV, and Roku
- Switches to HDMI 2 (Roku Ultra) on power on
- TV - set to do not switch
- Roku Ultra - set to do not switch
- Starts YouTube TV on the Roku on power on
- Shutdown settings
- Shut down receiver, TV, and Roku (it really doesn't)
- Send the home press to Roku. This is done so the Roku doesn't stay on YTTV, using one of my available streams
- I have separate activities for Roku Amazon, Netflix, Disney+, Max, etc.
- Uses the receiver, TV, and Roku
- Startup Settings
- power on the receiver, TV, and Roku
- Switches to HDMI 2 (Roku Ultra) on power on
- TV - set to do not switch
- Roku Ultra - set to do not switch
- Starts app of choice on the Roku on power on
- Shutdown settings
- Shut down receiver, TV, and Roku (it really doesn't)
- Send the home press to Roku. This is done so the Roku doesn't stay on the app, using one of my available streams.
After setting all this up and testing it, I noticed I had an issue where the TV would turn off when I switched activities from YTTV (or whatever) to Movie and visa versa. That was annoying. After doing some research, I found some talk about turning off CEC, eARC, and Viera Link on the TV. I found Viera Link was turned on, so I turned it off and, pure magic, it fixed the issue.
I've been using the remote for a few weeks now with little to no issues. I find it easier to use than the Harmony, which after reading many reviews, I didn't expect. The touchscreen on the Harmony is pretty, but it brushes up against stuff and messes things up. It's also easy to touch the wrong thing. I also don't like where the play/pause forward/backward buttons are on the Harmony. They are too high on the romote for me.
The SofaBaton X1 feels better in my hand. The size and weight just feel better to me, but that can be subjective. The X1 scroll wheel is not as pretty as the Harmony touchscreen, but I find it easier to use and more functional. It's just so easy to scroll to the activity you want and press down on the wheel. I also like where the play/pause and forward/backward buttons are. It feels more natural to me.
I do, on occasion, have an issue where it may miss a button press. For example, when I'm on YTTV and using the down button multiple times quickly, it might miss a press and not scroll down on the Roku the number of times I pressed. I have this happen occasionally using the Roku remote also, so there's that too. Also, it seems like there may be times where pressing mute quickly twice (who does this anyway, except when testing the remote) may not catch both presses. These issues really aren't a big deal (at all) to me. I guess, don't press the button three times per second too often and it's not an issue. The fact that it reacts just as fast as the device's remotes and even faster then the Harmony is a bonus. On the Harmony, the Roku was so delayed I stopped using the Harmony for Roku (keep in mind, it wasn't wi-fi. It was using IR which may have contributed to the issue). The X1 reacts just as fast as the Roku remote and that's a bonus.
If I could change a few things, they would the these... I would backlight the left, right, up, and down buttons. Because they are easy to find by touch (because of the shape), it's only for cosmetic reasons and not really for functional reasons. Also, I'd probably consider making the scroll wheel some sort of metal (think Logitech MX 3 mouse scroll wheel). Again, it's not to make it more functional. It's to make it feel more premium. The scroll wheel still feels really good. Next, I'd make the remote 2.4g and 5g compatible. Since I had already set up 2.4g guest networks on my mesh, it wasn't a big deal for me, but I can see why others might have issues. And finally, I might make the backlight come on when the remote is moved. Right now, the backlight only comes on when a button is pushed. That's probably done to save battery life, but I'm not sure it's worth the tradeoff. To get around it, I just use the scroll wheel and scroll once. That lights things up, so no big deal.
Finally, for you Android users, I just upgraded to Android 14, and as I type this, I found out that the SofaBaton app does not work on Android 14 (as of today). That's kind of a big deal I hope they fix soon. Fortunately, I have a tablet still on 13, so I can still use that for the app. Just be forewarned. I would hope they will resolve this quickly.
