u/vantuckymyfoot

So, I've had a Harmony Elite remote for several years. Like the experience of many folks on the Logitech forum, the Harmony had always been sort of buggy, occasionally refusing to work for no apparent reason. So, when I learned that Logitech was abandoning the Harmony, I began to research alternatives. Sofabaton kept on coming up, and seemed like a good successor.

My wife got me the X1S for my birthday. Over the course of a very long day, I came to a stunning conclusion: the "magic remote" that came with my 2024 LG TV would do everything I possibly needed.

This came as a surprise because I'd effectively written off any remote that came with a device, believing a universal remote (first, various iterations of the Harmony and now the X1S) would be the best solution.

And it all happened by accident.

I made a separate post on this forum a few hours ago regarding this weird password screen I'd never seen before. A kind Redditor explained that this was actually a hidden service menu on my LG TV that I'd never seen (this is my second LG TV, and I never saw it on that one, either). Somehow, the Sofabaton remote caused this password screen to pop up at weird times, and the only way I could find to dismiss it was by using the LG remote. When I entered the magic password, I got an entire screen of stats, and then the TV completely reset. Well, crap.

Frustrated, I began using the LG Magic Remote to set up the TV and my whole system, and everything just...worked, making the new X1S superfluous. So I'm pretty sure I'm sending it back.

So, why did I label this post "disappointed"? Well, there were a few things that struck me as odd about the Sofabaton. In no particular order:

1. the display screen on the remote was in Chinese, Japanese and Korean, with no readily easy way to switch it to English. I followed a couple different sets of instructions I found online to change the language (usually involving changing the language on the app to something else then back to English and syncing the remote). It never worked. What I ended up doing, which, while I kind of impressed myself that it worked, I still found unacceptable. I ended up using Google Translate on my phone and aimed the camera at the remote screen, with "detect language" selected. I then was able to get into the settings and change the remote to English. I mean, it was kind of cool to be able to do that, but it also seemed pretty dumb that I had to, given what the remote cost.

2. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the X1S to recognize my Sony Blu-Ray player. The database had two entries for the unit I own (a relatively new piece, maybe two years old, so it's not like it was an old unit or something).

3. The app itself seems a little spare with some funky turns of phrase here and there, but the fact that it appears that the app does everything the remote does, it begs the question: why do I even need the remote? I guess I was expecting more of the Harmony Elite experience on the X1S.

So, that's basically the scoop. Unless anyone can tell me why I should keep it and use it rather than use the Magic Remote that came with my LG TV, I'll be returning it to Amazon shortly.

So, I've had a Harmony Elite remote for several years. Like the experience of many folks on the Logitech forum, the Harmony had always been sort of buggy, occasionally refusing to work for no apparent reason. So, when I learned that Logitech was abandoning the Harmony, I began to research alternatives. Sofabaton kept on coming up, and seemed like a good successor.

My wife got me the X1S for my birthday. Over the course of a very long day, I came to a stunning conclusion: the "magic remote" that came with my 2024 LG TV would do everything I possibly needed.

This came as a surprise because I'd effectively written off any remote that came with a device, believing a universal remote (first, various iterations of the Harmony and now the X1S) would be the best solution.

And it all happened by accident.

I made a separate post on this forum a few hours ago regarding this weird password screen I'd never seen before. A kind Redditor explained that this was actually a hidden service menu on my LG TV that I'd never seen (this is my second LG TV, and I never saw it on that one, either). Somehow, the Sofabaton remote caused this password screen to pop up at weird times, and the only way I could find to dismiss it was by using the LG remote. When I entered the magic password, I got an entire screen of stats, and then the TV completely reset. Well, crap.

Frustrated, I began using the LG Magic Remote to set up the TV and my whole system, and everything just...worked, making the new X1S superfluous. So I'm pretty sure I'm sending it back.

So, why did I label this post "disappointed"? Well, there were a few things that struck me as odd about the Sofabaton. In no particular order:

1. the display screen on the remote was in Chinese, Japanese and Korean, with no readily easy way to switch it to English. I followed a couple different sets of instructions I found online to change the language (usually involving changing the language on the app to something else then back to English and syncing the remote). It never worked. What I ended up doing, which, while I kind of impressed myself that it worked, I still found unacceptable. I ended up using Google Translate on my phone and aimed the camera at the remote screen, with "detect language" selected. I then was able to get into the settings and change the remote to English. I mean, it was kind of cool to be able to do that, but it also seemed pretty dumb that I had to, given what the remote cost.

2. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the X1S to recognize my Sony Blu-Ray player. The database had two entries for the unit I own (a relatively new piece, maybe two years old, so it's not like it was an old unit or something).

3. The app itself seems a little spare with some funky turns of phrase here and there, but the fact that it appears that the app does everything the remote does, it begs the question: why do I even need the remote? I guess I was expecting more of the Harmony Elite experience on the X1S.

So, that's basically the scoop. Unless anyone can tell me why I should keep it and use it rather than use the Magic Remote that came with my LG TV, I'll be returning it to Amazon shortly.