The SofaBaton X2 is the distant I have been searching for my complete life

Ever since I added a receiver and Apple TV 4K to my front room, I have been cursed with having too many remotes. I’ve my receiver’s distant, my TV’s distant, and my Apple TV’s distant. It was a jumbled mess of issues, and I usually had to make use of a mixture of all three to get to the place I wished to go. For a very long time, I simply put up with it, however that is all modified with the SofaBaton X2.

Common remotes have been round for a few years, however I do not assume I’ve ever seen one fairly like this. For starters, the SofaBaton X2 has a contact display on it that lets me simply swap between gadgets I management, and it’s extremely intuitive when you get all of it arrange. I will not lie — there have been some bumps within the highway. The setup course of was far more troublesome and longer than I would hoped. Nevertheless, as soon as I bought previous all that, the end result was greater than value it. I can lastly put away my additional remotes.

Credit score: SofaBaton/Amazon

4.5/5

Model

SofaBaton

Integrations

IR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi

Battery

USB-C

Built-in Display

Sure

Execs & Cons

• Good high quality
• Connects to many gadgets
• Contact display
• Lengthy battery life
• A number of customization

• Lengthy setup course of
• Heavy
• No voice controls

Value, specs, and availability

Let me get this out of the way in which immediately — the SofaBaton X2 isn’t an inexpensive distant. You should purchase the distant from SofaBaton directly or on Amazon, however the value is $360 irrespective of the place you are shopping for from, barring any gross sales. With a value that rivals a price range TV, that is definitely one thing for lovers, however I would argue that is what it is designed for. There’s little to no motive for anyone to choose this distant up simply to make use of it with a single TV and no exterior gadgets. That is one thing meant to regulate many gadgets directly, and it is priced as such.

What I like in regards to the SofaBaton X2 distant

It makes every part simpler

The SofaBaton X2 looks like a top quality distant, and it is a massive step up from the likes of the Roku or Hearth TV remotes. In fact, on the value, that is to be anticipated. The X2 has a contact display that makes navigation very simple, and you’ll simply swap between your linked gadgets relying on what you wish to management. I’ve my Apple TV 4K, my TV, and my receiver all linked to the distant, and I haven’t got any points in anyway.

Since there’s a big contact display, I figured battery life could be a problem, but it surely hasn’t been in any respect. I arrange my distant about two weeks in the past on the time of this writing and nonetheless have not needed to cost it. Talking of charging, you possibly can cost your SofaBaton X2 with a USB-C cable, or you could possibly use the docking station that is akin to an previous landline cellphone. Each work, and if you would like, you could possibly merely dock your distant every day to make sure you’re all the time at a full cost.

It’s also possible to arrange actions on the distant that make quite a lot of steps occur with a single button press. I’ve only one in the intervening time, however what it does is activate my Apple TV 4K, my receiver, and my TV all on the similar time. On high of that, it switches my TV’s enter to HDMI 3, so I am up and operating with all my gadgets in a couple of seconds. It is a good characteristic that saves a number of time and sofa area, since I can eliminate additional remotes.

There are many additional buttons on the distant you possibly can map to features, so you possibly can completely eradicate the necessity for an additional distant when you’re affected person sufficient to remap every part. When you’re lazy, you possibly can simply use the contact display and undergo menus to do the identical factor. Each choices work simply wonderful. If vary is an issue, you possibly can snag the R1 vary extender, however I have not had a necessity for that. The common receiver works simply wonderful for me, and its small form-factor design is not practically as distracting as the larger ball of the R1 is.

What I do not like in regards to the SofaBaton X2 distant

Plenty of minor issues

There’s nothing that is flat out a deal breaker for me, however there are a couple of smaller issues with my X2 distant that I feel are value mentioning. The very first thing I seen was that this distant is way heavier than something I’ve used earlier than. It isn’t an enormous deal, but it surely’s one thing I really feel each time I choose it up.

One thing I love to do so much with my Apple TV distant is use the voice controls, particularly once I’m trying to find one thing particular on YouTube. The SofaBaton X2 does not have a built-in mic for voice controls, so I’ve to sort every part in myself. That is really a second the place the Hearth TV’s Alexa hands-free voice controls come in useful. What this implies I have to hold my Apple TV distant helpful for these moments. You will get round this by having a Google Dwelling or Alexa gadget close by that is synced to your distant, however sadly, I do not.

In the end, the largest drawback I bumped into was the preliminary setup. That is removed from a plug-and-play choice, and I needed to undergo a firmware replace with the distant earlier than I bought to make use of it. You do many of the setup by the app, and the distant did include a set of directions that have been simple to observe, but it surely was time-consuming. It’s a must to do a check of all of the gadgets you are connecting to ensure the distant controls them, and it wasn’t that prolonged for me since I solely had three, however I think about anyone connecting many gadgets would have an extended day forward of them.

Do you have to purchase the SofaBaton X2 distant?

When you can afford to, then certain

I’ve by no means used a common distant earlier than I bought my fingers on the X2, and now I am unable to think about a world the place I will not use one. It is so good to regulate every part with one distant, and it means I can put my legs up on my ottoman as a substitute of additional remotes. Certain, issues like voice controls are lacking, however I feel it is a worthy tradeoff.

Value is what this all boils right down to for a lot of. If I needed to spend my very own cash on this distant with out testing it first, I doubt I’d’ve performed it. Now that I understand how seamless it makes every part, I feel I would splurge. I am unable to deny that every one the issues it does make my viewing expertise significantly better, but it surely’s simple to consider higher methods to spend $360. This distant is geared towards individuals who wish to take their house theater expertise to the subsequent degree, and anybody who has dumped a whole lot and even 1000’s of {dollars} into their setups will not balk on the excessive price ticket.

The worth you pay is for comfort, and the SofaBaton X2 provides you a number of it. Is it $360 value it? I feel that’ll boil down to private desire. When you’re searching for a substitute on your Logitech Harmony, for instance, then yeah, I would say this delivers. I’ve by no means tried out that distant myself, and I do know many individuals have a look at it fondly, however contemplating Logitech has dropped help for the distant, the SofaBaton X2 has taken the throne as the present king available on the market.

4.5/5

Model

SofaBaton

Integrations

IR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi

Battery

USB-C

Built-in Display

Sure