The SofaBaton X2 is the distant I have been on the lookout 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 typically had to make use of a mixture of all three to get to the place I needed 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 change between gadgets I management, and it’s totally intuitive when you get all of it arrange. I will not lie — there have been some bumps within the street. The setup course of was way more troublesome and longer than I would hoped. Nevertheless, as soon as I acquired previous all that, the end result was greater than price it. I can lastly put away my further remotes.

Credit score: SofaBaton/Amazon

4.5/5

Model

SofaBaton

Integrations

IR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi

Battery

USB-C

Built-in Display

Sure

Professionals & Cons

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

• Lengthy setup course of
• Heavy
• No voice controls

Value, specs, and availability

Let me get this out of the best way instantly — the SofaBaton X2 just 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 fanatics, however I would argue that is what it is designed for. There’s little to no cause 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 without delay, and it is priced as such.

What I like concerning the SofaBaton X2 distant

It makes all the pieces simpler

The SofaBaton X2 appears like a top quality distant, and it is a large step up from the likes of the Roku or Fireplace TV remotes. In fact, on the value, that is to be anticipated. The X2 has a contact display that makes navigation very straightforward, and you’ll simply change between your linked gadgets relying on what you need 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 any respect.

Since there’s a big contact display, I figured battery life could be a problem, however it 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 possibly can use the docking station that is akin to an previous landline cellphone. Each work, and if you would like, you possibly can merely dock your distant every day to make sure you’re all the time at a full cost.

You may as well arrange actions on the distant that make a wide range of steps occur with a single button press. I’ve only one in the meanwhile, however what it does is activate my Apple TV 4K, my receiver, and my TV all on the identical time. On prime of that, it switches my TV’s enter to HDMI 3, so I am up and operating with all my gadgets in a number of seconds. It is a good characteristic that saves quite a lot of time and sofa house, since I can do away with further remotes.

There are many further buttons on the distant you possibly can map to capabilities, so you possibly can completely remove the necessity for one more distant if you happen to’re affected person sufficient to remap all the pieces. In case you’re lazy, you possibly can simply use the contact display and undergo menus to do the identical factor. Each choices work simply positive. 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 positive 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 concerning the SofaBaton X2 distant

Lots of minor issues

There’s nothing that is flat out a deal breaker for me, however there are a number of smaller issues with my X2 distant that I feel are price mentioning. The very first thing I observed was that this distant is way heavier than something I’ve used earlier than. It is not an enormous deal, however it’s one thing I really feel each time I decide it up.

One thing I love to do quite a bit with my Apple TV distant is use the voice controls, particularly after I’m looking for one thing particular on YouTube. The SofaBaton X2 does not have a built-in mic for voice controls, so I’ve to kind all the pieces in myself. That is truly a second the place the Fireplace TV’s Alexa hands-free voice controls turn out to be useful. What this implies I must hold my Apple TV distant useful for these moments. You may get round this by having a Google Residence or Alexa gadget close by that is synced to your distant, however sadly, I do not.

Finally, the most important downside 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 acquired to make use of it. You do many of the setup by means of the app, and the distant did include a set of directions that had been straightforward to comply with, however it 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 a protracted day forward of them.

Do you have to purchase the SofaBaton X2 distant?

In case you can afford to, then certain

I’ve by no means used a common distant earlier than I acquired my palms on the X2, and now I can not think about a world the place I will not use one. It is so good to regulate all the pieces with one distant, and it means I can put my legs up on my ottoman as an alternative of additional remotes. Positive, 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 finished it. Now that I understand how seamless it makes all the pieces, I feel I would splurge. I can not deny that every one the issues it does make my viewing expertise a lot better, however it’s straightforward to consider higher methods to spend $360. This distant is geared towards individuals who need to take their house theater expertise to the following stage, and anybody who has dumped lots of and even hundreds of {dollars} into their setups will not balk on the excessive price ticket.

The value you pay is for comfort, and the SofaBaton X2 provides you quite a lot of it. Is it $360 price it? I feel that’ll boil down to private desire. In case you’re on the lookout for a alternative in 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 in the marketplace.

4.5/5

Model

SofaBaton

Integrations

IR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi

Battery

USB-C

Built-in Display

Sure