Ever since I added a receiver and Apple TV 4K to my living room, I’ve been cursed with having too many remotes. I have my receiver’s remote, my TV’s remote, and my Apple TV’s remote. It was a jumbled mess of things, and I often had to use a combination of all three to get to where I wanted to go. For a long time, I just put up with it, but that’s all changed with the SofaBaton X2.
Universal remotes have been around for many years, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one quite like this. For starters, the SofaBaton X2 has a touch screen on it that lets me easily switch between devices I control, and it’s very intuitive once you get it all set up. I won’t lie — there were some bumps in the road. The setup process was much more difficult and longer than I’d hoped. However, once I got past all that, the result was more than worth it. I can finally put away my extra remotes.
4.5/5
- Brand
-
SofaBaton
- Integrations
-
IR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- Battery
-
USB-C
- Integrated Screen
-
Yes
- Good quality
- Connects to many devices
- Touch screen
- Long battery life
- Lots of customization
- Long setup process
- Heavy
- No voice controls
Price, specs, and availability
Let me get this out of the way right away — the SofaBaton X2 is not a cheap remote. You can buy the remote from SofaBaton directly or on Amazon, but the price is $360 no matter where you’re buying from, barring any sales. With a price that rivals a budget TV, this is certainly something for enthusiasts, but I’d argue that’s what it’s designed for. There’s little to no reason for somebody to pick this remote up just to use it with a single TV and no external devices. This is something meant to control many devices at once, and it’s priced as such.
- Brand
-
SofaBaton
- Integrations
-
IR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- Battery
-
USB-C
- Integrated Screen
-
Yes
What I like about the SofaBaton X2 remote
It makes everything easier
The SofaBaton X2 feels like a quality remote, and it’s a big step up from the likes of the Roku or Fire TV remotes. Of course, at the price, that’s to be expected. The X2 has a touch screen that makes navigation very easy, and you can easily switch between your connected devices depending on what you want to control. I have my Apple TV 4K, my TV, and my receiver all connected to the remote, and I don’t have any issues whatsoever.
Since there’s a large touch screen, I figured battery life would be an issue, but it hasn’t been at all. I set up my remote about two weeks ago at the time of this writing and still haven’t had to charge it. Speaking of charging, you can charge your SofaBaton X2 with a USB-C cable, or you could use the docking station that’s akin to an old landline phone. Both work, and if you want, you could simply dock your remote each day to ensure you’re always at a full charge.
You can also set up activities on the remote that make a variety of steps happen with a single button press. I have just one at the moment, but what it does is turn on my Apple TV 4K, my receiver, and my TV all at the same time. On top of that, it switches my TV’s input to HDMI 3, so I’m up and running with all my devices in a few seconds. It’s a nice feature that saves a lot of time and couch space, since I can get rid of extra remotes.
There are plenty of extra buttons on the remote you can map to functions, so you can totally eliminate the need for another remote if you’re patient enough to remap everything. If you’re lazy, you can just use the touch screen and go through menus to do the same thing. Both options work just fine. If range is a problem, you can snag the R1 range extender, but I haven’t had a need for that. The regular receiver works just fine for me, and its small form-factor design isn’t nearly as distracting as the bigger ball of the R1 is.
What I don’t like about the SofaBaton X2 remote
A lot of minor things
There’s nothing that’s flat out a deal breaker for me, but there are a few smaller problems with my X2 remote that I think are worth mentioning. The first thing I noticed was that this remote is much heavier than anything I’ve used before. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s something I feel every time I pick it up.
Something I like to do a lot with my Apple TV remote is use the voice controls, especially when I’m searching for something specific on YouTube. The SofaBaton X2 doesn’t have a built-in mic for voice controls, so I have to type everything in myself. This is actually a moment where the Fire TV’s Alexa hands-free voice controls come in handy. What this means I need to keep my Apple TV remote handy for those moments. You can get around this by having a Google Home or Alexa device nearby that’s synced to your remote, but unfortunately, I don’t.
Ultimately, the biggest problem I ran into was the initial setup. This is far from a plug-and-play option, and I had to go through a firmware update with the remote before I got to use it. You do most of the setup through the app, and the remote did come with a set of instructions that were easy to follow, but it was time-consuming. You have to do a test of all the devices you’re connecting to make sure the remote controls them, and it wasn’t that lengthy for me since I only had three, but I imagine somebody connecting many devices would have a long day ahead of them.
Should you buy the SofaBaton X2 remote?
If you can afford to, then sure
I’ve never used a universal remote before I got my hands on the X2, and now I can’t imagine a world where I won’t use one. It’s so nice to control everything with one remote, and it means I can put my legs up on my ottoman instead of extra remotes. Sure, things like voice controls are missing, but I think it’s a worthy tradeoff.
Price is what this all boils down to for many. If I had to spend my own money on this remote without testing it first, I doubt I would’ve done it. Now that I know how seamless it makes everything, I think I’d splurge. I can’t deny that all the things it does make my viewing experience much better, but it’s easy to think of better ways to spend $360. This remote is geared toward people who want to take their home theater experience to the next level, and anyone who has dumped hundreds or even thousands of dollars into their setups won’t balk at the high price tag.
The price you pay is for convenience, and the SofaBaton X2 gives you a lot of it. Is it $360 worth it? I think that’ll boil down to personal preference. If you’re looking for a replacement for your Logitech Harmony, for example, then yeah, I’d say this delivers. I’ve never tried out that remote myself, and I know many people look at it fondly, but considering Logitech has dropped support for the remote, the SofaBaton X2 has taken the throne as the current king on the market.
4.5/5
- Brand
-
SofaBaton
- Integrations
-
IR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- Battery
-
USB-C
- Integrated Screen
-
Yes
