Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me say that compared with the SUPER-EXPENSIVE Logitech Harmony remote, this remote can be purchased a comparable fraction of the cost and it performs comparatively well. There are a couple shortcomings that cost it one star, in my opinion, but let me say that if these folks can improve the function just marginally, it will be in a position to put Logitech's Harmony out of business. I gave this remote 4 positive stars for these reasons: 1. I paid $35 for mine since I purchased it during the Black Friday sale period. It normally retails for $50. Even at full retail, this remote is a bargain for what it does. 2. The Sofa Baton is easily programmed by downloading a SofaBaton app to your cell phone and then pairing the device via BlueTooth to your cell phone. You choose your TV, receiver, sound bar, etc., via your cell phone app and then once you have it configured your cell phone synchronizes the configuration to the Sofa Baton. It requires no instructions and is fairly intuitive to use. 3. The end result is a collection of home entertainment devices that are accumulated to the Sofa Baton remote and easily chosen and controlled. The device worked actually fairly well right out of the box, with a small exception that was quickly corrected by Sofa Baton's customer service that I will detail in just a moment. 4. SofaBaton will allow you to use your original device's remote control and will attempt to learn the IR code from it. Why I docked SofaBaton 1 star: I really wanted to give the SofaBaton 5 stars. I really really wanted to. I couldn't because I was used to the way Logitech's Harmony will allow you to manipulate groups of devices with the push of one button. SofaBaton will allow you to program a Macro-function on the remote but the macros are limited to just that device. In other words, let's say you wanted to program a macro function for the TV. I can, for example, turn the TV on, change some of the TV's settings. It would be limited to the TV and to only the buttons available on the SofaBaton remote. You cannot turn that TV on, then turn the soundbar on, and then, let's say, change the TV to HDMI 2, and turn the DVD on to watch a DVD. Now, as far as I'm concerned, compared to Logitech's remote, for $200 less I am more than willing to manually select each device and turn them on. If you have money to burn, you might feel differently. But as mentioned earlier, if SofaBaton builds in the capability to allow the enduser, with the press of a single macro button, to select multiple devices and configure each automatically, this little device will put Logitech's Harmony remote out of business. Let me finish by saying that SofaBaton's customer service is spot-on perfect. I had the opportunity to use them as I had trouble programming my soundbar which was not on their list of devices. I shot an email to them indicating the trouble I was having. They contacted me by phone right away and attempted to help walk me through programming the remote. Unable to resolve it, they got the make and model of my soundbar and forwarded the information on to their programmers who worked on getting the soundbar's IR code function and then within about 48 hours had it added to their list of supported devices. Their customer service shot me an email asking me to remove my soundbar from my list of devices and then select it from their list of supported devices. I did so, and now I'm able to control all my devices with no further issues. I'm very impressed with this level of customer service. It's something rarely seen with organizations in business today. For the price asked, I highly recommend this remote to everyone looking for a less-expensive alternative to Logitech's Harmony.