Sofabaton X1s

[Series1boy]

Hi, it’s been a while since Ive posted, hope all is well!

Advice needed please: my harmony Elite is starting to play up and I’m looking for a replacement/alternative and found the SofaBaton X1S, and wondered if anyone has had any good or bad experiences with it and how it works with Philips HUE lights…?
Cheers
S1

 

[MattWithoutFear]

I just bought the X1S to replace my aging Harmony 650, which gave up the ghost. I'm setting it up tonight and will let you know how I get on! My setup includes an LG C2, Denon receiver and Xbox, plus Google Home, Hue lights and various smart plugs - I'm hoping that I'll be able to integrate all of that easily with the X1S.

 

[MattWithoutFear]

Hi, it’s been a while since Ive posted, hope all is well!

Advice needed please: my harmony Elite is starting to play up and I’m looking for a replacement/alternative and found the SofaBaton X1S, and wondered if anyone has had any good or bad experiences with it and how it works with Philips HUE lights…?
Cheers
S1

Well, I'm returning my X1S. A few common problems I've faced include:

• Constant issues with ARC and getting my AV receiver to output any sound when using TV apps
• AV receiver not being set to the right input at all
• On/off statuses getting confused, meaning it would send an off signal when starting activities
• No "Help" button to re-send signals when Activities broke or work through options like "Is TV on?"
• The hub/remote sync was unreliable when I updated settings in the app; have had to hard reset the remote three times in the last week to get it working
• Single Play/Pause button didn't work with a lot of apps that use separate signals
• Number entry is a faff - I miss the number pad on my Harmony 650 (used for PINs I use to bypass parent-lock on TV apps and Xbox)

The main reason I upgraded was because the Power Off button on my 650 has become very unreliable, often needing 10+ presses before it works. This, combined with Logitech stopping Harmony development, is what led me to try a new system - Sofabaton doesn't seem to be it though. I tried placing the hub is various locations, but nothing fixed the issues I had.

Maybe (maybe!) their U2 remote would be better for me as it doesn't use their hub, has a number pad, separate play/pause buttons, and an input selector button - I might give that a go.

 

[MattWithoutFear]

Other issues I've remembered that spoilt some of the extra features of the X1S' wi-fi connections:

• Couldn't get Google Home app to connect to the Sofabaton service - it would login but then just spin a loading screen and not add it to my Home devices.
• The Philips Hue integration is limited and only lets you set % brightness levels, not Scenes. (I don't know if this is a Sofabaton limitation or a Hue one; Google recently lost the ability to change Hue Scenes as well)