The universal remote is a gadget you wonder how you lived without once you get it. With 4 remote controls (both Bluetooth and infrared) and kids, the situation was getting out of hand in the living room. After looking at the available solutions, I bought the SofaBaton U2. My primary requirement was that the remote needs to support both infrared devices (TV, soundbar and DVD player) and Bluetooth devices (NVIDIA Shield).
Pairing with phone: All the configuration of the remote is done using its phone apps (iPhone or Android). Press and hold the - and E buttons at the bottom and the phone app will request to pair with the remote. Once this is done, you can add the various devices in the room you want to control with the remote.
Adding bluetooth device: To add a Bluetooth device, put the remote in pairing mode (see above) and pair to it from the device (like smart TV/media player) and add it as a remote.
Adding infrared device: To add an infrared device, search the device brand and model in the SofaBaton library. It will download the codes for the device into the remote. You can also customize the icon and name for the device displayed on the remote. Note that before confirming addition of the device, the app suggests you try pressing the remote buttons to test. This did not work for me. However, once I ignored this error and went ahead and added the device, the remote worked fine with the device.
Using the remote: Scroll the wheel at the top to highlight the device you want to use. Point the remote at the device and press the buttons to control it. Operating the remote is that simple once it is setup!
Manual programming: Since I could not find the exact model in the library, I tried programming the remote manually. This involves keeping the original IR remote and the SofaBaton pointed at each other and pressing the IR key for SofaBaton to detect and add. This always failed. I gave up on this and just added the models in the library that looked close enough to mine and those codes worked fine.
U1: Reading the review for the older U1, users mentioned difficulties in adding batteries, programming the remote and the weak infrared range. I did not find any of these problems with the U2 and I recommend getting the U2 instead of the U1.