Here at the Strategist, we like to think of ourselves as crazy (in the good way) about the stuff we buy, but as much as we’d like to, we can’t try everything. Which is why we have People’s Choice, in which we find the best-reviewed (that’s four-to-five-star reviews and lots of ‘em) products and single out the most convincing. While we’ve written about the best smart TVs, the best flat screen TVs, and even delved into the best outdoor TV antennas, here we’re going deep on the best universal remotes on Amazon. (Note that reviews have been edited for length and clarity.)
“This remote control is an amazing value. Both my kids have Rokus in their rooms. One of them borrowed the other’s remote and lost it. Since then it’s been war! Sneaking into each other’s rooms, fighting over the single remote … What! This was the most affordable universal remote that connects to Roku that I could find anywhere. In fact, I think it’s the most affordable universal remote on the planet. No more fights and only one remote to keep track of. Responsiveness is great. Setup was easy. I’d buy this again if I had to. But hopefully I won’t.”
“I was hesitant to order a Harmony because I heard they were difficult to set up. I’m glad I went ahead and ordered this because I absolutely love it. Easily paired with my Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV sound bar, TV, Xbox, and even an off-brand HDMI switch I purchased from Amazon. I was easily able to set up the ‘watch TV’ button to default to my Apple TV and the ‘watch a movie’ button to default to my Amazon box. It’s so nice to have one remote now instead of the five I used to own.”
“This is such a good idea. I have three separate remotes, one for my TV, one for my soundbar, and one for my Amazon fire stick, and I HATED having to keep track of and use all three at once. With the Sideclick I have one remote to control all three and I am so happy. This is a great product, includes batteries, and has well-designed packaging. Programming is very easy — just read the included instructions.”
“I have a Roku Ultra and struggled with having to use a universal remote to turn on my TV and sound bar. This is a genius and simple idea: It takes your universal, and attaches it to the Roku remote. It was super easy to program and works like a charm. I have no problem at all with how it ‘feels in your hand.’ The other advantage is when my mother-in-law comes over to babysit, she can figure out the TV much easier.”
“Gotta say I’m impressed. No code needed. No hassles — just put in batteries and voilà! Don’t have to get up and awkwardly have to change the input on my TV anymore. What a relief. I’m not lazy but this is a huge burden lifter. Maybe I got lucky but I would say BUY THIS for LG TVs. It actually works!!”
“This unit is a near exact replacement for the control that I previously ordered from AT&T, at a much better price. The main difference is that there is a single power button and it powers every device that it’s paired with. The original AT&T has a set of selector buttons that allowed control of single devices. I didn’t really use the selectors so don’t miss them. Setup was simple. It worked out of the box.”
“Amazing that you can get what I believe to be a full-function replacement remote for this low price. We lost our Panasonic original and it is not easy to navigate the menus with the TV’s buttons so we had been limited to no smart-TV functions. This remote didn’t even need to be programmed, it operated our TV as soon as I put batteries in it.”
“A few years ago my husband bought a larger Vizio smart TV that came with a long, skinny, and cheap remote. The remote would activate different buttons than what was pressed and it broke altogether last week. I replaced it with this style remote. It’s very solid plastic, has great tactile response and the batteries have their own cover. No programming necessary. It’s a little shorter and fatter than it looks in the image.”
“In the search for a reasonably priced universal remote, I have tried many. Some were better than others, all were lacking in some way, be it codes, difficulty to program, no backlighting, and/or some combination. Along comes this remote that’s highly rated, seems to hit all the marks in the description. This time it knocks it out of the park. It had functional codes for all my TVs, receiver, Roku, Tivo, and Blu-ray player. Easy to program, fully backlit, nice size, and very reasonably priced.”
“Ideal for that vision-challenged senior or toddler that pushes the wrong buttons. Power, channel, sound, and mute. That is it and the colors and shapes are big. A sliding panel has all the setup buttons. Setup was easy and the senior loves it since she can’t mess up the TV. If you have ever driven a long distance to ‘fix’ the TV for a senior that changed the input by mistake then this is a great device.”
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