BroadLink RM4 Mini Smart Remote Control Hub - Universal IR Blaster for TV, LED Strip Lights, Air Conditioner | Works with Alexa, Google Home & IFTTT | Perfect for Home Theater & Smart Lighting Control

My original review has been edited because the company who makes this product got back to me and provided me with some information. There was a critical bug that prevented an update, and because it was required to use the device, it meant the product couldn’t be used and was a useless brick. The company has fixed this issue apparently, and I’ll be updating the firmware today to try it out.The reason I am editing this review now without testing the product (I plan on editing again after testing) is I just wanted to get my original review down off of Amazon. Usually I wouldn’t bother, I’d make the company have a negative review as a reminder not to release bugged updates without testing them, however in an email to the company I had shot my mouth off, said some very inappropriate things, and definitely didn’t deserve a response, but instead I got a pretty well written email from a company rep who actually took the time to respond to me being nasty.I’m not going to make excuses on why at this point in life I’m pretty much done with the establishment. I’m not one of these people who expects everything, however when I buy something and spend what little money I have (believe me I’m very poor and was working 60+ hours a week before Covid, despite a college education) I expect it to work as advertised. This isn’t an excuse for some of the things that I said, I went overboard and was out of line; I apologize to the rep who read that email and will do so in a reply later.I’m going to hold judgment on whether this is a solution or not until after I get everything set up. I’ve had the device for a few days and haven’t been able to use it (due to that bug). I had already started a return and was about to return it today in fact and I already purchased a Logitech Harmony hub for three times as much (no joke it’s been nice not eating for a few days to save the extra money; I even lost a few lbs.)Anyway, will be attempting to set this up with Home Assistant completely offline today. I‘ve read I’m probably going to run into issues because these latest models are designed not to allow people to use them without the Broadlink servers, however I’m going to give it a shot anyway.Several things I will say about Broadlink over harmony:Harmony has a artificiality enforced limit of eight devices per hub, which can be increased to 15 if you buy an additional $200 remote. There’s absolutely no reason for this because when you add a remote to get the extra 7 devices, the hub is storing all that extra information not the remote. It’s basically a marketing scam logitech is doing to get you to spend $300 on an IR blaster ($100) & ($200) remote despite the fact that again, the same hub is storing all the information not the remote so there is no reason the hub alone can’t do at least $15 devices. Broadlink however allows far more devices, in fact I’m not sure there’s even a limit it may be unlimited.The humidity sensor and alexa is a no-go, it won’t report to alexa, apparently that’s an Amazon thing not a broadlink thing. Keep it in mind if you are buying this for the humidity part. That does explain why none of the humidity sensors seem to be reporting correctly to Alex that I tried. I commend the broadlink for at least adding the option to read humidity even if you can’t use it through Alexa; you will be able to use it through other home automation if you know how to set it up correctly. I was unaware that the problem was Alexa and not third-party developers. It’s ironic because Amazon mentions humidity sensors as something compatible the Alexa app, something which was reported differently by Amazon. Based on the representatives email I tend to believe Broadlink; again none of the humidity sensors I’ve used with Alexa have reported correctly.As I said I was out of line with the email that I sent them and they could have just ignored it, there was no reason for them to lie at this point or even respond. If anything they can be faulted for not putting some of this it in the product description, but they are not alone in this regard, In fact more times than not the various product descriptions here don’t include proper technical information.After hearing a little bit more about the company, seeing a reply to an email that should’ve never even gotten a reply, I’ve decided that I’m going to give them another shot. At the very least I’d like to use this in the bedroom where it wouldn’t be worth spending another $80 on a Harmony box. Truthfully I’d like to bring the harmony box back as it’s insane that Logitech is charging $100 (I got it on sale for $80) for a box with eight device limit, but unfortunately this broad link device doesn’t also do you Bluetooth remotes so no Apple TV, fire TV, or anything else that uses Bluetooth. While the Apple TV box has an IR receiver I couldn’t get it working correctly (using other IR blasters) with anything but the volume, and assume that the IR receiver with the fourth generation Apple TV is only used to receive signals from other television remotes to change the volume.I will leave it on this last note, the product seems like it’s well-made. I just got in a keyboard from Amazon, from a different manufacturer, and it was instantly noticeable that it was a total piece of garbage in fact the battery that came with it was 1mm too small so it wouldn’t even power on until I put a piece of cardboard to hold it down under the battery compartment. I did not have that same feeling when I picked up this IR blaster, by Broadlink, it actually felt well-made. better made than the other ($17) IR blaster by a different company, which I got, set up, and it worked, but feels like junk.Hopefully this one works I’m going to work on the project now. Will update this review.Hopefully this one works I’m going to work on the project now. Will update this review.PS: I apologize for the voice typing auto correct errors in the updated review. I’ve updated it a third time as it was unreadable. You would think a close to $1 trillion company would be able to get voice typing correct after being business years for about 25 years, but it appears Apple has a long way to go. My bad; I should have checked before hitting submit.