I know we have a bunch of control4 users here, so any strong opinions on the touch vs non-touch versions of the new Halo remote? I'll be using them in my theater, game room, and family room in the new house, and I'm trying to decide what version is best. Any opinions are welcome.
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Halo Touch vs Non-Touch
- Thread starter Sasquatch
- Start date
I have both the Touch and the Tactile Halo's. The Tactile is a good bit less expensive, and its actual numeric keypad works better if you have a cable box or satellite receiver that has direct numeric entry. The Touch has a keypad screen for those, but that is a little less handy for me.
They both work great for everything else. The Tactile is a good bit less expensive.
They both work great for everything else. The Tactile is a good bit less expensive.
Awesome, thanks for the feedback! We use YouTube TV, so no need for the numeric keypad.
I have both and fully expected that I'd prefer the touch. It is a smaller size and a more minimal approach. But honestly in practice I tend to prefer the regular Halo as it is a bit easier to setup alternative programing on the extra keys for use with K-scape and MadVR as examples. I just find myself being able to use the regular as a non-look remote and have to use two hands quite a bit while also looking at the touch version. They are both solid and you can't go wrong with either.
I use the Halo Touch and like it. When I researched it the consensus seemed to be other than cable boxes, most installations will probably be better with the Halo Touch. The Halo Touch works really nicely with the Control4 Custom Buttons agent, to create touch buttons each of which suppers multiple actions. I use these for Aspect Ratios, Info Screens, Lutron Scenes, Star Ceiling Modes, etc.
Custom buttons are also available on the Halo Tactile. There are the three buttons immediately below the screen whose labels appear on the bottom part of the screen. Other custom buttons created by the agent are also accessible by scrolling down on the Home Screen. That said, those are easier to access on the Touch by just swiping up on the screen.
I have two Touches and one Tactile by the way.
I have two Touches and one Tactile by the way.
Three questions for you Halo users:
- Does the Touch let you navigate the menus on its screen using the D-pad yet, or must you always touch the screen? I believe when it came out it was touch-only.
- How have you found it to be in terms of how quickly it wakes up if you grab it to push a key?
- How’s the battery life?
1. Still have to touch the screen
2. Very good after the latest firmware update providing it is not in deep sleep. Changing the setting for when to go into deep sleep to 3 hours works well for me.
3. Battery life is improved after the last update, but extending the time until it goes into deep sleep offsets the gain. That said, battery life is OK as long as you always put it in the charging base overnight.
2. Very good after the latest firmware update providing it is not in deep sleep. Changing the setting for when to go into deep sleep to 3 hours works well for me.
3. Battery life is improved after the last update, but extending the time until it goes into deep sleep offsets the gain. That said, battery life is OK as long as you always put it in the charging base overnight.
I added a Touch to my media room about 6 months ago because of the screen dimming issue on SR 260. The Touch is a really well built remote and feels good in my hand.
Yet, 90% of the time I still find myself using the trusty old SR 260. This is partly due to the fact that the 260 is always just sitting there in my chair vs. the Touch which is usually across the room in the charging cable. I think it’s also still a bit the muscle memory of being more familiar with how my custom buttons are programmed on the 260.
I’d also add that the touch screen had less flexibility to add custom buttons or actions than I had expected.
l am curious to try out the Halo non-touch.
Yet, 90% of the time I still find myself using the trusty old SR 260. This is partly due to the fact that the 260 is always just sitting there in my chair vs. the Touch which is usually across the room in the charging cable. I think it’s also still a bit the muscle memory of being more familiar with how my custom buttons are programmed on the 260.
I’d also add that the touch screen had less flexibility to add custom buttons or actions than I had expected.
l am curious to try out the Halo non-touch.
Current Halo owner. I like tactile buttons and think they got just a little too aggressive streamlining the Touch. (They could have kept the row of custom physical buttons, and I’ve grown dependent on the Info button.). Having said that, when I hand the remote to someone the first thing they try to do is touch the screen, the second is complain about too many buttons/too complicated/too large/etc. I‘ll be ordering a Halo Touch soon.
I appreciate the feedback. I have a slew of SR-250s but the navigation interface on the little display has become very sluggish with recent releases, so I'm contemplating an upgrade. Since our Control4 driver uses the numeric keypad for T9-style text entry (which makes jumping within lists of movies very easy), I will likely go with the regular Halo, but I would love to try both. Also affecting my decision: I have six of them, so a lower price point is welcome!
I have 6 Touches and one regular Halo. I really want to live the Touch, but just like the phone app I find myself accidentally touching things I didn’t mean to. I prefer the regular Halo for this reason. Additionally I find guests understand the regular Halo better than the Touch as well.
I have both, but I left the halo non-touch in bed by mistake. My cleaners put everything for a wash. When the halo came out of the washer after drying, it still worked.
This happened six months or so ago. I have yet to test Halo Touch with this; hopefully, my cleaners won't do the testing either.
This happened six months or so ago. I have yet to test Halo Touch with this; hopefully, my cleaners won't do the testing either.
I have 3 of the Touch. Personally I prefer the SR260. Its a workhorse and can be left off charge for days on end. Im always catching the touchscreen by accident and the delay drives me crazy along with having to press the source button and off button lots of times. I told my dealer I wanted to go back to the SR260 but I have been trying ti contact them for 3 months now and they are not responding to my messages which leads me to believe they are having problems. I really miss the 3 custom buttons as well. Maybe the Halo would be better but the SR260 was just such s good remote. I wouldn’t recommend the touch to anyone. The only thing good about it is the design.