TV remote recommendations for seniors

Dear Savvy Senior: Can you recommend some simplified universal television remotes for seniors? My 88-year-old dad, who lives in a retirement community, has dementia and gets confused with all the buttons on his remote. As a result, he keeps accidentally reprograming his TV set. — Searching Son

Dear Searching Son: Most modern TV remotes — that come with dozens of unnecessary buttons — can be confusing for anyone to operate but can be especially challenging for seniors. Fortunately, there are several universal TV remotes available that are specifically designed for older adults with vision, memory or confusion issues. Here are three top choices:

Senior-friendly remotes

The two most popular simplified TV remotes are the Flipper and the EasyMote. Both of these are infrared-only remotes intended for those who use traditional cable/satellite boxes or their TV’s internal tuner. They are not designed for people who use streaming media devices and will not work with devices that are controlled via Bluetooth or radio frequency.

If you’re not sure how your dad’s TV is controlled, point his remote at the ground in the opposite direction from the device, then press a button. If the remote still executes the command, then it’s using Bluetooth or radio frequency signals.

The Flipper, which is a top-rated remote, works with all major TVs, as well as cable, satellite and digital TV receiver boxes. Available for $40 at FlipperRemote.com, this lightweight, remote has a tapered design that makes it easy to hold, and for simplicity it has only six large, color-coded tactile buttons to control the power, mute, volume up/down and channel up/down.

Flipper also offers an optional “favorite channel” feature that will let you program up to 30 of your dad’s favorite channels and eliminate the useless channels he never watches. And it has a built-in keypad hidden behind a slide-down panel. This will give your dad the ability to directly punch in a desired channel, while keeping the remote simple and uncluttered. The Flipper remote can also be locked to prevent accidental reprogramming.

The other popular senior-friendly remote that’s worth a look is the EasyMote (see EasyMote.us), which is available on Amazon.com for $18. This lightweight remote, which controls most TV and cable boxes, also comes with six large, easy-to-see buttons (on/off, mute, channel up and down and volume up and down) that light up when pressed. It also comes with a handy wrist strap to prevent misplacing the remote but can be removed anytime.

Multi-device remote

Another simplified remote that offers the ability to control multiple devices is the GE Big Button 2-Device Universal Remote, available at Amazon.com for $9.

This IR remote has an ergonomic design with large buttons that will let your dad control up to 2 audio/video components such as TV, cable/satellite receiver and streaming media players. In addition to power, volume, channel, mute buttons and number pad, this remote offers previous channel, sleep timer and input buttons.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org.