The ~$58 (walmart) Harmony smart remote with hub. I would have returned shield for refund if it had not been for that remote. The bluetooth works much better than the Shieids and you have enough keys so operation is much smoother. I have a fire tv as well and have the older version of what the other poster is talking about . Yes it is much better as well.
I use a Harmony Ultimate. I think it's a bit overkill if you are connecting your Shield directly to the TV, but I have a receiver in the middle. Harmony switches inputs when turning things on and can even turn on devices without turning on the receiver.
There's always the Android TV Remote Control app if you have an android phone. Though I don't think it works unless the device is already on.
I use the harmony ultimate remote and hub with it as well as a Google home mini for voice. Almost perfect, definitely recommend it.
Thanks for the advice, everyone. Thought I'd report back...
So I ended-up picking-up the new Amazon Fire Remote for £15 on Amazon and what a difference a remote makes! It's like having a new Shield! (Nearly) everything works perfectly.
I was a bit worried about not having a Fire Stick available to do the IR pairing but I thought I'd pick one up so see how responsive everything else was and hope that I could borrow a Fire Stick off someone if needed. Turns out, I didn't even need to do that for the way I have my Shield set-up. Because I adjust the volume on the Shield itself (IR and CEC volume control are both turned off) the buttons on the Fire Remote just work straight out the box - no additional set-up required.
The only down-side is the voice control doesn't work, but I wasn't expecting it to and I never use that feature on the Shield anyway as I have a Home Mini in the same room. There's also a redundant button (the hamburger/menu button) that the Shield detects as an input (it makes a sound) but that doesn't seem to do anything, but that's no biggie.
Anyone else looking for a simple replacement remote for the Shield, I'd recommend the 2019 Fire TV Remote.
Thanks for the help, everyone.
see this video and check if it suits you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H97K5RsjERI
You cannot beat the new Amazon Fire TV remote. Other than voice search it is the perfect remote. You can even configure it for IR blasting, but you need a Fire TV to do that. Also, it's half off right now:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B6L2QCF/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_yFiqCbNP2E6V8