USB Ultra-Mini Bluetooth 2.0 adaptor with EDR product reviews

For years I have had Bluetooth functionality on my laptop and many portable devices, but finding it too awkward to haul my desktop case out from it's cubby to slap in a bluetooth dongle when I need it, only to have to remove it again in order to fit the case back into it's proper place... well, it was just too frustrating so I never really made much use of this fine technology. Until recently...

With the arrival of by far the smallest, most discrete BT transceiver I have seen, I was quite excited to give it a go. After all, the hassle of hauling out the PC case is massively offset by the knowledge that it need be done only once, and the case will happily return to it's place under the desk without fear of snapping something off. Brilliant!

Installation was simplicity itself, with Windows doing it's usual job of prompting for the drivers, supplied on a tiny 80mm cd, and a quick reboot to allow it all to 'seat itself' properly. 10 minutes from opening the courier bag to sync'ing my PDA and laptop to the main workstation. Utterly wonderful, stress-free operation.

Now, my PDA will trigger my PC to check my emails as I pull into the driveway, transfer any SMS chats to the desktop for information-scraping, sync my documents and spreadsheets to make sure all devices are up to dat... and all before I get to the front door, so that by the time I sit down at the workdesk, it's all fired up, updated and ready for me to get to work. This one tiny device has easily trimmed a good half hour off my working day... meaning I can prune a bit more off the backlog. The EBR functionality is fairly transparent, but you'll certainly notice the huge speed increase when you are shifting bigger files around, say photos between laptops. Of course, to get the best of this, both devices should have EBR... so you would be wise to buy these things in pairs. (Hint Hint, Targus - a twin pack would be a smart idea methinks!)

Overall, by far the simplest way to get Bluetooth technology into a machine, short of buying a new one with it onboard. Designed primarily for laptops, my only gripe with it is the sharp corners that occasionally snag on the laptop bag (Yup, though it has found it's home on the desktop, it was tested on the laptop too). This is a matter of serious concern, as laptop USB ports are wired directly to the motherboard, so you *really* do not want anything causing a twisting or shearing action on delicate PCBs. A slightly rounder, smoother profile would go a long way to making this an utterly show-stopping product. There are cheaper BT 1.0 models out there by foreign brands, but I haven't tried them yet, but keep in mind that BT 1 only reaches 10m +/- and is only really effective at ranges less than 3m clear line-of-sight. Other than this one slight niggle... absolutely impressed.