buying usb bluetooth dongle

[Iain Hibbert]

On Thu, 8 Nov 2007, Zoran Kolic wrote:

> I would like to hear opinions about bluetooth
> dongle, I have an intention to buy. The list in
> stores in my area is not so long.
>  - canyon btu4
>  - gigabyte bt03d
>  - msi star key 2.0
> Does it make any difference, since I cannot get
> the name of the chip inside the product?

Well, most of these dongles have a CSR chip inside in any case.

The words on the packaging you must look for are:

"v1.2"		- this is an older device, don't get it.
"v2.x + EDR"	- are the newest spec (2.1 is latest I think)

"Class 1"	- means has better range (100m) but uses more power
"Class 2"	- lower range (10m) and lower power consumption

personally, I don't think its worth it to get a Class 1 if you don't need
the extra range, but you definitely want "v2.x and EDR" as it is many
times faster and more robust than the older spec.

iain