Bluetooth USB Printer Adaptors

CGILC · 15-08-2006, 10:57

I'm looking at wireless printin and am considering the bluetooth option. Has anybody got any recommendations, it appears Belkin are the only ones to buy. Is it slow and does it have range limitations inside a house (eg. how many walls can it go through ?)?

Stuart · 15-08-2006, 11:05

Bluetooth (1 anyway) has a theoretical maximum limit of 10 metres. Under most circumstances you won't get more than 5. It is also slow.

Bluetooth 2 can either operate at the same speed as Bluetooth 1 but with a theoretical maximum range of 100 metres, or it can operate a lot faster but with a theoretical 10 metre range.

TBH, unless you have a specific reason to use Bluetooth (ie you want to print from a phone that supports bluetooth printing), you would be better off using a WiFi print server, such as the one I use ( http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=172856 ) which is now labelled as obsolete on the Belkin site, but you may still find one for sale.

Aragorn · 15-08-2006, 11:15

HP also do a Bluetooth print adapter (maybe made by same people as Belkin's

)
As Stu says, if you've already got BT on all the devices you are printing from, then it may be a good idea. If you've got an existing wireless router next to the printer, you could also look at an ethernet printer adapter (or if you need a new printer, look for one with builtin ethernet).
I've never tried BT printing myself, but as there is often a lot of data being transfered I could imagine it being quite slow.