08 September 2010
manufacturer:
- bluetake
supplier:
- bluetake
price:
- ?
review by:
- inder
related www:
- forum thread
- bluetake
pros:
small and compact, bright led status indicators, dark blue colour - looks smart, converts any parallel printer into a bluetooth wireless printer, works on many operating systems, all you need is included in the package, easy to setup, clear and easy to understand guide, one year warranty, printing speed up to 115200bps, 10 meters coverage area.
cons:
need to connect to bt200 in advance (in a multi-user enivironment, see review for explanation)
modtown rating:
- 4.5 out of 5
do you agree with our rating? why not drop by the forums and leave your comments...
Installation:
Thanks to the very clear Quick Setup Guide, with colour images, installation
is very simple. It is assumed that you already have a Bluetooth enabled device
ready for use with the BT200 or have installed a Bluetooth dongle/adaptor
previously.
If you have not, this needs to be done first and setup properly. Most users who
purchase this product probably already have a Bluetooth enabled device ready for
use, else they would not have considered this product...
With the power to the printer turned off, your first step is to connect the
BT200 to your chosen printer. This is just a case of disconnecting the parallel
printer cable and plugging the BT200 in its place.
My chosen printer, a HP LaserJet 2100M. This also has a cable cover,
however the BT200 will still work through this...
Connecting the BT200 to the parallel port | Connection completed...
You then need to connect the power adaptor into the BT200 and to a spare
electrical outlet, before then turning the power back on for the printer. This
is a five minute job.
The next part of the installation, although fairly simple (Configuring a Virtual
COM port) may hinder some users - once again, thanks to the clarity and colour
images of the Quick Setup Guide, you should breeze through it.
Configuring a Virtual COM port for
Bluetooth
Before starting to print documents
wireless using the BT200, you will need to change the printer's connection port
from parallel port to a dedicated Virtual COM port that the Bluetooth print
needs. This is what the 'Configuring a Virtual COM port' step takes you through
(obviously you must set the printer to use the same COM port you created). The
purpose of a Virtual COM port is to emulate a physical serial port connection
such as a modem, but working wirelessly.
Setting printer to use corresponding
Virtual COM port...
Usage:
To print documents to the Bluetooth wireless printer via the BT200, you must
first connect to the BT200 through your Bluetooth device or dongle/adaptor in
advance.
This is where I think the product falls down a little, you must connect to the
BT200 in advance - whether you are printing at that moment or not...
But this is only in a multi-user environment, as the BT200 cleverly caches the last connected Bluetooth device MAC address, only releasing it when a new Bluetooth device connects to it.
If you are the only user, then the connection need only be established once. After this you do not need to do it again, even after turning your computer on and off.
The actual printing of your
documents does not change - you simply hit print in the application you are
working with, select the printer that you have connected the BT200 to and click
'Print', just as you have always been used to.
Conclusion:
The BlueTake BT200 Bluetooth Printer Adapter is a great little
device. It makes it extremely easy to convert virtually any parallel port
printer into a Bluetooth wireless printer that can be used with any Bluetooth
enabled device such as a desktop, a laptop or a PDA. It is supported in Windows
XP/2000/ME/98SE, PocketPC 2002/2000, Palm 5.0/4.0 operating system.
Thanks to Bluetooth technology, the BT200 gives you the freedom to place the
printer wherever is convenient in a room, without worrying about 'line-of-sight'
or using long and expensive parallel printer cable that runs all over the room
causing clutter and can be a accident hazard.
Being very compact and discrete with a nice colour, the BT200 will hardly look
out of place or become an eyesore when plugged into the parallel port of a
printer. Setup is quick and painless, mainly thanks to the very clear Quick
Setup Guide that BlueTake have written.
As a package, the BT200 arrives with everything that you will need. It is nice
to see that the included CD-ROM contains an electronic copy of the Quick Setup
Guide and some Macromedia Flash Video guides, along with a 30-day trial version
of PrintPocketCE (for the PocketPC 2002/2000 operating system). Although no
software is explicitly required - extra printing software is needed with
Bluetooth enabled PDA's, the exact version varying according to the PDA make.
The only thing I did not like about the BT200 was that you must first connect to
the BT200 through your Bluetooth device or dongle/adaptor in advance - before
you print.
However, this is only in a multi-user environment. If you are the only user of the BT200, then the connection need only be established once and thereafter you print as normal (Does not matter if you reboot or turn off computer). The reason for this is BT200 caches the last connected Bluetooth device MAC address, only releasing it when a new Bluetooth device connects to it.
This product is definitely an effective, easy-to-use solution to loose some of those cables in the office or at home and is a must if you have have a Bluetooth LAN.
modtown rating: 4.5 out of 5
Why not discuss this review on the forums?
©2005 Modtown. All Rights Reserved |
