Installation and Pairing
Installing the USB Printer
 The very first step of the installation process was to connect the adapter to our USB printer. This was a piece of cake and only took a few seconds. With our printer turned off, we connected one end of our existing standard USB cable to the USB B-type connector of our printer and the other end to the USB type A printer connector on the adapter. Then, we plugged the power adapter into an outlet and connected it to the power jack of the adapter. At this point, the Bluetooth (blue) and USB (amber) LED began to blink for a few seconds, and then only the USB LED remained blinking. Finally, we powered up the printer and were ready to go.
Pairing with a Computer
After breezing through the printer installation we thought pairing the Bluetooth enabled printer to one of our laptops would be just as intuitive and simple. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out this way. Establishing an initial connection between our computer and the printer was somewhat difficult and rather frustrating. Nevertheless, as firm believers in Bluetooth’s capabilities and interoperability, we knew we could get it to work.
 We used the Bluetake Bluetooth EDR USB Adapter to connect our laptop to the Bluetooth USB Printer Adapter. The Bluetake USB adapter uses the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack software. Unfortunately, Belkin doesn’t provide any written user information for this software.
Therefore, when using the Belkin Bluetooth USB Printer Adapter to connect to your PC or laptop, we recommend using it in conjunction with another Belkin Bluetooth adapter, or any other device that uses WIDCOMM BTW software. This is due to the fact that the User Manual only provides instructions for pairing with devices that use this particular software.
It’s probably best if you use it with either Belkin’s Bluetooth PC Card, or one of their Bluetooth USB adapters. While the Belkin Bluetooth USB Printer Adapter does work with all computing devices that support Bluetooth v1.1, installation and pairing is easiest with devices that use WIDCOMM BTW software.
So for us, successfully pairing our computer to the printer adapter involved a lot of guessing and trial and error methods. After a little over an hour, we were finally able to pair the two. The good news is after the initial pairing, every time thereafter, we were able to connect the two devices in seconds by simply double-clicking an icon.
Performance and Range
Once connected, the Belkin Bluetooth USB Printer Adapter really is as great as it’s made out to be. The ability to print wirelessly from our computers is such a luxury and really does offer great convenience. At first, we were afraid there may be a delay in printing from when we send the print job to when it actually starts to print. We were happy to find out that this wasn’t the case at all. The response time was just as quick as when we printed via the physical USB cable connection.
Print quality is exactly the same as it is with a cable connection because the information being sent to the printer is no different. The only difference is: with Bluetooth technology the signal is sent wirelessly over the airwaves as apposed to traveling through wires. The quality of the prints is based solely on the quality of the actual USB printer.
When it comes to range, the Bluetooth USB Printer Adapter truly is amazing. The advertised range is up to 100m; however this is heavily dependent upon the sending device’s Bluetooth specifications and various other factors. Nevertheless, during our tests we were able to achieve an average range of a little over 100 ft.
The Bluetake USB adapter we used to connect our laptop features a Bluetooth range of up to 30 ft. So, when paired with the Bluetooth USB Printer Adapter, we were not able to achieve the maximum range the printer adapter is capable of. The 100 ft. range we got was more than ample. I really can’t think of a reason why we would need any further distance.
Conclusion
The flexibility and convenience that wireless printing provides is unparalleled. The Belkin Bluetooth Wireless USB Printer Adapter is the ideal way to wirelessly print to your USB printer from your computer. However, we do advise that you use the adapter together with another Belkin Bluetooth device; otherwise you may experience some difficulty with installation. Overall, the Bluetooth USB Printer Adapter offers amazing freedom, quality performance and an excellent range.
Posted July 5, 2006 by BlueTomorrow.com Editorial Staff
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