REVIEW COMMENTS: MSI Bluetooth Dongle

Dave

For a number of years now, if you wanted to connect a GPS Receiver to a laptop or a PC, you would have to use a Serial or USB type GPS Mouse. These come with a cable tethering it to your laptop and although they work extremely well, they are not the best solution for in-car use, especially having cables trailing over the dashboard when you are driving!

In the past year we have seen not only Bluetooth take off in a very big way, but in the past 6 months a flurry of new Bluetooth USB Dongles being brought to market. These Bluetooth USB Adapters are a little plug (or dongle) that plugs into your USB port and with added drivers and software allow you to run Bluetooth on a Windows based PC and connect wirelessly to a Bluetooth GPS.

This review concentrates on the MSI Bluetooth dongle (BToers) which is a tried and tested Bluetooth adapter and works well with all Bluetooth GPS Receivers we have tested it with on Laptop, Notebook and Tablet PC's that have a spare USB port.

For the full review click here.
http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/msi-bluetooth-usb.php

alix776 · Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 1:17 pm Post subject:

Ive had one of these for a couple years and there great recomended
_________________
currently using aponia truck navigation on windows phone. Good bye IOS don't let the door hit you on the way out .

Oh the joys of being a courier.
device Lumia 950 xl

Tim Buxton · Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 2:34 pm Post subject:

macgrrl · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 22, 2004 Posts: 1

This device is also sold by Kensington as their part number 33085 (http://www.kensington.com/html/4720.html). Works great on Mac OS X 10.2.8 (BT support is built in) as well as Windows XP Home. Doesn't appear to be available in Europe just yet. Connects very well to my Holux GR-230.

jlw · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 12:17 pm Post subject:

Is there any difference on the 100 meters adapter then the one in the review? I'm getting one of these very soon Smile

_________________
Ipaq 2210 (rom 1.10)
Fortuna Clip-On
CF: Kingston Elite Pro 512 MB
CF: Lexar 256 MB
Poporta Alu-Case

The_Pilgrim · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 12:32 pm Post subject:

im not certain but i think that 2 devices will only connect over 100m if BOTH are capable of doing so.I believe most PDAs only connect up to 10 meters.

Hope this help

The Pilgrim

Dave · Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 7:28 am Post subject:

After having to put my laptop through a tortuous session of upgrading Windows XP to Service Pack 2 (shock horror!), I thought it best to let everyone know that Windows XP does break Bluetooth because Microsoft has implemented a new Bluetooth Stack. This can affect anything that needs to communicate via an external Bluetooth card/dongle. This has had the unfortunate case of breaking the MSI BToes which we reviewed earlier this year. Good news! There is a fix available, and we have added it to the base of the MSI BToes Review. It's nice and simple, doesn't need any registry tweaks and works beautifully providing you follow our instructions!

Read the XPSP2 fix here.

footman · Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:58 am Post subject:

didnt work for me on my laptop.Have had to return to SP1

Laurence

Dave · Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:13 pm Post subject:

It only works with the BToes edition and not any other MSI BT Dongles.

footman · Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 3:27 pm Post subject:

and thats the dongle I've got

footman · Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 3:28 pm Post subject:

er.........no it isnt Embarassed

Dave · Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 5:23 pm Post subject:

I didn't think it was as I've performed the upgrade on several PC's and they have all worked well. I think MSI have some other fixes available and likewise other manufacturers should have some fixes. Basically all that's needed in most cases is a registry tweak and that's what the INF file does.

jlw · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 11:49 pm Post subject:

it dont work for meeeeeeeee!!!
_________________
Ipaq 2210 (rom 1.10)
Fortuna Clip-On
CF: Kingston Elite Pro 512 MB
CF: Lexar 256 MB
Poporta Alu-Case

jcat · Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:55 pm Post subject:

i have an msi dongle, but i aint installed xp sp2, but i have installed some sp2 hotfixes..

anyway my dongle don't work and the patch don't fix it :S

i'll have to try again when i format my pc

thanx for the info

John

Dave · Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 6:42 pm Post subject:

I think you're on extremely dodgy ground if you haven't installed XPSP2 but you're installing some XPSP2 hot fixes. I'd hate to think what the state of your registry is John.

If you're not installing XPSP2 then you should disable download of all patches! You can do this for 4 months and then Microsoft will automatically try to roll XPSP2 out to all machines that haven't upgraded.

	PocketGPS
	Web