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Testing

Subjectively, it seems like the wireless bluetooth printing is a bit slower than going through a physical cable although the theoretical maximum of roughly 700kb/s is not all too far removed from USB1.1's 1.1Mb/s. The range on the BT007X and the BT210 were pretty good. Non-line of sight locations all around the house were able to print to the printer with no problems. Tests included the up close and personal approach, a couple rooms over (having to go through 2 walls and a couple sheets of wood as the printer is located in a cubby beside a monitor cubby also). Even through the floor was not a problem. From a strictly geometric perspective I do not think I was more than 60 feet away from the printer at any given time but the printer is located in a non-central location of the house yet the BT007X was able to keep a connection to the printer around the entire house. For the average SOHO user, the range should be sufficient.

After a reboot, it takes about 15-20 seconds for my laptop to find the printer and establish a connection and seems slower than a wireless network card trying to establish a WIFI connection for example. I do not think the delay is bad at all as I do not generally need to print things immediately upon boot up although I'm not really in a position to comment about other users.

Conclusions

Printing via Bluetooth is not a new concept and as Howard fondly recalls, the first bluetooth demonstration he saw was a bluetooth printer demonstration that unfortunately failed to demonstrate. Nonetheless, Bluetake has managed to make wireless printing a reality with the BT210 (a BT200 is also availble for parallel port printers). The BT007X and BT210 Combo can be had for 100$ with the adapter coming in at 66$ alone. For the desktop computer user, the BT210 can give the end user some more options in terms of printer placement. It will reduce some clutter behind the desk and if desktop space is limited and the thought of running USB cable across the floor is the other side of the room is repulsive, the BT210 is the way to go. Still, there is the trade off with a USB cable to a power cord.

For notebook users the BT210 is a lot more interesting. Instead of fidgeting with cables when the need to print something comes up, the BT210 just works much like 802.11x. Laptop users should definitely consider the BT210 if printing and moving around is a norm. SOHO users will definitely appreciate the mobility allowed with the BT007X and BT210 as the range is good - I had no dead spots around my house with regards to range and I do not anticipate that many users will run into this problem either. In a multisystem environment though it may be a better idea to have the printer hooked up directly to a desktop and have a WIFI card in each computer. Wireless printing can still be acheived like with the Bluetake gear. The only requisite will be having the desktop and printer located near each other. With the Bluetake solution, the printer is more free to roam so it can be put into the closet or some out of the way location it if it not used too much. Wireless printing is definitely a niche solution but is worth considering for the laptop user who's roaming around the house a lot.