Comments on: IOGear USB 2.1 Bluetooth Micro Adapter GBU421

By: Bradley Davis

Bradley Davis — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:54:12 +0000

Review by Bradley Davis for IOGear USB 2.1 Bluetooth Micro Adapter GBU421 Rating: I got this adapter to use with my new Acer Aspire ONE netbook (one of its few shortcoming being the lack of built-in bluetooth). WOW, is this device tiny! It fits very snugly into a free usb port -- it won't fall or slip out easily, and you can't even see any of the metal from the usb plug -- its just a tiny blue wart on the side of your machine. You'll hardly know its there! The seems to be little chance you could snag anything on it or break it off like with a larger dongle. The blue LED is easily visible but not excessively bright like on some dongles and devices. It also shuts off when not in use. Seems to be very power efficient, you can just leave it inserted all the time. Range seems fine, comparable to larger bluetooth dongles. Includes excellent Widcomm bluetooth stack software (using with XP) and supports A2DP for my bluetooth headphones. I highly recommend this product for anyone who wants to add unobtrusive bluetooth support to a notebook or netbook.

By: KDC

KDC — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:10:10 +0000

Review by KDC for IOGear USB 2.1 Bluetooth Micro Adapter GBU421 Rating: I installed the adaptor and WIN XP installed some drivers and i could connect my phone to it. I then tried to connect a Plantronics 590 and it paired but could hear anything or speak thru the mic. So i then installed the provided CD "WIDCOMM" software and it didnt install alot more then the WIN XP software and everything appeared to fine. But once i disconnected all my paired devices disappeared so i went thru pairing again but now i cant connect any devices. Its most likely the WIDCOMM software thats skechy I even got their update and things just come and go and disappear. I instead went with Callpod CPPD-0001 which was fabulous. Although it only supports AUDIO and VOICE out of the box you can download software for the other standard features. That worked perfectly and it didnt even require a pin for either side. It automatically paired with any AUDIO or VOICE device immediately.

By: Eduardo Tibau

Eduardo Tibau — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:59:53 +0000

Review by Eduardo Tibau for IOGear USB 2.1 Bluetooth Micro Adapter GBU421 Rating: This bluetooth dongle is very nice and small, it has a blue led on it but its not too bright as to bother when used on a laptop.

I use it with my plantronics 520 bluetooth headset on skype and it works good, I can't use it too far from the computer (< feet) because I start to get static but that might be the headset I dont know.

I don't know why the other reviewer is saying it doesn't work on Vista 64-bit, I use it on my new HP dv4t with 64-bit Vista Home Premium with no problems at all.

UPDATE: I contacted IOGEAR tech support and they gave me this url ([...]) you should be able to download an update to get Widcomm version 6.x drivers. This is necessary to use Nokia PC Suite on Windows Vista for those Nokia users like me :)

By: BOGY.

BOGY. — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:21:35 +0000

Review by BOGY. for IOGear USB 2.1 Bluetooth Micro Adapter GBU421 Rating: I have purchased both the Cirago and this IOGear. Both work perfectly with Windows XP and Vista. The Bluetooth drivers auto load and it makes sharing files and pairing very easy. On your task bar will be a BT icon that you right click for a list of options. The IOGear claims to work with MAC but the Cirago doesn't. I don't have a MAC so I do not know if this is true or not (Sorry). The Cirago has a brighter blue light than the IOGear. Also, the IOGear is smaller (But not by much). Both are so small in size they can be left in the USB slot and not removed. The IOGear is easier to remove from the slot than the Cirago (it is the shape of the exposed area that determines this). Here is one other interesting thought. Take a look at the picture of the IOGear. When plugged into the USB the metal part slides all the way in so only the black plastic area is sticking out. That is nice, eh? The Cirago goes in the same but sticks out just a little more than the IOGear (Some metal exposed). However, both function perfectly with USB BT 2.0 and early versions 1.0 & 1.1! Both are backwards compatible. The range doesn't seem to be different - I have tested both from 20 feet and they work (Document sent to printer). You choose.

By: BikeStrong

BikeStrong — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:45:25 +0000

Review by BikeStrong for IOGear USB 2.1 Bluetooth Micro Adapter GBU421 Rating: *** My comments (below) are from January 2009. One of the more recent comments (April 2010) states that my issues are no longer valid. Just a heads up that things change/improve over time. ***

The product works (eventually) and is low priced and is tiny. But, before you install it, please consider the following. Customer care by Iogear is horrendous.

The first hurdle is bad instructions. Step 1 for Vista says you MUST insert the device. Then step 8 says DO NOT insert the device. 8 is correct, by the way.

Still, the included ver. 5 drivers do not work with Vista. When you contact the vendor for help, they'll tell you where the ver. 6 drivers reside. They're marked 221 thru 321 so you think they don't work with the 421, but they do. Oh, you need the revised instructions, too. By the way, the included disc says nothing about the software version. You have to watch for it after launching setup.

So, get ver. 6 drivers or later, get the latest instructions, and don't plug in until the drivers are fully installed in Vista.

I asked if the drivers were necessary since Vista wants to provide its own, and tech support said yes, you need to install them.

I tried tech support's live chat. They pointed me to newer instructions that said to wait before connecting, but they said nothing about the ver. 5 drivers and Vista incompatibility. After wasting 2 hours installing and uninstalling, I emailed to tech support. I wrote at midnight and when I got up bright and early, I had a URL for the proper drivers and instructions. The final installation was flawless and the device works fine.