Bluetake Bluetooth Adapter, Headphones and Audio Station

Reviews: Multimedia

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Richard Poelling
Kurtis
Bluetake
Dec. 22, 2004

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Conclusion

Bluetooth technology has matured quite a bit in the last several years. As more and more products are produced, the options for interoperability increase. After looking at some of Bluetake's products, I can see both the advantages and disadvantages of this technology. Both the I-Phono and the Hi-Phono devices performed their jobs as advertised, although the processing lag of the Hi-phono made it useless for the job of replacing your rear speaker wire in my opinion. I had no problem discovering or pairing any of the devices, either with their associated counterpart, or with each other. Of course, being paired is not a guarantee that the device will do anything as can be witnessed by the USB adapter. In fairness, I will say that the USB adapter is not advertised to work with either the I-Phono or the Hi-phono, its primary purpose is to act as a gateway for your PDA or cell phone which it did do well. The interoperability is really what made these devices truly functional. I will say that I probably got more use out of the Hi-phono when it was paired with the headphones rather than how it was meant to be used. Having cordless headphones to just listen to music is great. Not having to carry around a small transmitter and an MP3 player was also nice.

Looking at the pricing of these items, the I-Phono retails for about $200, the Hi-phono for $168, and the USB adapter for about $30. I think the pricing on the USB adapter is quite inexpensive, especially if you have a Bluetooth enabled cell phone and/or PDA. The headphones are a bit pricy in my opinion although they do sound nice and are very portable. The Hi-phono I just don't really see a need for. The inherent lag produced in the process of coding and decoding the signal makes them pretty useless in my opinion. Only by pairing them with the headphones did the unit begin to have merit. Of course to do this you would have to buy both, and you could just buy wireless headphones for a lot less.

USB Adapter

Pros

Small
Native Windows XP support
Easy PDA syncing
Small size and highly portable

Cons

Limited functionality
Slow speed on sync with a PDA

i-Phono Headphones

Pros

Can charge using standard power or USB
Comfortable
Sound great
Interchangeable colors

Cons

Transmitter is a bit large for small MP3 players
Look kind of funny
Kind of pricy at $200

Hi-Phono Audio Station

Pros

Quick pairing
Looks great
Small size

Cons

Processing delay
Quite a lot of Cables

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Page 6 of 6

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions
Page 3: Getting Started
Page 4: Testing
Page 5: Interoperability
Page 6: Conclusion

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1 User Comment

1 - Posted by jwinograd on May 27, 2005 - 4:46 pm

No one should buy any Bluetake products unless you are willing to live without any technical support. I've had several problems with my i-PHONO BT420 headset and sent them emails on 4-Mar-05, 5-Mar-05, 13-Mar-05, and two on 12-May-05. The emails went to bluetake@bluetake.com, which is the address generated by their End User Enquiry Form on their website. I've tried both techniques -- filling out the form and sending emails directly. I've never gotten a single reply (and I can't find a phone number for them). I just sent a sixth email today asking them if their company is still in business and, if so, how I get technical support. I haven't heard back and, quite frankly, don't expect to. The headset cost me nearly $200 and I'm very angry that it's not working properly, but even angrier that I can't get any help from the company. Caveat emptor! Regards, Joe

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