Review: Bluetooth Adapter for Keyboard & Mouse (BT-500) by Handheld Scientific
Posted: 05 Dec 2019, 07:10
Bluetooth Adapter for Keyboard & Mouse (BT-500)
A Bluetooth Adapter and a USB to USB Bridge by Handheld Scientific
A review by Rafaël De Jongh
It has been about a good month now that I have been using the BT-500 and from day one once I received it I was immensely surprised about this little yet fascinating tool that could indeed make anything from a wired keyboard or a mouse to an actual wireless Bluetooth device!
The first attempt was on a mechanical keyboard the Logitech G910, and it directly worked without any further adjustments, the only thing the company also warned me for is that the macro keys might not work and while they indeed did not work as the Logitech program that controls these obviously did not pick this Bluetooth transmitter up as their keyboard which is fairly logical. To that extend I also imagined if perhaps it would be possible to bind specific unused buttons to these macro keys to bind specific commands as the Logitech macro software can do. While I’m not a specialist in this I do think for someone with more knowledge about this might certainly get this working.
But besides the macro keys and other non standard keyboard button, the keyboard worked as expected and to have a wired mechanical keyboard run off a very small power bank to have it then connected to a Windows, Mac, Linux and Android machine really made it very lovely to utilise this.
Obviously I did not stop here, I tried out various wired gaming and non gaming keyboards and mice. The best and most lovely experience I got was when I hooked this device up to my old yet still most loved gaming mouse the Logitech G9. To have this mouse wireless was just amazing, it was always a dream to have a V2 of this mouse that would be pure wireless, but sadly I do not think Logitech will ever make this a thing. So you can imagine how great of an experience I had when I connected these two devices together.
If I personally would change one thing to this product would be to have it in a better plastic and also come in black, as the white does stand out, and to also make the lights be either dimmed or turned off by either software or hardware. But that’s really personally as there is really not much to talk in a wrong way about this superb product that I can really recommend to anyone that wishes to make their wired keyboard or mouse into a wireless one via Bluetooth.
I am certainly going to utilise this product for various other situations where Bluetooth would be a great option to use it on. As I am in a very graphical and development area having things wireless is pretty damn amazing, and I personally would even learn how to solder or strip a cable to make the actual usb cable shorter or directly attach the device to it. As that certainly would also very very practical to have a B version or something that would be a direct usb cable soldering/clamping version so that you can directly attach your keyboard or mouse to it without having all the excess wire that a wired device normally has because yea those had to at least have some extension because they were never intended to be wireless in the first place.
So to conclude this short review about the BT-500 by Handheld Scientific, this Bluetooth 4.0 device that can pretty much transform every mouse or keyboard into a wireless device is absolutely wonderful, not only the method on how it is easily linked up with any device that can connect with Bluetooth but also how it can be powered by even the smallest battery pack, an usb passthrough from your screen, or even just a usb wall socket. It really comes down that this is a magnificent piece of technology that I am amazed how well Handheld Scientific made it on both hardware and software part to make it as compatible as possible on so many levels that it really is a product for anyone who wants to get their mouse or keyboard into a wireless one.
Therefore I can totally recommend the Bluetooth Adapter for Keyboard & Mouse BT-500 in all ways, as it not only does what it advertises but makes it so much more enjoyable for having some of your old equipment be wireless via Bluetooth, and it is not just old equipment but of course any equipment that is wired could just be hooked up to this device and be made wireless connectable to any Bluetooth receiving device where either a keyboard or mouse can be used. So if you ever wanted or looked for something like this product it can be directly be purchased on their site: http://handheldsci.com/kb/ and I can certainly add that it is completely worth it for new and old tech alike, especially if you want to make your setup more wireless.
A Bluetooth Adapter and a USB to USB Bridge by Handheld Scientific
A review by Rafaël De Jongh
It has been about a good month now that I have been using the BT-500 and from day one once I received it I was immensely surprised about this little yet fascinating tool that could indeed make anything from a wired keyboard or a mouse to an actual wireless Bluetooth device!
The first attempt was on a mechanical keyboard the Logitech G910, and it directly worked without any further adjustments, the only thing the company also warned me for is that the macro keys might not work and while they indeed did not work as the Logitech program that controls these obviously did not pick this Bluetooth transmitter up as their keyboard which is fairly logical. To that extend I also imagined if perhaps it would be possible to bind specific unused buttons to these macro keys to bind specific commands as the Logitech macro software can do. While I’m not a specialist in this I do think for someone with more knowledge about this might certainly get this working.
But besides the macro keys and other non standard keyboard button, the keyboard worked as expected and to have a wired mechanical keyboard run off a very small power bank to have it then connected to a Windows, Mac, Linux and Android machine really made it very lovely to utilise this.
Obviously I did not stop here, I tried out various wired gaming and non gaming keyboards and mice. The best and most lovely experience I got was when I hooked this device up to my old yet still most loved gaming mouse the Logitech G9. To have this mouse wireless was just amazing, it was always a dream to have a V2 of this mouse that would be pure wireless, but sadly I do not think Logitech will ever make this a thing. So you can imagine how great of an experience I had when I connected these two devices together.
If I personally would change one thing to this product would be to have it in a better plastic and also come in black, as the white does stand out, and to also make the lights be either dimmed or turned off by either software or hardware. But that’s really personally as there is really not much to talk in a wrong way about this superb product that I can really recommend to anyone that wishes to make their wired keyboard or mouse into a wireless one via Bluetooth.
I am certainly going to utilise this product for various other situations where Bluetooth would be a great option to use it on. As I am in a very graphical and development area having things wireless is pretty damn amazing, and I personally would even learn how to solder or strip a cable to make the actual usb cable shorter or directly attach the device to it. As that certainly would also very very practical to have a B version or something that would be a direct usb cable soldering/clamping version so that you can directly attach your keyboard or mouse to it without having all the excess wire that a wired device normally has because yea those had to at least have some extension because they were never intended to be wireless in the first place.
So to conclude this short review about the BT-500 by Handheld Scientific, this Bluetooth 4.0 device that can pretty much transform every mouse or keyboard into a wireless device is absolutely wonderful, not only the method on how it is easily linked up with any device that can connect with Bluetooth but also how it can be powered by even the smallest battery pack, an usb passthrough from your screen, or even just a usb wall socket. It really comes down that this is a magnificent piece of technology that I am amazed how well Handheld Scientific made it on both hardware and software part to make it as compatible as possible on so many levels that it really is a product for anyone who wants to get their mouse or keyboard into a wireless one.
Therefore I can totally recommend the Bluetooth Adapter for Keyboard & Mouse BT-500 in all ways, as it not only does what it advertises but makes it so much more enjoyable for having some of your old equipment be wireless via Bluetooth, and it is not just old equipment but of course any equipment that is wired could just be hooked up to this device and be made wireless connectable to any Bluetooth receiving device where either a keyboard or mouse can be used. So if you ever wanted or looked for something like this product it can be directly be purchased on their site: http://handheldsci.com/kb/ and I can certainly add that it is completely worth it for new and old tech alike, especially if you want to make your setup more wireless.