Bluetooth

[ZaZ]

I have a pair of ThinkPad Compact Bluetooth keyboards that I use with my HTPCs. I bought a couple inexpensive Bluetooth receivers via eBay to pair the keyboards. I like the keyboards a lot, but sometimes the performance could be better. Both keyboards sit about six feet from the receiver, but at times are lethargic or you lift your finger off the stick and the pointer keeps going. When I point the keyboards directly at the receiver, they work well, but I thought Bluetooth had better range than six feet. If I pair headphones with my phone and go two rooms over, it still works well, so I got to thinking maybe it's the receivers that are the problem and if spent some money on higher quality receivers, it would work as it's supposed to, but I know little about Bluetooth. Ideally, I'd like to put the receivers behind the PCs, but when I did, it was much worse. Can anyone lend a hand? Thanks for any help.

[Dekks]

What version of BT does your recievers support? Any power saving set up on the USB ports they are using?

[ZaZ]

Thanks Dekks. I don't really know. I want to say like 1.2-1.4, somewhere in there, but can't say for sure. I did see that the allow computer to turn this device off to save power is checked in the Bluetooth properties. Should that be unchecked?

[lead_org]

This is well known problem with these compact Bluetooth keyboard. I have six of these keyboards at my startup, and they are all like this. I got the usb version because I got so sick of this problem.

[ZaZ]

Thankfully, the one I use the most, works the best. It only does it occasionally, but mostly works well. The other is on my main HTPC, which is mostly quick point and clicks. I was considering getting one for my main desktop, but if it's going to be same thing, I think I'll look for a different option.

[rkawakami]

Are we talking about a 0B47189? I have one that I use in the living room with a T410. Online reviews that I read before buying it said it sometimes had a poor working range. It was the only wireless keyboard I could find that had a built-in Trackpoint so I bought it anyway. I can attest to the range somewhat as I checked it out about 10' away from the laptop and sometimes if it wasn't angled just right, the cursor got "jumpy". However, as the daughter mostly uses it to run Netflix off the T410, and is typically about 7' from the laptop, she hasn't complained about any intermittent connection and/or pointing irregularities to me.

I'm not sure what the Bluetooth power settings are on the T410; I'll look at them when I get home tonight.

ref: http://www.amazon.com/ThinkPad-Compact- ... B00C32FWJC

[ZaZ]

Yes, that's the one. The one I use with my main HTPC is the worse of the two, but that sits a bit farther away and is lower to the ground. If I point the keyboard directly at the receiver, it usually clears up, but is slightly annoying.

[Dekks]

If the receiver is obscured at the back of a machine not in line of sight, try getting a USB hub and putting the receiver in that.