USB Bluetooth 5.0 Adapter, USB Bluetooth Dongle Receiver for PC/Laptop, Range 33ft/10m

My Mac mini 2018 had issue with mouse lagging. Especially when I am downloading and uploading large files, the lagging came to a point where my Apple Magic Wireless Mouse is unusable. This is due internal WiFi chip is interfere with internal Bluetooth chip. My guts feeling is that internal WiFi chip and Bluetooth chip are a one combo chip. When Wifi is heavily used, MacOS reduces internal performance to prevent the chip overheating and melting which it actually happened to my Dell Alienware compact PC. By adding this external Bluetooth USB, it solves the mouse lagging issue. The is Bluetooth USB will override and disable internal bluetooth. So you will need to turn off-and-on on both Apple keyboard and mouse in order for the new Bluetooth USB to discover them. You will need also to shut down your Mac first, plug this Bluetooth USB in and then start up your Mac.

Needed it to connect a Scuf Instinct Pro controller wirelessly to my pc running ChimeraOS on a spare nvme to game occasionally on my PC. Was recognized immediately and connection is strong and stable. Also, I booted into my main distro (Ubuntu 22.04) and connected my Sony XM4s (WHs). Flawless sound and stable connection. Haven’t tested the “hifi” audio codecs (aptx and such) because haven’t been able to compile the plugins in my first try (something about pipewire version) however audio over SBC is perfectly fine. Anyway, wanted to share my experience specifically for Linux. Windows probably works great also.

This works great with Windows 10 1903. It changes from stereo to the mic/mono mode automatically and in a sensible manner. However the range in my house is not even 50ft. It may work longer outdoors with no obstructions but for those looking to get more range in a wood frame dry wall house this is no better than the $10-15 options. I tested mine taped to a Popsicle stick and it is about 3 inches above the top of my monitor. My use is for a range of just over 50ft from a dinning room to a bedroom. The stereo suffers dropouts at about 45ft. My zexmite has the same range. I have a DG60 that goes past the bedroom but is difficult to make play with WIndows 10. But that is what I will continue to use. FYI, for those that don't know, Bluetooth cannot do stereo with mic as there are only two channels so you get stereo OR mic/mono.

Windows 10 issues!!! DO NOT BUY THIS if you're using Windows 10!! Downloaded the latest CSR Harmony software off the StarTech website... why is this package over 200MB??? All that is needed is a driver not all this junk software which doesn't even work on Windows 10. The Harmony Bluetooth software detected about ~40 Bluetooth devices, however it didn't list descriptions for any of them. I live in an apartment building so there are a ton of Bluetooth signals going around. All the detected items only showed what appears to be MAC Addresses. I tried to connect to a few of these, but all attempts failed. I wasn't about to sit there trying every detected device if it doesn't show descriptions. Trying to stop the scanning and rescan would have it display nothing at all. I'd have to reboot to restore scanning functionality, but still it same issue as before. The only time this USB adapter actually worked is after I ran the uninstall and somehow the CSR driver stayed loaded. At this point the built-in Windows 10 Bluetooth features took over and suddenly it would sync with Xbox Bluetooth Controller. No surprise the built-in Windows features worked, but the bundled software which disables the Windows features is utterly broken. Avoid any Bluetooth adapters that use the CSR chipset, it's a piece of junk!!

This one works on my arch machine perfectly. I plugged it in. Booted my computer and tried to connect my Bluetooth headphones and boom!!! Connected right away. Truly plug and play in arch. No lag on videos nothing!!! If you are on Linux specially arch and you had Bluetooth issues like me. Buy this and your problems will be solved.

This review is for the StarTech customer service, which was outstanding. See other reviews for the physical performance of the dongle. I purchased this dongle because I wanted the Class 1 range to achieve the potential distance of a device with a Class 1 radio. The program for the Class 1 device works only on PCs (I use a Mac) and I bought a Dell Inspiron 3000 running Windows 10 specifically to use with the Class 1 device. However, the connection with the internal Bluetooth was inconsistent and unreliable and I thought the dongle would be reliable. But I couldn’t get the dongle to install on my Dell . I contacted StarTech support via Live Chat. Within a few seconds I was connected to a technician, Alex. After a brief online conversation he called me. He interfaced with my Dell and solved the problem with the StarTech dongle. Then he diagnosed and analyzed the problem with the internal Bluetooth. The Dell now connects consistently with the device to which it’s dedicated. This took about 45 minutes. The technician was courteous and knowledgeable; he consulted with research support as necessary. This was among the top two or three support sessions I have had with any company. Alex solved my connection problem so thoroughly that I have not yet tried the dongle with the device. When I do I’ll update this review. I feel secure purchasing from StarTech as I know from this experience they will support their products.

It took several attempts but in the end it worked fine, sound is great, and I expect to auto-discover and reconnect next time I plug in. The CD comes with 2 folders containing installation software, only one of them is for this model, check the documentation included. Windows 7 HP x64 will recognize this one at first without any specific device driver, but nothing works, no detection, no sound (regarding Bose Soundlink), after installing and reinstalling the provided device driver, I managed to discover and connect to the speakers, and it started to sound great, high quality. So in the end this one did the trick after requiring some dedication. I think that part of the trouble was another PC trying to connect to the Soundlink, after I disabled this PC bluetooth, then it started to work, take note.

Works great with Linux. As of Janaury 4, 2025, I'm using the latest version of Fedora Linux, and it was plug and play baiscally. Picked it up instantly and paired my bluetooth headphones with no issue.