[General Accessories] vectron:
This is a review of Anker Bluetooth wireless Transmitter and Receiver. http://www.ianker.com/product/99ANRECV-02BA

How many times you wished to "cut" the wires and use your headphones or speakers without "strings" attached? How about listen to your laptop or TV wirelessly with an existing set of bt headphones or wireless speakers? For sure there are a lot of scenarios, but often it involves 2 separate bluetooth devices, a receiver and a transmitter. If you combine both of these functionalities into one super compact package - you get Anker BT Tx/Rx module I'm going to review next.

You never know what to expect when you see a picture on vendors website in terms of the product size. So when I received this device from Anker for review, I thought it was very small to begin with according to box size. Packaged inside of recyclable box without any hint of plastic, just like other Anker products, the actual surprise came when I opened it up to find a matchbox size device. We are talking about 2" x 1.4" x 0.3" and at 48g - this is tiny, even so it had a metal body with some touches of plastic. Along with a unit, there was also usb to micro-usb cable and 3.5mm male to male audio cable. The device is rechargeable, and supposed to last almost 12 hours in transmitter mode and 7 hours in receiver mode. Controls and ports are very minimalistic. You have micro-usb charging port, 3.5mm audio jack, a small led to indicate power/pair/status activity - on one end side of the device. You have Tx/Rx switch along the edge, and Power/multifunction button at the top. That's it.

Operation is very simple. You flip the switch to Rx (receive), and plug your headphones in. Press and hold multi-function button until blue led starts to flash continuously, and go to your smartphone or tablet to scan for available devices. Select and done! For Tx (transmit) mode, flip the switch to Tx, connect Anker device through 3.5mm cable to your source (I had it connected to my ThinkPad laptop), put your wireless device (I was using wireless speaker) in pairing mode, hold multi-function button down on Anker device and it will get paired up automatically. Anker included very detailed instructions so there is no guessing. Typically different blue led flashing patterns on the device will indicate when its pairing up and when its connected. If you mess up, turn power off, and start again. There is also auto shut-off mode if no devices are connected after power turned on.

I do have to note, this is Bluetooth 2.1 with support of A2DP and AVRCP protocols. As a result you will have a reduced sound quality, not significantly but for sure your audiophile quality headphones will not sound the same as connected wired. I was able to test wireless range to be within 30-33 feet as mentioned by the spec. Another thing to keep in mind, if you wired headphones have in-line remote/mic - it will not work connected through this wireless bluetooth device where only audio going to come through.

Overall, I actually found this device to be very useful and convenient where it combines 2 separate devices into one attractive small package. Factor in 18 months warranty and support you get from Anker - this is one great value for under $30.

Here are the pictures.