# How to talk to Bluetooth device from a PC without any Bluetooth capabilities. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-talk-to-bluetooth-device-from-a-pc-without-any-bluetooth-capabilities/434659 "2008-01-23T13:33:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-talk-to-bluetooth-device-from-a-pc-without-any-bluetooth-capabilities/434659/1 "2008-01-23T13:33:24Z")
I am getting some new GPS dataloggers that can only communicate with PCs and PDAs through a Bluetooth connection. I have available to me a Palm T|X that has Bluetooth, and am guessing this will be my link. But if that doesn’t pan out, what does it take to be able to talk to these Bluetooth dataloggers? I have a desktop PC that is maybe 4 or 5 years old, and it has Win XP Pro and has USB 1.x ports available. (They used to be USB 2.0 but something went wrong during an OS reinstall and a half hour of fiddling didn’t fix it.) This PC also has bus slots available, PCI I think. Can I buy some little gadget that plugs into the USB port and lets me link to Bluetooth devices? What are they called and what do they cost? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-talk-to-bluetooth-device-from-a-pc-without-any-bluetooth-capabilities/434659/2 "2008-01-23T13:38:11Z")
[QUOTE=Napier] Can I buy some little gadget that plugs into the USB port and lets me link to Bluetooth devices? What are they called and what do they cost? [/QUOTE] Yes. Bluetooth USB dongles. Very cheap. ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-talk-to-bluetooth-device-from-a-pc-without-any-bluetooth-capabilities/434659/3 "2008-01-23T14:08:15Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] Yes. Bluetooth USB dongles. Very cheap. [/QUOTE] Like [this](http://www.amazon.com/BLUETOOTH-1-2-2-0-USB-100M/dp/B000BZTKNC/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1201097184&sr=8-1). So, around ten bucks or less than half that ‘Used & New’. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-talk-to-bluetooth-device-from-a-pc-without-any-bluetooth-capabilities/434659/4 "2008-01-23T23:47:58Z")
You said “loggers” but I have to ask: are you trying to connect to a bluetooth GPS just to download data or are you trying to get the GPS data live? There are a few different bluetooth “stacks”, some of which work better than others, and all of them may or may not work well with a given combination of equipment. Connecting to a GPS to get the output live is usually is accomplished through a bluetooth serial port interface, while getting the logged data might be as simple as a file transfer. These are two separate “services”. I shudder to think of how many hours I have wasted troubleshooting half-baked implementations of Bluetooth connectivity. It works pretty well in phones, but in low-selling & specialized stuff it more often than not sucks. If your loggers come with crappy software that is necessary to interface with the PC and your Bluetooth dongle comes with crappy software, you may be in for quite a time of it getting everything sorted. It would be a good idea to research a little bit more and maybe see if you can find someone who has successfully connected to the equipment you’re buying.