iKross BT19 stereo bluetooth adapter

I recently lost my all time favorite stereo Bluetooth headset a Samsung HS3000. So I was looking for an inexpensive replacement and saw this one an iKross BT19 on Amazon for $22 plus shipping so I decided to give it a whirl. They advertise it as usable also audio receiver for your home stereo. Let`s start with physicals. The device is small and light. On the front are large buttons for volume up and down, next and previous song. There`s what they call a multi function button that acts as power on, power off, play and pause as well as bringing up the voice activation on the phone. The device has a standard 3.5mm audio jack allowing you to use any headphones. The device came with a pair of in ear headphones, but for whatever reason they never fit well in my ear. The option to use my own standard headset is a must for me. The charge port is a standard microUSB which I applaud. It came with a standard USB to microUSB cable to allow you to charge it on any computer. It did not come with an AC adapter. It also came with a 3.5mm audio cable to allow you to plug it into a car or home stereo. All in all it comes with a reasonable amount of stuff to allow you to be able to use it.

The clip on the back of it is pretty good and should be enough to allow it to clip onto light clothing. Might not work all that well on a winter jacket.

The buttons have a nice back lighting and flash while connected. The center light stays on solid while being charged, and then the outer lights stay on when fully charged. The front of the device has a high quality shiny finish but I wonder how durable it might be. Seems like it MIGHT be a scratch magnet.

The placement of the power button is well done in that it won`t be accidentally pushed. When it does power on it beeps nicely to inidicate it`s power on. It also beeps nicely when it powers off.

Pairing the phone was simple and easy on my Samsung S3. Pressing and holding the MFP put it in pairing mode.

They advertise this as a possible audio gateway for the home. This would require two things. First of all it needs to work while it is being charged which it does. And second, it needs to stay on and not power off when not connected. This one is a miss. If it is not connected for a period of time (5-10 minutes) it powers off. So if you want to use it in the home you have to manually power it on. Too bad.

Once connected it works well and has good volume and quality.

When the battery is getting low the device beeps to let you know, but unfortunately continues beeping so frequently it is unusable once it gets to this state. It charges back up quickly. The spec says 4.5 hours of use and I got close to 5.25 hours.

I have experienced an issue with streaming music to bluetooth headsets before. Imagine someone putting there hand on a turn table while a record is spinning. The pitch of the music would vary. I have had some head sets do this. In discussing this with friends it seems this might be caused by bluetooth data loss. On the Smasung HS3000 I never had this happen. On my Jabra 320 it was awful. It happened so much that at times it would make me nauseas. I experienced it a bit with this one. Oddly most noticeable as the battery was dieing. I also found it didn’t want to power back up when the battery was dead, even when plugged into an AC adapter, again an obstacle if your trying to use this as a home audio gateway.

So in the end this is a pretty good product for the price.