Brendan,
$150 is probably the price for the previous model of this wireless USB hub and adapter kit by IOGEAR. That kit has model #GUWH104KIT and it doesn't provide 400Mbs transmission speed. The one I'm talking about is the latest kit and it has model # GUWH
204KIT. It provides 400Mbs transmission speed. I did my research looking for a place where I could buy it and found only bestbuy.com. They sell it for US$120 but they don't ship outside US so I bought it through another Australian company and paid extra US$20 for their service fee and shipping it from bestbuy to USA address first. Then they sent it to me for US$35 via USPS. That how it came to AU$230.
re Serial to bluetooth, it's not $200 if you mean US dollars. It's just
US$129 for adapter with built in battery. You can buy the one without battery for
US$84 and this price includes a power adapter worth of US$5.
BTW AirCable is not the only company which makes them. Search US ebay for "Serial Bluetooth" and you'll find some adapters even cheaper(US$65).
So I guess extra US$50 or less might be worth of going wireless.
You can also use the same serial to bluetooth adapters to control your mount from PDAs with Pocket PC OS. I know there is SKY version for Pocket PC devices. And may be even Palm devices can be used if there is any telescope-planetary control software for PALM OS and PALM comes with a bluetooth built in.
cheers,
Mike