I bought the ZBT-1 a few months ago. My only complaint is that they made it as a usb stick then said keep it away from the usb port. It did come with an extension cable, so I’ve always had it connected that way. Otherwise, no complaints here. It seems to reach what it needs to. I’m using it for matter over thread devices. The closest thread IoT device is only about six feet away, so it didn’t need to be super strong to connect and control my thread network of devices.

As for the upgraded device: Moving away from the usb stick makes sense. With that said, I’m not much of a fan for this new design. I don’t have any intentions of getting the zbt-2 anytime soon.