Below is just another perspective.  I tried to get all of the printer related code in one view.  Again, everything used to work and I can successfully connect to the printer.  Getting the printer status or trying to print now results in the error "Error getting status: Malformed status response - unable to determine printer status"  Unfortunately delivery of the product is blocked until we can get this working again.

           TestPrinnerButton.TouchUpInside += (object sender, EventArgs e) =>
            {
                var bthandler = DiscoveryHandlerFactory.Current.GetInstance();
                //bthandler.OnDiscoveryError += (IDiscoveryHandler handler, string message) => { error(message); };
                //bthandler.OnDiscoveryFinished += (IDiscoveryHandler handler) => { error("Could not find a connected Zebra bluetooth printer."); };
                bthandler.OnFoundPrinter += (IDiscoveryHandler handler, IDiscoveredPrinter discoveredPrinter) =>
                {
                    var connection = discoveredPrinter.Connection;

                    try
                    {
                        //I have tried increasing all the time-outs
                        //connection.TimeToWaitAfterWrite = 30000;
                        //connection.TimeToWaitAfterRead = 30000;
                        //connection.MaxTimeoutForRead = 30000;

                        if (!connection.IsConnected)
                            connection.Open();

                        var printer = LinkOS.Plugin.ZebraPrinterFactory.Current.GetInstance(LinkOS.Plugin.Abstractions.PrinterLanguage.ZPL, connection);

                        // this works and instantly returns ZPL
                        var printerLanguage = printer.PrinterControlLanguage;

                        // throws exception: "Error getting status: Malformed status response - unable to determine printer status"
                        var printerStatus = printer.CurrentStatus;

                        // If I comment out the line above then we can reach below
                        Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
                        {
                            // throws exception: "Error getting status: Malformed status response - unable to determine printer status"
                            connection.Write(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(ServiceConstants.ZplCommandCalibratePrinterForLabels));
                        }
                      );
                   }
                    catch(Exception exc)
                    {
                        throw exc;
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        connection?.Close();
                    }
                };

                BluetoothDiscoverer.Current.FindPrinters(null, bthandler);
            };