this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2026
92 points (100.0% liked)

Meshtastic

1659 readers
200 users here now

A community to discuss Meshtastic (https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction)

Other mesh communities:

MeshCore: !Meshcore@feddit.org Reticulum: !Reticulum@mander.xyz

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Sal@mander.xyz
92
Best LoRa Meshtastic Devices Of 2025 (www.youtube.com)
submitted 3 days ago by mesamunefire@piefed.social to c/meshtastic@mander.xyz
36 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

πŸ“‘ SEEED T1000: https://www.seeedstudio.com/SenseCAP-...
πŸ“‘ SEEED L1 Pro: https://www.seeedstudio.com/Wio-Track...
πŸ“‘ Heltec Mesh Pocket: https://heltec.org/project/meshpocket/
πŸ“‘ Heltect Mesh Pocket (Amazon): https://amzn.to/4p1YIny
πŸ“‘ Lily Go T-Deck Plus: https://amzn.to/48cy43Z
πŸ“‘ LowMesh Pocket-S Solar: https://lowmesh.com/
πŸ“‘ Muzi Works R1 Neo & H2T: https://muzi.works/collections/all
πŸ“‘ Smiley Antenna: https://www.smileyantenna.com/shop/p/...

top 36 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] harmbugler@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

My kid's about the age people start providing mobile phones, but we haven't decided on providing a mobile phone. I'd still like them to be able to contact us from short distances e.g., from the gym we can see in our apartment complex, from the other end of the beach, at our village shops, in the airport etc.

If I bought two Lily Go T-Deck, would those devices be able to communicate out of the box with maybe a little setup?

I don't have any Meshtastic devices already and there aren't many mapped nodes near me, so I am guessing it would be a bit like text-only walkie talkies that we could build further on?

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 1 points 2 days ago

Probably not if im honest. Lora is very much line of sight. He would have to be up VERY high or you would have to have a lot of nodes in your city.

[–] Bombastic@sopuli.xyz 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Good to know there's a meshtastic community on lemmy

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 3 points 2 days ago

I mean, considering the kind of person drawn to Lemmy it's not very surprising at all lmao

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 days ago

First two and last links don’t work.

[–] Ratio_Tile@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 3 days ago

I literally discovered that meshtastic existed through this video and now I am obsessed

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

I mentioned it to you in another post, but I just bought the Seeed T1000e today. I've had my eye on it for a while now and have heard lots of good things about it. Will be excited when it arrives Sunday. It'll be replacing my Heltec V3 (RIP) everyday carry that decided to self destruct last night.

Old EDC Node

Soon to have T1000e (stock photo)

[–] OfficeMonkey@lemmy.today 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm a complete newbie to LoRa/Meshtastic things, so please forgive the honest question: what do you use this for? I see it has some sensors out of the box, but... What are you doing with it?

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Kindof a modern take on a CB radio from ye olden days. Mostly just keep a node with me when I'm out and about just to see who I can pick up and from what distances.

Edit: I was tired and on mobile when I replied that, but here's a mostly comprehensive list of what I use mine for:

  • I just think they're neat!
  • I'll pass a node out to everyone in the group when we go camping, hiking, etc. They're all populated with a generic set of canned messages you can send from the device itself (so no phone is required). Messages are like "You good?", "Ack", "Need help", "Checking in", etc.
  • The campsite we use most is about 2 miles from civilization, into the forest, down and around a mountain, and by the river. We have a friend who lives at the mouth of the road / edge of civilization. On my way down to the campsite, I stop every so often to "drop a buoy" by which I mean I strap a node to a tree to act as a relay. There's no cell reception at all there, so this lets us relay up to the friend's house if we need anything or have an emergency. LOL, one time we asked her to go get us more ice and beer and she delivered!
  • Better to have it and not need it in case of disaster. I keep my primary channel private but set the radio parameters for the "default" channel so I can relay for users using the default config and vice-versa. The "default" Meshtastic channel is a secondary in my config, so I can talk with people using the default config.
[–] OfficeMonkey@lemmy.today 4 points 2 days ago

Thank you for the great explanation! I felt I had to come back to thank you after I tried to upvote your reply twice. I'm going to look into this more -- and then look at how far out on the lake I can get signal. Thank you!

[–] GrumpyBike1020@monero.town 3 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Why is he holding it to his face like a walkie… do any of these actually support the voice note meshtastic feature? I’m pretty sure all of these are standard text nodes

[–] Dionysus@leminal.space 9 points 3 days ago

Because YouTube art is fucking stupid.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Meshtastic (LoRa) doesn't do voice. There's barely enough bandwidth in the very best conditions.

[–] Link@rentadrunk.org 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Reticulum which works over Lora does though.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Given the bandwidth of LoRa tops somewhere around 11kbps, audio would be fairly low quality and it would take most of the channel capacity so only one person would be able to speak at a time in a given area. So while possible, it would be a very different experience than voice over 3G/4G/5G or WiFi.

With text, multiple conversations can be had fairly well due to the much lower bandwidth requirements.

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I believe that is one of the chinese ham radio devices he tapkabout first couples of minutes into the video. Probably stock. 40 seconds on-ish

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Whats your favorite meshtastic device?

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

My heltec meshpocket 10,000 mah. It lasts me 50 days on a battery charge.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

WisMesh Pocket with a 10" whip antenna. Always raises eyebrows when I plop it on a table.

[–] Link@rentadrunk.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

How long does the battery last and can it fit in your pocket?

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Days to a week in a busy environment. Don't have exact estimate. The stock small antenna lets it fit in a pocket. Larger antennas don't. Here's two side by side with an apple for scale:

If you don't care to experiment with antennas, the WisMesh Tag/T1000 are more portable. Like 3-4 stacked bank cards.

[–] Link@rentadrunk.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thank you very much. Where did you get that larger antenna and is there an EU version?

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

It's a Taoglas Meteor. Look for "Meteor" here. Find the version that's for your country's frequency and the correct connector. Then look for thay model at your electronics store. I got mine from DigiKey. Not sure if they operate in the EU but I'm sure there are alternatives.

[–] Valarie@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 3 days ago

I'm running a heltec v3 right now and so far it seems to run pretty well but the antenna I have been using with it is pretty shit so I have a better one on the way

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

RAK's WisMesh Tag is a pretty good alternative to the T1000.

Also their 1W nodes are interesting but still in DIY format only.

I had a Heltec MeshPocket till I lost it during a bike ride. Pretty decent but very power hungry. The T1000/WisMesh Tag are nicer to keep on you I think.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The heltecesh pocket or the rak mesh pocket? Only reason I ask is because I have the Helltec mesh pocket, 10,000 mAh, and it lasts me 50 days on a battery charge.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

When you say RAK mesh pocket, do you mean this or this? Neither last 50 days.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The first one. The one i said lasted 50 days is Heltec MeshPocket. https://heltec.org/project/meshpocket/

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well the 10Ah Heltec MeshPocket would definetely last longer. The only thing that's nicer on the RAK is that it's got an external antenna connector so you can plug any antenna into it. I had a Heltec MeshPocket 5Ah and it lasted less than my RAK. It may have been something that was fixed down the road. I got one of the very first units because I preordered it long before they produced it.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I got the 10Ah version in october 2025 and have tested it to last 50 days once already and am at 42 days as of now

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ia there much mesh traffic where you are? How many nodes do you see?

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

At the moment, unfortunately, no. General average is about 5 to 10 nodes.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The battery life makes more sense now. As the mesh grows, retransmission increases and therefore power consumption. Either way, the 10Ah Heltec would last the longest.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's a portable device, so I always run mine in client mute, so it's not retransmitting other packets, because it's kind of pointless to do so with such a small antenna.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

Oh yeah that also increases batt life.