Board Comparison | Which one is best for different use cases?

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1

Hi,

I am going to order at least 2 boards that support Meshtastic. I plan on forking the Signal app to create a client which can send encrypted messages using the Signal protocol over the Meshtastic interface.

So far, I have been quite confused as to what should I buy. I want to optimize the boards for the longest range physically possible, so in that regard here is what I am thinking:

  1. Choose the 433mhz version (legal in my region), as lower frequency has better penetration through matter. Correct me if my high school physics is wrong!
  2. Buying a new antenna, with 9dbi gain let’s say, to increase range.
  3. Preferring the SX1262 chip as it has better performance and transmission power apparently.
  4. Preferring the nRF52 chip as it uses lower power and has Bluetooth 5.0

Now here’s where I ran into problems:

  1. The " T-Beam - M8N & SX1262​" board apparently does not come in a 433mhz version.
  2. The " LILYGO T-Echo" seems to be riddled with a lot of bugs when Meshtastic is loaded onto it.

The “T-Beam - V1.1” seems to be the most popular choice but I am suffering from choice paralysis as of now.

Any thoughts on what I should go for?

@b8b8 @mc-hamster

2

don’t worry, you will eventually have one of each. :joy:

in practice 433MHz will give you no advantage over 868/915MHz most of the time.

you can add the RAK 4631 to the list, but the TBeam 1.1 M8N SX1262 is an excellent choice.