Hi Everyone, I’d like some help as we have 4 dogs and zero GPRS on walks… my better half calls or messages me at work to say she’s lost (insert qty of dogs) and that her “insert numerous expletives”!! isn’t working as either her phone or the tracker hasn’t got signal… really like the idea of the Mesh concept as the dogs have a formation they also keep with the smaller more elderly dog normally staying somewhere in the middle so would make an excellent relay point even though they don’t venture off more than 400-600m so I don’t consider a relay required but just in case as there are often trees and thick hedge rows in between.
Battery life only needs to be minimum of 6-8 hours more would obviously be preferred, voice isnt needed just the most accurate GPS signal possible without getting silly, quick refresh rates and of course rugged / waterproof…
I’ve got a background in electronics but from 20 years ago (went into computing / oracle) so I’m not massively out of my death when copying someone else’s or evolving it, but from scratch I will struggle…
Hope you can help for the sanity of me and the dogs off lead walks…
Looking at something like the V3 from Heltec but would appreciate any assistance our community can offer
ps they never catch anything just like to explore and run across the fields chasing each other which works well till trees and hedges get in way of line of sight…
There are hav been a couple of threads about this recently
The heltec v3 is nice, but lacks GPS. Although one can be connected.
For not much more than the generic Lora v3, can get a similar device but features a GPS
I’ve been experimenting with these as trackers, and so far they pretty good. Much more compact that most other meshtastic devices that include a GPS.
Only needs a case and a battery (and lora antenna!) . A 1000mha battery is similar size to the device, and gives 24hour battery life.
There is also these
which on paper should be perfect (a sealed unit and easy to attach to dog coller/harness, with GPS)
… but it seems still early days how well these work with meshtastic, what sort of battery life they get (the specs oversell it!) and how well the integrated antenna works.
… plan to get one soon, to try out and intend to try it out for on my dog, which does like run!