After obtaining 4 different kinds of meshtastic boards, I can easily say it’s a pain in the arse to get them to work properly. I’m saying this as someone who just wants to buy an IKEAesque hardware package which can be assembled easily and made to work without a lot of effort.
I understand this is an open source project but at the same time I also think we can standardize at least one kit.
I’d like to talk to LilyGo to create an SX1262 with M8N board, with the screen already soldered on, an SMA connector on it instead of the unreliable and weak u.fl connector, along with a good tested RAK wireless omni antenna and a good 18650 battery and a 3D printed or plastic molded case.
This would ease the entry barrier for laymen who cannot solder, hunt for decent antennas or struggle to find a 3D printing service. Even if this adds 20 USD on top of the existing boards, it’s worth the cost.
Right now, too many ambitions and expectations get drowned when many users can’t solder a screen, the u.fl cable or connector breaks, the stock antenna is tuned to a parallel universe and the entire thing is naked without an enclosure and looks like a bomb controller to civilians. Oh, not to forget the absence of a decent battery. I’d also throw in a rotary encoder to select canned messages. The screen and canned messages already make it better than the goTenna.
The reason why many users run to buy a goTenna mesh is the low entry barrier.
If we want Meshtastic to become mainstream, the least we need to do is ask at least one company to sell a standardized kit which works well and above a certain expectation, out of the box.
I would like to try to talk to LilyGo representatives about this. Is it a good idea? If anyone thinks I shouldn’t speak on behalf of everyone else here, please comment.
I would also like to hear if you support my idea, or if you have a good reason to not do this.
I’ve seen this “kit”. No battery, no case, no GPS no screen and apparently no antenna either.
All of these seem to be addon purchases. The cost of the starter kit as well as the addons seems too high compared to what my ideal kit would cost if created by Lilygo.
My idea is to not need to solder things or make assembly harder.
Also, RAK has unreasonable shipping fees.
With all that said, I wouldn’t have a problem with RAK creating the ideal kit like I described above at a more reasonable price.
There are two cases available, you just can’t ship lipo batteries worldwide. Those shipping prices are what it costs to ship from HK, you are correct that the price is high for a single unit but most people are building networks with multiple nodes.
To get the best price to make kits or ready units, company like have MQT (Minimum Quantity Order) Most starts 200 -1000 units. Best option, in country a team hobbyist do the solder work
I’ll start a Kickstarter if needed. Right now we don’t even need to ask them to build a new product. They just need to put multiple items into one bundle. That’s pretty much it.
I wonder if there is a problem regarding certifications (CE, FCC, & more) when selling a ready-to-use product rather than a kit for self-assembly.
AFAIK the seller (producer/distributor) would have to have hardware and software(!) certified which costs a LOT of €/$.
Plus (at least here in Germany/EU) registrations for package trash (paper/plastic), WEEE electro trash and –where necessary– battery trash which also costs for each article sold.
What I am talking about is indeed a self-assembly kit, that takes under 2 minutes to assemble by hand without using any tools.
Screw the antenna on, pop the battery in, drop it in the case and you should be good to go. No fiddling with soldering irons, no hunting for antennas, no headaches carrying a naked board around.
I understand. But as I already learned from a similar context, this is a bit of “legal limbo” because it is unclear what really is – on the one hand – a kit with assembly required and what is – on the other hand – a ready product that only needs some minor turns as final activation (battery, antenna, case, you name(d) it). But, IANAL
Hello, I’m quite new to this, although I find it very interesting and I want to buy several t-beams to test, I haven’t made up my mind. Kokroo, I think you are very right, and I want to support you in the purpose you want to do. If this project wants to democratize people, it should give a final product that works (although it can be modified due to being open source). I firmly believe that he has a lot of potential but he needs to go one step further (and he is ready to do so). On the other hand, I found this hardware from Lilygo, it is more or less what you describe but I think it does not have the firmware installed. LILYGO®Módulo de metastic TTGO t echo, 433 / 868/915MHz, BME280, NRF52840, SX1262, LORA, GPS, RTC 1,54, papel electrónico BLE, NFC para Arduino|Circuitos| - AliExpress
Greetings
The device you linked, the “T-Echo” was supposed to be our dream device… Yet it doesn’t work properly. The firmware, at this point in time, is riddled with bugs. The antenna supplied with the device sucks, and the battery is quite small.
I am trying to fix the T-Echo… but even after being donated 2 devices by @Reinhard , one had a fried radio chip and the other suddenly stopped booting meshtastic.
So at this time, I can recommend you other boards and antennas which work fairly well. But again, you will need to solder the screen yourself, buy an antenna and battery separately, and 3D print a case (optional but recommended).
Others over here are recommending the RAK kit but it’s a bit expensive and the shipping is too high for my taste. You can try it if you want.
Wow! It was what I supposed with the antenna of this link, at first it seems strange. The rak kit, It seems more complicated and expensive. One question, why do you think the meshtastic platform hasn’t already created a kit? and why not sell it on the web? I think it is not very difficult to create such a product from t-beam v 1.1. + (soldered screen, printed case, installed software and 18650 battery). I also don’t think it will be complicated to acquire the EU certificate, (although it does take time) But at the moment selling it separately on aliexpress is feasible. Still thinking of creating a kickstarter?
