@Edent what's so bad about <div> ... or: Why do you want to avoid them?

[jolt@telegrafverket.cc]

@Edent I would go with meshtastic because of the bigger reach in terms of community. Meshcore has cool functions, but it's not that big yet. BUT! Since they devices are pretty cheap, especially if ordered bare from china, why not both?

[psfshr@mastodon.me.uk]

@dan @Edent I gave up on both Meshtastic and Meshcore.

(Ran MT for ~3 mo, and MC for ~6 mo)

Meshtastic was largely dead in our area (might have better luck in a more built up area).

Meshcore seemed to be mainly somewhere for people to talk about Meshcore and send “Test!” “RX” messages back and forth.

Unless you have a known, stable, local mesh I wouldn’t rely on either for emergency use…

[taylorhayis@mastodon.world]

@Edent Neither are actually open source, I used Meshtastic for a year. Great for cities / festivals / mucking around.
Been using meshcore the last year or so.
Meshcore is MUCH more reliable for permanent setups, and usable for long range. We have like 200 meshcore nodes covering our whole state. Regularly messaging people hundreds of km away 12-14 hops.
This would be impossible on Meshtastic.

[taylorhayis@mastodon.world]

@Edent I dislike Andy Kirby, and he’s investing in / building meshcore with a kiwi dev called Liam. Expecting enshittification in the future.
I trust Meshtastic devs even less 😅

[jontheniceguy@toot.io]

@Edent from my (limited) experience, Meshtastic is better for telemetry-sending, and messaging is a side effect that people have grabbed hold of. As a result short-range comms work well. Meshcore is designed to be more of a message relaying system. Meshcore also has much longer range because of the relays. The cluster I participate in reaches from Hull to Isle of Wight.

[jontheniceguy@toot.io]

@Edent saw you asking elsewhere what people had bought. Here's my heltec V3 with a "10db antenna". It lives behind the velux blind in our bedroom.

[pini@mamot.fr]

@Edent I've attended this seession a few days ago: https://techwerkers.nl/en/events/2026-01-15/

It was recorded.

They recommend MeshCore over Meshtastic.

[edent@mastodon.social]

@pini thank you - that's useful.

[krahabors@toot.lv]

@Edent I do not have anything new or fancy, I'm sure there will be better recommendations.

[krahabors@toot.lv]

@hanscees @Edent
Basically any device with nrf controller will be good for battery use, but those with esp32 controllers are power-hungry. Even more if there is a display etc.

[edent@mastodon.social]

@krahabors I'm not interested in new or fancy. I just like tried and tested.

[hanscees@ieji.de]

@krahabors @Edent I don't know what an nrf controller is.
But I am learning: https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/arduino-wireless-communication-nrf24l01-tutorial/#transmitter-code

But there are low power firmware variants. https://github.com/dt267/MeshCore-Low-Power-Firmware-For-Heltec-V3-V4

However for beginners (like me also) just stick to normal firmware.

[krahabors@toot.lv]

@Edent DIY combination of nrf52840 with sx1262, usually called faketec, is good enough for me. Even without common PCB, wired dead-bug style:)
There are factory made versions of that combination now and a lot of newer, probably better options.

[krahabors@toot.lv]

@hanscees Guys in our community have found those extremely low power versions have issues with stability, probably need some more tweaking.
@Edent

[miclgael@hachyderm.io]

@Edent

id=CodeSmellOverlay
class=CodeSmellOverlay

[emily_s@mastodon.me.uk]

@Edent smells ripe for a custom ad block rule

[mossman@social.vivaldi.net]

@Edent I don't know if Benn Jordan has a presence on Mastodon, but I'm sure he'd have something to say on the subject. ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_F4rEaRduk

[commissarbas@toot.community]

@Edent I'm on #meshcore because that looks to be more active in my area. (Netherlands)

I sarted with 25 euro investment for a helltec v3 (3.2 iirc) and I learned a ton about wireless signals already. I am planning to build a repeater to get the network more stable and put that out on the balcony where I live.

I'm having fun but it's still very new. It feels like proper emergency comms are still with the hams, but then I need to get a license.

Highly subjective takes, all of this. 😊Learning

[alisonw@hachyderm.io]

@Edent
I put up a meshtastic node before xmas. It's currently down though while I improve the power supply. I'm in the countryside.

[kianryan@oldbytes.space]

@Edent
Well. At least the developer is aware.