SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000-E for Meshtastic

This credit card sized device is a small miracle! Not only does it have a very solid implimentation of LoRa and Meshtastic, it comes with a truly superb GNSS chip (which is not just GPS, but GPS+GLONASS+Beidou+Galileo). Furthermore, many users, including myself, have reported amazing reception ranges, especially for a small antenna. Transmission range reports are more mixed, which could be due to the small battery. Speaking of which, that battery will last you a week-end, which is awesome. Be aware that to recharge the unit you MUST use the included special adapter (small cable with 4 contacts and 2 magnets at the end). Oh, and did I mention that the unit is also waterproof (officially only splash proof, but users have ducked it into glasses and pitchers with no problem). So even in torrential rain this will work. The build quality is superb and the semi-transparent case is super cool. I strongly recommend you purchase the special made lanyard which comes with a great clip. Conclusion: I have many Meshtastic devices and this is definitely one of the best ones, especially for the money! Is there a down side to that unit? Not really. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the light meter (lux) and Meshtastic cannot use the accelerometer this unit managed to squeeze in. I personally never had a problem with that unit and I even got a 2nd one recently to share with my family. I highly recommend this small and absolutely amazing device! (make sure to ONLY get the T-1000e version (the 'e' is crucial) as other versions are not Meshtastic compatible. For me this has become my "everyday carry meshtastic device"!

These little radios are an awesome entry point into the meshtastic world, or if you're looking for a compact low-power meshtastic tracker. I purchased a pair of these to test out as a way to give my kids a bit more freedom to wander around and explore when camping and hiking, while still being able to keep tabs on them. This worked fairly well, as long as you understand the limitation that LoRa is basically line-of-sight; if they go around the side of the mountain and there aren't any nodes to repeat, you'll lose communications. This can be mitigated depending upon the topography by leaving another node at camp, further from the mountain, that will be line-of-sight to both parties. They're small, easy to clip on a backpack, water resistant, and battery life is good. I shut them off when we were sleeping, but they easily lasted an entire weekend when we were out camping. When one of my kids jumped in the stream with it in his pocket, it survived without issue. I was amazed at how many nodes are in my area, and have been playing around a bit on the public channel as well. Be careful though, meshtastic is addictive.. after a couple of weeks, I was building $20 solar powered nodes to stick on my roof, camp, random trees, etc.. then I had to buy a few devices with screens and the ability to send messages from the device itself without requiring a phone. It is a slippery slope, but at least it is a relatively cheap hobby!

Great product to get into the meshtastic world. I bought a few when no kings started up. I wanted safe secure communication for my homies. I have been to less events like this so now I use it for camping with the kids. I can turn on the notification on the device which will make a noise when I message. Still requires a second device to communicate but will still work as a repeater after setup. Setup can be a lot but just be patient and follow the instructions. Digging through the website and finding the correct location, software can take a second. Connected great to my s25 ultra. I slipped a caribeaner on it and clipped it to back packs.

Being somewhat new to Meshtastic, my first purchase/foray into this project was 2x Heltec V3 LoRa's. No regrets with that purchase as an entry point in involvement. However, wanting something a little more discreetly portable, I found the T1000e Tracker and decided to make the purchase. The T1000e was easy to flash the Meshtastic firmware to from the Meshtastic website and easy to configure as s new node. The T1000e fits easily into a pocket and works surprisingly well with it's internal antenna inside the solidly built sealed case. I also picked up a lanyard for the tracker in order to hang from a rear-view mirror, grab handle, etc. when mobile and allow better LOS than carrying in my pocket. Battery life is excellent, typically lasting about 50hrs per charge. All said & done I am extremely happy with this purchase and would highly recommended the T1000e to anybody (new or experienced) on the Meshtastic journey.

I've been playing with Meshtastic for a few years now and wanted to get soome simple, all in one card trackers for the family to use while we are hiking. They won't use it if it is big, or bulky, or requires a lot of charging and care. So I got one of these, and the other brand that looks very similar to this to try them both out. I've had the other one for about a month now, and this one for about a week. I ordered this one after seeing how a lot of people seemed to like this over the other brand even though its specs were slightly lower. While this looks nice, and seems to be good when it is working, the lock ups are the problem. Yes, that could be firmware and possibly not the software, but the device is useless without the firmware, and I've tried the last 2 versions. The problem is that this likes to lock up with a solid green light and the only way to reset it is to hold the button and plug the charger in. If you're out on a hike you shouldn't need to carry the cable and battery just in case it decides to lock up. I've been running the other one on the latest firmware also for about a month now and haven't had it lock up once. Aside from the names the rest of the settings are the same on both units. I removed all 4 stars because with the frequent lock ups and only able to reset through the charger the device is basically unusable, that isn't a preference thing. As for preferences, I like the size of this better than the other device as it is slightly smaller. I do like the smaller LEDs and the better tactile feedback of the other device. The other device also has a dedicated reset button, but I'm not sure if that would recover from a lockup like this because it hasn't happened.

Neat Meshtastic device, it beeps when a new message arrives. I wear it on a lanyard arround my neck. Send & receive text, Position, Templateand & Lux data. One charge last a couple of days. Offten RF design takes a back seat to functionality and the internal antennas is one such design we all know 9f and use daily. Took it out of the box and it just worked. Out of the box and on air in a few minutes. There was a SW update on the Meshtastic flashing site, pushed that update with no problem. It really doesn't get any easier than this. Several friends have bought these and the only complaint is the Pogo pin USB cable to charge and program it. Induction charging would get arround the only valad complaint I know of. Battery save tip, set device to Tracker or Client Mute mode so the card doesn't participate in the mesh network rebroadcast zapping battery power.

[UPDATE] v2.5.2 came with my unit and *can* setup a private channel unlike what I read by googling. My initial rating was based on lack of knowledge. I strongly suggest if your not familiar with Meshtastic sw, review before activating it. Changed my rating since it was more an eval on sw Seeed is not responsible for. When you activate the unit. The fw that comes on it has a BUG and will broadcast your position to anyone else on the lora network and it's frickin... PRECISE! You have to flash to new fw in order to set a private channel before you can set your GPS to be non-public! Also flashing on linux is a major pain. You really need to flash from a Wintel machine which I vowed never to use...ugh. You won't find any clear instructions on howto from linux. Furthermore, there is only public key and no private key thus unable to create private channel. It's a bug and must update fw. So whether you like it or not. The time it takes you to flash with a good fw. You're basically broadcasting your position and it's actually pretty precise. You would think since it communicates with your phone via BT and fw isn't that big. Why couldn't the provide a simple flashing straight away to latest via BT??

I keep this at home as my client mute node. It communicates with my rooftop solar client base node. It’s been great, works very well. It’s small and portable if needed. Seeed is a great company. Own their roof rooftop solar note.