LoRa 32 V3

I initially tried the libraries on Heltec's site, and everything was super out of date and confusing.My learnings to help you skip my mistakes: don't use the Arduino IDE, skip straight to PlatformIO, which has more up to date libraries and documentation for the board. Search for Heltec V3 on the PlatformIO discussion boards for more.But if you just want to make it work with a couple clicks, just use Meshtastic! Thanks to the PlatformIO support, Meshtastic easily added full support for the V3 board, and it's a one-click install through your browser to the serial over USB to the board (always amazes me). Once installed, it boots right up and Just Works. If you have more than one flashed, they'll see each other and talk to each other out of the box. You can flash as many as you want for your mesh. What a cool project.After that you just need a place to stick em. I made a couple enclosures, carved out the screen and button holes, and mounted one in my attic and the other as a portable. I was able to get a message acknowledged about half a mile away with the stock antennas, so not bad, but I have better antennas on the way.Overall, yeah it's a funky board without much documentation, but the PlatformIO community has your back, and Meshtastic on this thing is good to go. Super fun.

I stumbled across Meshtastic like many seem to have done lately. I grabbed a pair of these boards to play with it and I haven't been disappointed. They were easy to flash. Pair easily with my phone and tablet. There are a lot of user produced cases etc. online. These things are tiny. I'm looking to build a mesh with some friends and see how far we can make it reach. I'll likely upgrade the antennas. I may buy a third to build a home station and maybe even another to put out as a repeater. Maybe on solar. Fun little project for a pretty low cost.

This isn't a true off grid device as there is no keyboard and scroll mouse to use for self texting. This means you must us a pc or phone device to message using Meshtastic. However the process is quite simple and can run on lipo or NiMH batteries using a jst connector though one is provided in the box. Plenty of pin out to add other functions, but this is over a nice device for the price.

I ordered the kit with enclosures. When I received the full order, in two separate shipments, I got units that had the wrong antennae which did not fit the enclousre. I read another review in which this happened as well. I sent the units back in order to get the units with the correct antennae that fit.On a positive note, the units worked fine.

I bought these a few months ago. Only one seems to work properly. On the faulty radio, it will receive messages, but it doesn't seem to be capable of sending them. It also won't charge batteries (even one that the other unit does charge). Suppose I'll just have to get a proper heltec V3 instead; I don't think I'd recommend these to anyone who may end up relying on them in an emergency.

I was able to write code and install it with little problem, but the documentation is not the best in the world. I bought these with the idea of having sensors located around a church camp to monitor various infrastructure pieces. I was having trouble getting decent range using the Lora functionality. I connected the antennas that came with the boards to a network analyser and found that they were tuned for about 1020 MHZ, and had a swr of around 1:5 at the 915 MHZ band. I built some simple dipole antennas for 915 MHZ, connected them to the boards and the range improved greatly. I would have no problem recommending these boards, just don't trust the included antennas.One other thing is that the default output power (according to the docs) is 14 dB, which is the max allowed in the EU. But, in the US, the max power is 21 dB. Since I'm in the US, I increased the output power (via a documented API call in software) which also increased the range.

This could have been a wonderful tool in my arsenal. But the lack of documentation and objectively lazy approach to maintenance for this product has motivated me to throw these into the trash.

The is the version 2 of the MC. I have gotten 2.8 miles between them in mildly hilly, heavily forested areas with the external antenna. The Heltec library and example provide all you need to get started. I purchased 5 of these total and had to send one back because it couldn't see the flash.Be very careful pushing the controller onto a bread board because the edge of the led canto take pressure. I broke the edge and the led no longer works.All in all, these little controllers are awesome and I plan on buying more of them.

This is a fantastic beginner kit because it is easy to setup/use, comes as a pair, and has a screen for immediate feedback.Be sure to update your firmware to benefit from all of the development work being done!The provided antennas are enough to get you on the air, but are little better than a dummy-load. A wise upgrade would be an antenna from a reputable source, to really let these Heltec v3 devices hear and be heard!

Excellent choice for introduction to LORA

These boards (V3) work well and do what they claim but every step is painfull. The online help is hard to find and other esp32 code is not fully compatible with these boards. Stick to the version 2 boards if you want a more seamless solution for your project.

Working perfectly for Meshtastic nodes!

Very difficult to get it work with Arduino IDE. Heltec not provide simple example code. All need deep programming. One board very like stopped working after few days of working. I'm going to return it.