Do you have any recommendations for a cheap Meshtastic-compatible board? I don’t need GPS or a battery, since I’ll power it with a solar panel or a power bank. Having a case isn’t important; what really matters is avoiding any soldering.
I’m basically looking for a low-cost board with an integrated LoRa antenna. The goal is just to experiment, connecting it via Bluetooth to a PC or smartphone.
HeltecV3 is probably the lowest-cost point of entry. It doesn’t have GPS or battery (though it has a battery connector and charger built in if you want to add a battery later). Some come with a case, some don’t, but there are lots of cases for them if you have a 3D printer.
The LoRa antenna isn’t integrated though (uses a U.FL connector) but it comes with a little mini-whip. I’m not sure I can recall any Meshtastic-compatible boards that have a fully-integrated antenna.
Running it directly from a solar panel is possible, but the ESP32-based boards aren’t the most power-efficient. I have one of mine running from solar but it’s got a 2000 mAh battery to smooth it out.
The nRF-based boards are more power efficient but they’re a little more expensive and may lack Wifi.