LILYGO TTGO Lora 868 MHz OLED 0.96 Inch SD Card ESP32 Development Board Pax Counter Module SMA Metering Passenger Flows

I bought a pair of this boards to try out Meshtastic. I had zero experience with these devices, so I just followed the steps in the video bellow. But 1. It is old, the firmware version in it is not longer available. 2. I tried firmware-tbeam-2.2.11.10265aa, but it stuck at the splash screen. 3. Then I tried firmware-tbeam-2.1.23.04bbdc6, but after the setup I got a Critical Fault #6. 4. Tried the other board, same result 5. At this point, I was very close to send the boards back. But I started to wonder that maybe the video is wrong and the boards are OK. 6. Long story short, this device is sometimes referred as "Lilygo Lora", sometimes as "Lilygo TTGO Lora V2.1-1.6" and the right firmware is: firmware-tlora-v2-1-1.6-X.X.X.xxxxxxx.bin In hindsight, I can see that the video was made for a "related product". Anyway, adding a few lines to the description would have saved me (and probably for others too) some time. However, the product works and it does what it supposed to do.

I wanted to learn and play with Metastatic. I picked this up to get started. It was pretty easy to set up and play with. Great for the techno geek who wants to play.

I bought two of these units and programmed them to send a random number message to each other once every 3 seconds. If the message was received it would display the received message. Placed one in my shop and drove off on errands with the other. My last test was at a distance of 1.8km and it still worked. I was amazed! Totally worth the money.

The seller hasn't responded, and after four days, they still haven't helped or authorized a return or price adjustment. The product also doesn't meet the long-range expectations, as it doesn't work beyond 300 meters. I'm frustrated and want to return the item. I believe I'll need to file a complaint with Amazon.

I do not think this board is worth the money ($30) compared to other options out there. The model I received is T3_v1.6.1 20210104 . If you do some research you'll see that it's not recommended for meshtastic, that previous versions of this board had issues with overcharging, and that firmware support is iffy. They should lower the price or bundle in a battery and case if they want to sell at this price point. Buy the T3S3 or a heltecv3 instead. This board just isn't worth the headache when there are so many better options in a similar price range.