Small review of the MeshPocket QI2.
We travel a lot. Hang out in a lot of airports. Thus, we couldn't take our Heltec V3 with us to the airport because well!! That bodge solder job is going to make a TSA agent worry a little bit. But also near the end of my travel cases blog, we went on a bit of a rant about how to survive being in the airport. Saving one on the trip from going to one of those hipster bloggers about travel. Part of that blog talked about battery packs. On how it's important to have one, as you are never supposed to trust a single outlet that an airport provides to you. It's not the maintenance team's fault that outlets get worn out and destroyed. Some of those spaces within the terminal were not meant to be over capacity all of the time; space is money, and these airways cram as much as they can with as little sitting space as possible.
So when my original 8000Mah battery started to feel like a 500Mah battery (testing it on my lithium charger, one of the four cells was functional. Last cell held a charge at 550Mah, original rating at 2,300Mah.) Which is fine. had it for 5 years. beat the hell out of it. Forgot it in my travel bag for over a few months and it committed lithium seppiku. It's time for a new one.
And placing this review on Amazon is pointless when we have our very own website to post to.
So why not get a battery pack that has LoRa built in? Read on if you want to know more.
Disclaimer time:
Heltec did not pay us for this review. We don't even think Heltec knows we're even alive. We bought this with our hard-earned cash. This is just a review. Do your research and think for yourself before buying anything. Don't be a sheep. Unless you are an anthropomorphic sheep. We applaud your selection for choosing a semi-rare species in that fandom. If that is the case. At least use your head.
Here it is!
Man, just look at that sexy beast!
In case you are wondering about the slight discoloration at the bottom. We got it less than two days ago, and it still has its protective film on it. Why? Drives the unboxing community nuts when you leave it on. That's why. This particular unit I got was 10,000mAh of battery power, which is the maximum I could take through the TSA gate as an individualistic battery (technically, I could carry 3 of these. It must be a carry-on to the plane, as you can't pre-check them into a suitcase or anything like that.
They do make a 5,000mAh version of this, which is thinner and costs anywhere from $60-70(USD). This one cost us about $90(USD) with free shipping. Which is a little higher than a standard battery pack. But standard battery packs also don't have a LoRa transmitter built into them. Instead of my Heltec V3, this has an e-paper display, saving a bit more power.
On the back, there's inductive charging, which you have to turn on by holding a button on the opposite side of the case from where the antenna is. Also, when pressing it gives you a multicolored LED display, giving a rough indication as to how good the battery is without even looking at the e-paper display.
As for its functionality. I tried it with our Google Pixel 8 Pro phone as well as an iPhone 12 phone. Both of them have the Otterbox Defender case around them, adding a degree of difficulty with QI Charging. It's a little finicky, but it works about as well as our other wall-plug inductive chargers, so for something portable, it does the job.
It should be noted that when you turn on inductive charging. You can kiss receiving any LoRa signals goodbye.
There's also a USB-C, which can do 9VDC charging. So technically, I could charge BOTH of my phones at the same time. Otherwise, we would just use the USB-C cable to plug into the hotel room or home.
As for the durability. like I did with the office chair wheels. We'll have to do a follow-up revision to our article to tell you how long this thing lasts and the damage reports.
Firmware upgrading.
In the world of fucking annoying. Heltec decided to use a magnetic USB connection port on the side of this device. We suppose this is fine, considering it's realistically only used to update the firmware on the thing. Simply double-tap the power button on the other side of this, and the device will switch from a COM port to a USB drive. It should be noted that with the slightest bump on that USB cable, the magnets disconnect. I hate this.
It is nicer to simply upload firmware to a USB drive instead of fighting a little with the Heltec V3 to upload firmware via the COM port. But not entirely sure it's worth designing a proprietary cable that people are going to lose.
Note: at the time of posting, we're currently running version 2.7.5.ddd1499 Alpha on both my MeshPocket and my Heltec V3.. It's brutally slow to navigate the menus versus the stable release. Alpha software is alpha, so use it at your own risk!
The other side ain't much to write home about. The protrusion is where the Antennae would be. Our guess it's a simple 3dbi one; they probably also used it in the Heltec V3.
Using it!
To give a little background info. This location is in a reasonably dense residential area. R2 zoning, Low elevation plane. No permission from management to mount anything outdoors. Possibly the worst case scenario for a LoRa user, really. But that's okay. Because I was just going to test the back and forth reception from my Heltec V3 that I purchased a while back, to this new MeshPocket Qi2.
Upon doing this, I made my own mini-mesh environment in an enclosed area. Something happened that neither my Heltec V3 with a 10dbi antenna nor my meshpocket ever did before.
It picked up a fuckton of nodes!
Now. I checked the settings on both units to make sure MQTT was off. We just so happened to touch a repeater that, in turn, sent me well over to Chicago, we guess.
Normally, this is the kind we would expect if we did the proper thing by mounting our Heltec V3 in a weather-proof case and giving it an outdoor antenna, mounting it on a pole about 12 meters into the air. But not only this, but I was seeing people ask for a Comms check 3-4 hops away. to which we responded as well.
I guess if you're chilling with another node in close range. It increases your overall chance to mesh. It was cool to see!
Final thoughts.
When it comes to the construction of the MeshPocket. You can tell the engineers spent way too much time working with Apple by adding a glass front that will probably easily shatter, and because of how unique this product is, finding a replacement front glass plate is going to suck. There are also no screws around the outside perimeter of this case, with no covers for the ports. or a membrane around any of the buttons. I can also say it's not really designed for rugged outdoor use either. So a lot of points lost for repairability.
I also feel like China is going through this phase of electronics where they're trying to merge products, like Apple did with the MP3 player and phone, just to try to find something that sticks and is marketable. Inductive charging and LoRa, for example, aren't the most compatible things in the world. We suppose this could be worse. They could've added a flashlight and a bottle opener to it, like most hardware concepts on Kickstarter, as Silicon Valley believes their customers are always out at night getting beers from their bros, as most of the bars on the West Coast probably kicked them out for being too drunk.
Is there a use for this kind of thing? With a little more weatherproofing, sure! Campsites that have no cell phone reception. Can set up this unit during the day as a basecamp unit to have sweet SMS walkie-talkie action with your buddies. And at night, charge your phone.
As for us, the battery charger is the primary function. Especially when an airport delays you for 2-3-4 hours. The LoRa part is just a passive entertainment project to see who's out there when flying from city to city. Does the LoRa system work? Sure. Does it feel like it could last for days if we were to use this as a base station at an office? We guess. It just feels super Niche.
So, if you don't care about short-range communication. Save yourself the cash and just get a normal powerbank. Use the USB-C charger to power a Heltec V3 with its external case. If the build was better for handling outdoor environments and the occasional bouncing around at airports, running from terminal to terminal. I'd give it a better review.