Real-world guidance on communication, devices, offline maps, and preparing for places where cell service can't be relied on.
Tracking dogs, kids or gear beyond cell coverage? Start with the off-grid GPS tracking overview.
46 guides
You bought a small radio and the box or an app mentions "MeshCore". For a Nelos user, MeshCore is mainly the network layer behind the scenes - what you actually use day to day is Nelos: team chat, offline maps, trackers and Need Help.
In Nelos, your identity lives in the app, not the radio - so a dead battery, a broken unit, or a borrowed spare doesn't make you a stranger to your own team. How that compares to Meshtastic and the official MeshCore app, and where Nelos's own approach still has limits.
goTenna has left the consumer market. Nelos is the modern app that keeps the part people liked about goTenna and adds offline maps, trackers and Need Help, on hardware from multiple makers instead of one company.
A plain-language guide to switching from goTenna Mesh to Nelos: the 5 steps to get your group set up, choosing hardware, trackers, offline maps, and what changes versus goTenna.
If you still have a goTenna Mesh device: the hardware may still run in some conditions, but the app, official support, and reinstalling after a phone change are separate problems.
The goTenna timeline: from an off-grid messaging device for consumers to a professional and government product. Whether goTenna Mesh was discontinued, why, and what goTenna does now.
You still have a goTenna Mesh device but switched to a new phone and can't find the app? The status of the app on iOS and Android, and the options if you need a maintained app.
What an ordinary family should use to stay in touch with no signal: a two-layer model - Life360 or Find My when there's a network, a LoRa mesh system when there isn't - and a tracker for young children.
What a hiking group moving along a trail needs: group messaging, location, maps, range, battery and weight. A comparison of modern LoRa mesh, satellite devices and two-way radios.
Camping means a fixed campsite with people spreading out around it. The goTenna Mesh alternatives, how to place devices and a repeater, and maps and location around camp.
At a festival, the problem is usually network congestion, not a total lack of signal. Why an internal channel can help, the limits of mesh radio in a crowd, and how to coordinate a group when the network is overloaded.
Coordinating within a group on the ground is different from reaching rescue services outside. LoRa mesh helps with the first when cell infrastructure is down, but does not replace a PLB or satellite communicator for the second.
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