I’m after a watch that I can put on a kid when they are on their own at a park etc.

What I’d like:

  • It’s own data connection so it doesn’t need a phone with it
  • Home Assistant support so I can track it remotely via home assistant, automations, etc
  • Some way of calling them when it’s time to come home, or them calling us when needed
  • We don’t have an iPhone so I think Apple is out since it needs an iPhone for setup
  • No subscriptions outside of the cost of the cellphone plan
  • Preferably doesn’t need OEM servers, just connect to Home Assistant
  • Handling knocks and bumps would be a bonus
  • If you can run a non-google OS without tracking etc GrapheneOS style then yay but I don’t know if that exists

Any suggestions?

  • SteveTech@aussie.zoneEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    I don’t use the home assistant integration, but my understanding is you have to configure WiFi and an MQTT server on a node at your house with the meshtastic app (I probably wouldn’t use a T-Watch for that, something with a longer external antenna would be better), and point it to your home assistant’s MQTT server. Then there’s some more configuration to make home assistant send messages and what to do when it receives messages.

    Most meshtastic compatible devices do have a USB port that presents as a serial interface though, so there’s probably an unofficial integration that makes use of that too.

    • Dave@lemmy.nzOPEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      Ah so it sounds like I just buy something that has an antenna and work it out from there?

      The hardware doesn’t look too expensive so I might just buy some and give it a go 🙂. Thanks for all your help!

      • SteveTech@aussie.zoneEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        Cool! Also if it wasn’t obvious, anything running meshtastic will be able to talk to anything else running meshtastic. Like you could get a Wio Tracker L1 (for home assistant) and 2 T-Watches, and they’d all be able to send messages to each other. You can also setup a channel, for a group chat sort of thing.

        • Dave@lemmy.nzOPEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          Sounds good! I’ll make an impulse purchase before I talk myself out of it 🙂.

          My actual watch problem can be for after I work out what I can do with these 😆

          • rmuk@feddit.ukEnglish
            2·
            17 hours ago

            Just to chime in: I have a couple of GPS Meshtastic lumps I use for tracking my cars in Home Assistant. I live in the North West of England - if you take a look at a map, I get reliable coverage as far north as Lancaster and as far south as Wigan, with unreliable coverage as far north as Barrow-in-Furness and as far south as Liverpool. That said, there are a lot of Meshtastic users in the area thanks to a lot of publicity from a local YouTuber (Ringway Manchester) who is into his radio kit, so your mileage may well vary.

            • Dave@lemmy.nzOPEnglish
              1·
              13 hours ago

              My main use case is within 1km of my house, and largely within a couple of hundred metres of my house, so it’s quite possible the devices I get can can just talk to each other.

              With that said, it seems where I live there is a recommendation to use SF16 instead of Long Fast due to crowding of devices, which seems promising even though I don’t know what that means 😅

              I ended up ordering two of the T-Watchers and a T-Lora Pager and am looking forward to having a play!