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
    5·
    5 days ago

    it has a camera and microphone, so can you actually do video calls?

    I don’t think any of the T-Watches have cameras. But you’re right about the meshtastic bandwidth, it’s more for some simple messages.

    So if the network isn’t great here I assume I can put up my own node.

    Yep, and a node is just another LoRa device, like the T-Watch. If it’s just near your house, it should work great. My Wio Tracker L1 picks up a repeater on the other side my suburb, and that gives me some crazy range.

    It doesn’t sound like you do, but if you need intercity range, LoRaWAN might also be worth looking into. In Queensland, many city councils (Brisbane, Gold Coast, Moreton Bay) have their own LoRaWAN networks that peer with The Things Network, and you can integrate it with Home Assistant using an integration, or my preferred way is through MQTT. You would probably have to write the firmware yourself with this option though.

    • Dave@lemmy.nzOPEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      I don’t think any of the T-Watches have cameras. But you’re right about the meshtastic bandwidth, it’s more for some simple messages.

      Sorry I misread, it said speaker and microphone. So it can do voice calls?

      Was I right about just getting two watches for communication? Is there a good crash course on understanding this stuff?

      • SteveTech@aussie.zoneEnglish
        2·
        4 days ago

        So it can do voice calls?

        Not over meshtastic, and not with the meshtastic firmware. The T-Watches have WiFi & Bluetooth, and are designed to be programmable. So the speaker and microphone could be used by custom firmware to do whatever, like talk over WiFi or answer calls on your phone.

        Was I right about just getting two watches for communication?

        If all you need is simple text based messaging then yep.

        Is there a good crash course on understanding this stuff?

        There’s quite a few resources and videos on meshtastic. For the T-Watches themselves, AFAIK not really.

        • Dave@lemmy.nzOPEnglish
          2·
          4 days ago

          For the home assistant thing, how would I connect Meshtastic? I couldn’t really work that part out. I assume some receiver device must exist that you plug in with a USB port in order to use the Home Assistant integration?

          • SteveTech@aussie.zoneEnglish
            2·
            4 days 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·
              4 days 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·
                4 days 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·
                  4 days 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·
                    4 days 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.