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I've thought about trying to build a mesh-networking chat device for my kid and their friends who are too young for phones but would enjoy "texting" in town. Probably using a LoRA + Arduino/Rasberry Pi but by the time I add in a screen and keyboard it might be cheaper/easier to just buy a few of these off ebay.

Anyone have thoughts or experience acquiring and using a Cybiko recently?

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The LGR video (linked in this thread) mentions they bought four devices and all had defects that needed to be fixed before they could be used. Most cases the batteries had leaked, which had to be cleaned up. This might cause some corrosion of contacts as well.

So if you want to give used Cybikos a try, you should be willing to deal with this.

I saw that link after I posted--seems like a lot of hassle and the radio range might not even be very good. Back to the LoRa-based ideas I guess..

I'm not a fan of actually using unsupported vintage hardware even though Cybiko was really awesome.

What about just using cheap tablets with rugged cases, and some app like meshenger?

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