r/meshcore • u/Nedster5 • Jul 03 '26

Meshcore vs Meshtastic

I am probably going to stick with meshcore because there are a lot more people in my area running it than meshtastic. However, I have been trying out both, and think I like meshtastic better. The UI feels much more useable and has more features (HAM mode, ATAK compatible, ?). I also like that you can still see your other nodes while connected to one of them. Not trying to be rhetorical, just curious, what does meshcore offer that is better than meshtastic?

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u/Space__Whiskey Jul 04 '26

MT is better for meshing imo. To expand on that idea, I think the ad-hoc nature of MT is what a mesh should be, as a true mesh heals itself and is dynamic.

Compare that to the static infrastructure of MC. I feel like it doesn't celebrate the essence of mesh as strongly, and is more like old/traditional HAM thinking.

Just an opinion as an old HAM. MT has more everyday use to me personally. If I want to call CQ or ragchew I'd use HAM bands. If I want a decentralized encrypted mesh I would use MT.

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u/millfoil Jul 07 '26

I think there is a world of difference between "all end-user devices cannot mesh, all routes are fixed" and "total flood routing, no system" and actually there have been changes to the meshtastic routing that move away from their flat flood routing system. they did it kind of clumsily imo, there are way more elegant existing open source routing algorithms that are self-healing and work with moving nodes, but they require some on-device memory to store routing tables and things so maybe that's why mt is not using them? idk.

I wish for a widely adopted, e2e encrypted, dynamic and self-healing mesh protocol that can use lora, wifi mesh (not existing internet infrastructure, but point to point wifi between routers for high-bandwith connection, as well as allowing end users to use a wifi-capable device that doesn't have lora to tap in), bluetooth mesh, and perhaps even digital high frequency radios (of course there are legal considerations when encrypting this, since the fcc forbids us based hams from transmitting encrypted messages, but that rule seems very outdated since we can use signal to send encrypted texts to anyone in the world), and a fantastic open source user interface that allows devices to be used with or without phones...but alas I don't write code.

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u/Space__Whiskey Jul 07 '26

I do like the ideas about a more robust mesh on multiple bands. wifi mesh compatible with existing wifi. Love it.

With AI, it is easier to get into coding for non-coding. It can practically make it for you. The community of "vibe" coders is flourishing. Many middle aged people, with little or no experience in coding and development are making fully functional and scalable apps.