This is a standalone MeshCore (or Meshtastic) radio node which looks very much like an old Blackberry phone. LilyGO brought out a T-Deck Plus, and they both use the same ESP32-S3 (Dual-Core @ 240 MHz SoC inside).

There are some key differences though:

• LoRa Transceiver: The M9 uses the Semtech LR1110 and T-Deck uses Semtech SX1262
• T-Deck is touch screen and M9 is buttons-only navigation
• T-Deck is twice as thick as the M9
• T-Deck uses an external antenna (and you could attach other SMA antennas) whilst M9 has everything internal
• T-Deck display is 2.8″ whilst M9 is 2.4″ – both are colour
• Both are hardware keyboards with the M9 being backlit keys
• Both should be 2 to 3 days battery life (depending on GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth)
• Storage on M9 is 16 GB built-in onboard flash, whilst T-Deck has a MicroSD slot
• M9 has a built-in compass and motion sensor
• M9 has a rechargeable Li-Po battery with fast USB-C charging – M9 is a 2300 mAh battery whilst the T-Deck is 2000 mAh
• M9 is basic buzzer sound whilst the T-Deck has sound and a microphone

I went with the brand new M9 mainly because it was available locally through Smart Casa in South Africa for about R1,800. A T-Deck would be imported and would have cost around R600 to R700 more. That said, MeshCore UK would sell theM9 for £64.99 GBP which included (in Aug 2026) their MeshOS worth £8. But I’d also have had to add VAT and customs duty if I imported it.

Why a standalone node?

Well it is all you need. It works without a phone or the Internet. Most MeshCore companion nodes are just radio nodes which require a phone running the Android or iOS app. There are both pros and cons to this though.

Working with a phone app means you can switch between testing different apps with your node. There is the MeshCore official app, MeshOS app, MeshCore Open app, and then also SAR apps like MeshCore SAR, and also mapping apps like MeshMapper to plot MeshCore coverage. With a standalone node like this, you are just using the single firmware app that you installed so you cannot install say MeshMapper on it.

A proviso to this though is: When using firmware like WADAMESH on your M9, you could have Bluetooth active, and use MeshMapper on your phone to connect to the M9 to do wardriving, as the M9 will still have messaging and normal functions available on its own screen to use.

Using a phone app means you use your existing keyboard which you are used to, and is often better spaces than the buttons on the M9. I actually find the hardware keyboard a bit more difficult to use, as the keys are small and I do mistype some letters. There is (on the M9 anyway) no easy quick move of the cursor to correct a typo (although it will jump back word by word so you just retype that word).

When using a phone app there is also the advantage of being able to copy and paste info between apps and MeshCore, whereas with a standalone device, it only does MeshCore comms.

To be honest, there are more configs available in the phone apps versus on the M9 firmware. But THAT SAID, you can use the MeshOS app on the phone to connect to the M9 MeshOS via Bluetooth, and basically use it like any other connected companion node. This also allowed me to set some settings I was not finding on the M9 such as creating a private channel (the M9 only wanted to create a hashtag channel) and of course using the phone app also meant I could copy and paste long PSK keys in for encrypted channels instead of typing the 88 characters out. Both the MeshCore official app and the MeshCore Open app on the phone, connect perfectly well to the M9 when it has the WADAMESH firmware installed.

But another proviso: The WADAMESH firmware on the M9 has a lot more feature settings than MeshOS has, so I should not have done my initial judgement based on the MeshOS firmware.

The physical on/off switch on the side of the unit, powers MeshOS up in about 5 seconds which is nice and quick. This is way quicker that it ever takes for a phone to boot up.

A device like the M9 has a built-in compass and motion sensor, as well as a battery-backed real time clock that keeps time between charges (unlike most cheaper Heltec devices).

Choice of firmware

MeshCore Official

The official MeshCore firmware comes on the M9 but despite me struggling a bit with navigating it, I also had the issue that I manage a number of repeater nodes, and this firmware only really does that via the CLI interface. That could be pretty inconvenient!

MeshOS

So I bit the bullet and paid the once-off £8 for Andy Kirby’s MeshOS. The software will actually work without payment, but you would miss a few features. It’s claim to fame for me though, is the easy menu based management of your repeater nodes (seen below).

It also has modern or classic fonts, and multiple text sizes including XL. There is also the Internet Messaging feature in MeshOS which uses Wi-Fi. This is a bit like Meshtastic’s MQTT messaging over the Internet, but this is not something I’d ever use.

With Wi-Fi active, you can also do OTA firmware updates from inside the M9’s firmware.

WADAMESH

WADAMESH is another alternative that I am now testing. It is fully open source software, but it’s version for the M9 is still in beta for the M9. Despite that it does work if you install the beta version, and it is packed with features, solving most of the shortfalls of MeshOS.

I was concerned about the remote management for repeaters, as it is only CLI, but it is not as bad as I feared, as it has a detailed pick-list of quick commands you can choose and run.

WADAMESH also has an app store with various plug-in apps that can be installed. One, for example, is called Wardrive. This does something like Meshmapper does, but seems to save it into a file. It does not appear though to be compatible for any direct upload into MeshMapper.

Something that I did not expect is the variety of ways you can connect with it:

• Obviously using the firmware on the M9 itself
• Remote app allows webpage access over Wi-Fi from your desktop PC or laptop
• MeshCore official as well as MeshCore Open Android apps also connect to it over Bluetooth, USB or Wi-Fi – this I really did not expect
• VNC app also allows a VNC session connection from your PC or laptop

WADAMESH can do backups. I also used MeshCore Open app on Android to back up contacts, repeaters, and location from my T-Echo, and then connecting to the M9 I could import those nicely.

For contacts there is also a sightline option which shows whether there are any obstructions to line of sight to that contact.

WADAMESH has a ton of subtle tweaks that make life much easier:

• For example on the Chats screen you can mark all messages as read in one go
• Quick reply texts so you can set your #MeshCoreMonday message all ready to send by just selecting it
• It also shows a proper battery percentage on the screen
• A GPS location accuracy can be set to hide your home address
• There is a Transfer app to copy files to the device, and to copy screenshots from it
• And speaking of battery percentages, the battery screen shows a detailed graph of how the percentage varies over time, as well as the CPU percentage, and you can calibrate the battery as well when it is fully charged (An observation on charging was it took 2 hours from empty to fully charged)

The battery screen above shows my heavy usage the night before, and then the drain during the night on Do Not Disturb mode. I’m still doing tests on the battery as it seems to be draining a bit faster than I was expecting it to. It seems to top out at 4.37V as fully charged, and after unplugging it shows 4.30V (or via Bluetooth 4.27V) – I calibrated that as 100% after about two minutes that it was unplugged from the charger.

WADAMESH Tips

If you want to dig deeper into WADAMESH, or see some lessons and tips I’ve learnt, have a look at this page at WADAMESH Tips for the ThinkNode M9.

Firmware Launcher

Something else of interest is the bmorcelli Firmware Launcher at https://github.com/bmorcelli. This would allow you to boot into more than one firmware and update them over-the-air etc. It was developed for the T-Deck and as of right now, there is no working version for the M9 yet, but I think it will come.

Issues with MeshOS specifically

Yes, it may be paid software, but it does not mean it works perfectly or does everything. These are some of the things I worked through, and some where I found workarounds or the solution:

• Bluetooth PIN – can’t see any way of changing it on the M9 in MeshOS. The default PIN is 123456. I did manage to change it in the MeshOS app in Android though (when connected via Bluetooth to the M9).
• Channel muting – we have some test channels and ongoing chat channels, and on the phone it is easy to long press and select mute so that you don’t hear the notifications on some channels. I think the setting for this in the phone app, is only for the phone side when connected to the M9?
• Contacts – although I had Auto Add Contacts enabled, only two contacts have been saved under contacts. I’m not sure why, as I’ve seen many messaging in the Public channel already.
• Creating Private Channels – on the M9 it is easy to create hashtag channels, and although the top right of that window shows a toggle between hashtag and encrypted, I can’t see how to switch that. In the end I connected with the phone app via Bluetooth, and created my channels there. It was also easier in the phone app to paste in the long PSK key for encrypted channels. After the encrypted channel is created, it is fully viewable and editable on the M9 though.
• MeshOS app via Wi-Fi – the Android app connects fine over Bluetooth, but I don’t get any connection for Wi-Fi, although the device pings on its IP address. Not sure if the M9 is exposing that port 5000 to be accessed. Seems there is an issue logged for this as this was not yet an intended feature. Yet the website does state: “Pair the M9 with the free MeshOS companion app over Bluetooth, USB or Wi-Fi and pick up right where you left off”.
• No emojis – can’t see anyway of using emojis.
• Backup – no backup of configs and nodes at all via web configurator or MeshOS mobile app. Only thing that can be backed up is ‘Heard’ (not everything it seems) and the public key.
• Built-in compass and motion sensor – is shown in the GPS view, but that view does need the GPS on. It does not seem to show the compass alone without the GPS on.
• Location fuzzing – the M9 allows for GPS location but no fuzz factor (as do none of the other apps actually). The problem though is I did not see a way to set the fixed location as an alternative. It does not show in settings, and often it is something done on the map. It may be one of those icons I saw though on the map. In the end, I used the phone app connected via Bluetooth to the M9 and set my fixed location (GPS off).
• Map Icons – OK I have figured them out now: Use space button to move focus between the icons, and from top they are zoom in, zoom out, centre on set location, drop a pin, and show path to connected repeater. Not sure where the pin shows and the bottom icon is not consistent regarding showing a path either.