I have a T-Beam too and it is a fascinating toy, but I'm still searching a good use for it. Currently I employ it as fancy temperature sensor, but it is way overqualified for that job. I'm just curious, apart from disaster and emergency situations, what use cases do you see for a device like the T-Beam?
Backpacking in groups, like the sibling comment said - probably pretty pointless for a quick day hike, but quite nice if you're on a weeklong expedition where folks want to make little side jaunts without dragging the whole group along. I think one thing people don't appreciate is the realtime nature of radios - if someone in my group is off doing stuff, I need to actually pay attention to my radio to make sure I don't miss them trying to reach me. With Meshtastic, I just need to check my phone once in a while - the message will be there.
Similar usecase for overlanding: we also use several different types of voice radio, but an arrow on a map is significantly nicer than "*psssh* crackle we're somewhe...? past the 29?4 crackle turnoff fades out". Being able to mount a fuckoffhuge omni on a vehicle also helps with functional range.
I've also done the backhaul to cellular connectivity thing. Definitely fun but replicable with an inReach.
I use a similar device with Meshtastic for hiking. It's nice to be able to track people and communicate if you're meeting up on the trail and I've found range to be good enough to be useful on a lot of trails even if it's mostly LOS. You can also look at stuff like the Meshtastic ATAK plugin to really get into the deep end of what's possible, too.
I want to experiment with linking back to my car and maybe having kind of cellular back haul to pull in weather and stuff. Cellular is practically nonexistent even at the trailheads most places I hike so the practicality probably is limited but it's fun to tinker with. You can of course buy Garmin satphones that do something similar but with Iridium (i.e., better), but that's way less fun.
