New guy looking at SharkRF and Nano Spot

K9TXS

Shark RF openSpot vs. Micro-Node Nano-Spot for mobile use

I’m very new to all of this and have been using D-Star for a little while now and really like it. I have a 5100 in my jeep that works really well, but when on the road, I sometimes don’t have a D-Star repeater to connect to, so I started looking at the Shark RF and Nano-Spot.

I’m not trying to start a battle between the two, but just trying to see what would work best for a D-Star connection. I plan on using this for a mobile application only in D-Star using my 5100.

I like the size of the Shark RF, but then I have to get a cable to plug into a wireless router that I would also have to buy, to receive the wifi signal. Whereas with the Nano-Spot is an all in one unit and I just need the wifi signal.

Those of you that may have used both of these products, could you tell me the pros and cons of each, especially in mobile use?

HA2NON

openSPOT will tolerate the enviroment in the car much better as it is specifically designed to be a hotspot both in hardware and software terms. You can turn it off without damaging a file system or an SD card, and it boots in about a second, uses much less power than other hotspots (see the specifications in the user manual at https://www.sharkrf.com/products/openspot/manual/ ). We also give official support through email and this forum, and you can find the user manual online.

MMDVM hotspot clones like the Nano Spot use general purpose hardware (Raspberry Pi) which boots a general purpose OS (Linux) from an SD card which takes a long time, prone to filesystem errors, SD card failures and the whole system consumes much more power.

That's my opinion, others are welcome of course.

K9TXS

Thanks very much. That's the kind of information I'm looking for.

N3KDJ

My RFShark OpenSpot has been great in the car. Even in fairly extreme conditions and frequent power off and on. I use it with a TP-Link Wi-Fi to ethernet bridge and a Verizon 4G/LTE hotspot.

AA1PR

after playing with allstar for quite a few years
I say avoid any device that uses a raspberry pi
as they say it'll crash when you least expect it
the shark rf I just in and it works
however I only use it for dmr and know nothing about dstar and its use there

KG5RVT

I use mine for both D-Star and DMR via some profiles I have saved in the openSPOT. Haven't had any issues with either one, and switching between them only takes a few seconds and can even be done via the radio!

Money well spent in my opinion.

-Hash AG5OW

n8xym

I have two Openspot's and two Jumbo Spot's (Pi-Star) I use the Jumbo Spot in the car because of the build in WiFi. I used the Openspot with a TP-Link and it just never switched over very fast. I have my Jumbo Spot on 24/7 in the car and use it while it is in the garage (On my Home network) and have a jet pack when I leave. Each day I turn on my jet pack and when I leave it will switch over. With the TP-Link it would take a while. If the Openspot had WiFi I would have never got a pi-star. I think the OpenSpot is the best. But you missed the boat not adding WiFi to it. Everyone was waiting for that and when it never happen we starting to look at other options. I have a spare sd card taped to the bottom of my pi-star just in case. But so far it works great.

Pallet

Same subject and more questions...
1. Most reviews are great for openSPOT but there are several across different forums concerning quality control/manufacturing due to bad/thin soldering. Has this issue been resolved?
2. Customer service as far as information seems great unless there is a hardware issue. Shipping back to Estonia sounds like it is on the buyer even if the unit is bad and under warranty. Is this correct?
3. There is an office in Wyoming per the website but no contact details except an address. Frankly, looks a bit shady. Are there contact details for that office and can U.S. customers purchase and deal with that office? What are the contact details if any (phone and email)?
Thanks in advance for your responses. I'm 95% there on purchasing a couple of your units initially. Looking at getting these questions answered before I make a final decision.

HA2NON

1. We only had about 10 units total with manufacturing issues in the last 1.5 years (including soldering issues). We test every unit thoroughly before packaging. openSPOT is built with the highest quality PCB and components available worldwide.
2. You can find our terms and conditions here: https://shop.sharkrf.com/content/3-terms-and-conditions
3. We handle customers from our warehouse located in Tallinn, Estonia, as we don't have a US warehouse yet. We do support only over email and on this forum.

Pallet

Thanks Nonoo. Appreciate the additional info and quick reply. Is it worth asking if you have any updates on a wifi unit coming out anytime soon? I'm sure there are lots of factors into making any announcement concerning future product enhancements and keeping things close to your chest is often a necessary evil.

HA2NON

No release date is available yet. Please keep checking sharkrf.com, our Twitter channel ( https://twitter.com/sharkrfradio ) and our Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/sharkrf/ ) for any product updates.