Andreas Spiess — known on YouTube as “The Guy with the Swiss Accent” — publishes rigorous, methodical hardware comparisons. He is not interested in hype. He tests boards, measures power consumption, checks deep sleep current, and tells you what actually works. His Amazon shop at amazon.com/shop/andreasspiess contains his curated microcontroller and module recommendations; everything listed there has been used in a video.
TTGO LoRa32: The ESP32 + LoRa Starting Point
The TTGO LoRa32 915 MHz (also listed as LilyGO LoRa32) is on Andreas’s Amazon microcontroller list. It combines ESP32 with an SX1276 LoRa radio and a 0.96-inch OLED display — everything on one board with WiFi, Bluetooth, and LoRa all integrated. Andreas covered TTGO LoRa boards in his video series on LoRa communication and his detailed ESP32 board comparisons (video #224, “New LoRa boards tested”). For LoRaWAN sensor nodes or Meshtastic, this is his recommended starting board. Our listing: TTGO LoRa32 915MHz ESP32 board.
TTGO T-Beam: ESP32 + LoRa + GPS
The TTGO T-Beam (originally with SX1276, now with SX1262 in the Supreme version) was specifically recommended by Andreas for Meshtastic in his video #337, “LoRa Off-Grid Mesh Communication: Meshtastic (ESP32, BLE, GPS),” published in 2020 and still the canonical Meshtastic introduction video. He recommended the TTGO T-Beam V1.1 with CH9102F chip, ESP32, 915 MHz, GPS, and battery holder. The current evolution is the T-Beam Supreme with ESP32-S3 and SX1262 for improved sensitivity. Our listing: LILYGO T-Beam Supreme.
Battery-Operated ESP32: What Andreas Actually Tested
In video #387, Andreas tested battery-operated ESP32 boards from Olimex, TinyPICO, EzSBC, and TTGO, measuring which boards actually achieve low deep-sleep current and which have design flaws that drain the battery. His conclusion was that the design details matter more than the brand — look for boards that actually disconnect the LDO during deep sleep. The TTGO T-Beam line’s high power consumption was noted as a trade-off for its GPS and LoRa integration.
Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3
The Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3 combines ESP32-S3 with LoRa 915 MHz and an OLED display in a more compact form than the T-Beam. It is already in our store and falls within the class of boards Andreas covers in his ESP32-S3 comparison content. For Meshtastic without GPS, this is a common and affordable choice. See our Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3 listing.
Andreas’ ESP32-C5 and Future Boards
In recent content, Andreas has been hands-on with the ESP32-C5 — Espressif’s dual-band WiFi 6 microcontroller. He is actively searching for what he calls “the next ESP32” — a board that combines low power consumption, good LoRa integration, and a sustainable development ecosystem. Follow his channel (@AndreasSpiess) for the latest. Our Andreas Spiess Projects collection is updated as new hardware is confirmed.
Why This Matters for Physics
LoRa operates at the physical layer of radio communication — it uses chirp spread spectrum modulation, a technique directly rooted in frequency-domain signal physics. Every LoRa packet transmitted is a practical demonstration of the uncertainty principle applied to bandwidth and symbol duration. Andreas Spiess understands this and brings engineering rigour to each board test. That is why we trust his recommendations.