Hey, I’m in the market for getting my first gateway. It seems my 2 best options right now are either the IC880A-SPI or a RAK831 and I’d be using both with a RPi3. Can anyone give any advice on which may be the better solution, I’m sure both are capable concentrators and I have extensive experienc…

True, there is room for subjectivity there :slight_smile: In that case I mean more supported and new user friendly, I guess.

I think they are both good and supported boards. Also on this forum. Maybe have a look at the price… ?

Yea, price and ease of purchase is somewhat swaying me towards the Ic880a. I can get that quicker and from within the EU, simplifying import etc. The RAK only seems to be available on AliExpress from what I can see and while comparably priced, after import and the possible longer wait if they were…

true… and there is a special IMST action at the moment https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/the-bargain-basement-part-3/9852/219

[image] OpticFroggy: using both with a RPi3 For gateways the RPi2 is a better choice. RPi3 has some SPI issues not found on the RPi2 and the RPi2 has plenty cycles to run the software. I’ve revered to RPi2 for my recent gateways. With regards to iC880a vs RAK831. Both good value for money. R…

The RAK831 is more compact/smaller than the iC880A. For certain applications this could be a deciding factor.

Another option to consider: Im using RPI zero and ic880a without any issues.

that’s interesting, does the RPI zero has different SPI timings then the RPI3 ? _I know @Charles build a GW with RPI zero and RAK831, how does it compare to a bigger RPI3 _

[image] tynething: Im using RPI zero and ic880a without any issues You are right, the RPi zero has a different controller that does not experience the issue the RPi3 has. However it does not have wired ethernet which for a gateway is preferable to minimize network delays.

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RAK831 vs IC880A-SPI

Gateways Raspberry Pi Gateways

BoRRoZ February 7, 2018, 4:05pm 2

define ‘better’

https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/the-hard-rak831-cafe-part-2/10576