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While I was originally a little sceptical of the Helium Hotspot, I became a convert. It has turned out to be a profitable project, and I like that Helium is a useful project with long term prospects, unlike the trend of meme coins in the cryptocurrency market.
Like many others, it has been frustrating waiting for the Helium hotspot miner to be shipped. It was bad enough ordering in batch 3, knowing my hotspots wouldn’t arrive until May. However, the Batch one and almost Batch 2 delivery dates have come and gone with nothing shipped.
The best Helium Miner for UK Buyers (& US)
- Glass Fiber LoRa Antenna Peak Gain (5.8dbi) for £40
- Glass Fiber LoRa Antenna (3dBm) for £35.99
- Nebra HNT Outdoor Hotspot Miner for £420
- Nebra HNT Indoor Hotspot Miner for £300 – Quickest shipping
Causes of the delays
There have obviously been a lot of problems. The worst global crisis in generations has inconveniently caused issues with supply chains, then annoying things like FCC regulations have delayed things much longer than expected. In the UK it needs to be CE certified.
Nebra hasn’t been great with their communication either, they haven’t updated the shipping dates for the early batches, just stating batch 1, which was due to go out in March, is delayed. The Shipping Mega Update post doesn’t reveal much new information either.
Nebra Indoor Hotspot Miner shipping update – Order from Pi Supply, Parley Labs & Nebra miner – US & UK shipping dates
The main thing that has been holding them back in recent weeks is the FCC testing. One of the US suppliers, Parley Labs, has officially confirmed that the Indoor Nebra Hotspots have now passed the FCC testing.
[Edit] This is also confirmed by Nebra via the Discord channel
The hotspots are boxed up and ready to go, but they likely won’t ship for another week. So, orders placed on parleylabs.com should start shipping at the end of April for Batch 1, then early May for Batch 2, and sometime in May for batch 3.
So basically, Batch 3 and 4 should still be on schedule.
Outdoor hotspots are still being tested with the FCC, but it should be finalised soon, and they are currently predicting an early May shipping date for batch 1, with sometime in May for batch 2.
Any new order placed on Pi Supply, Parley Labs or Nebra will be in Batch 5. This has a shipping date of Q3 2021.
Cal-Chip Connected Devices / RAK Hotspot Miner v2 Shipping Update
Cal Chip made a status update on the 15th of April stating that Eagle and Falcon are still in transit, estimated to arrive in the US early next week. This means Eagle and Falcon should start shipping to customers the last week of April.
I don’t know why they can’t name their batch numbers in numbers. It would make much more sense.
US/CAN: Order RAK Hotspot Miner v2 now for shipments starting Summer 2021.
Europe: Order RAK Hotspot Miner v2 now for shipments starting Summer 2021.
Australia: Order RAK Hotspot Miner v2 now for shipments starting in Summer 2021.
Bobcat Miner
The Bobcat Miner has passed the CE and FCC certification. They have shipped their first batches of miners in China, but not much has been said about the UK or US orders. They just state between 8-12 weeks from the order date.
Will I earn money from a Nebra Helium HNT Miner when thousands of new hotspots come online?
This is the big question I get asked a lot. Early adopters generated a lot of HNT, with some people getting very rich off it. That’s the benefit of being an early adopter; they took a risk, it paid off. Sadly, I lacked this foresight.
Back in December, HNT was worth about $1, so even when mining a lot of HNT, the cash value wasn’t that great at the time.
The amount of HNT you will earn will massively drop in the coming months, but as the network grows and hopefully becomes commercially useful, the value of HNT should appreciate considerably hopefully.
So in a years time, you may only mine 15-20 HNT per month, but if the value of HNT is $100 it will still be extremely profitable.
I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.
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I only read about this in the FT yesterday – fascinating for me a layman! This article was a great insight too, especially given the updates – cheers.
Would you think it is still worth putting in an order for a Miner now with delivery in Q3, or do you see this as only profitable in the short term? I really like the idea of getting into providing a long range wifi service and also possibly making a small amount as well, all without the energy consumption associated with mining Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Similar to my previous comment replies on my Helium Hotspot Review. I think short term profits are unlikely; mining rewards are likely to drop significantly. Let’s say by 20x in this case (I previously said 10x in an earlier comment). Based on my current earnings, which are quite poor compared to a lot of hotspots, I’d drop down to 7.5HNT per month. That’s £75pcm based on today’s rate and a positive ROI in 4 or 5 months, with a yearly income of £900. That’s certainly not great, but once it is paid off, it is free money.
What we are all hoping is that this will appreciate in value significantly. Just imagine if you had mined 0.1 bitcoin per month 5 years ago when it was below $500. It wouldn’t have been worth it, unless you had known it would appreciate in value so much.
I don’t expect this to increase as much as bitcoin, but if the network is successful, I don’t see any reason why it couldn’t go up to $50, $100 or even higher. If it goes up 10x in value in the next year, that £75 increase to £750 per month, which is a very nice profit.
Obviously, things like this are highly speculative, so you have to weigh up your tolerance to risk and if you can afford not seeing a positive return on investment.
So yeah, the TLDR is that I don’t know, it could go either way.
Thanks for the update. Seems PiSupply are no longer taking orders as it is showing out of stock. I have signed up for restock updates, so will see how that goes but not expecting anything soon 🙁
I assume you are across the pond and not in the US. What do you acquaint the drop in monthly HNT due to? Where I am located it is obvious that those set in lower areas without clean lines of site are earning between 20 -30 a month. And then there are those that are closing to West side of Denver which is at a higher elevation are seeing 300+ up to 600+ a month.
To bad your hotspot is not 915 frequency as I am still waiting on mine and would be happy to help you increase your earning and host your hotspot until then with a very fair sslpit. In any case I have been able secure a couple rooftops and with clear sights all the way to Denver and look forward to seeing how they preform. Best of luck!
Does anyone have a link for a UK/EU compatible miner; and perhaps at a favourable price. Also not sure if the Nebara or Bobcat is best used here! Comments would be appreciated 🙂
Ken (London)
Bobcat is your only option; both Rak and Nebra have suspended any more sales until they catch up.
Any you may find on other sites will either be a scam or nowhere near reasonable prices. Sorry about that!
Hopefully, they will start to catch up on back orders soon.
you can pre-order one from synchrob.it (shipping maybe september) but they just increased the price by 80$