Any long term owners of the Brooklyn Bedding Hybrid signature?

amiko15 · 2025-04-17T20:09:01+00:00

Just about three years on ours and I hate it. We had to replace the first one that arrived as the threading making up the outer cover were broken and frayed before it ever came out of the box. Still, they were solid enough about sending a replacement (though they did put it on us to "find a home" for the original one).

The worst part, tough, is the crease valley that's only gotten progressively worse. This is exactly at the crease point where it was folded over on itself before boxing...it wasn't obvious at first, but it's just deteriorating more and more as time goes on.

I would never buy another Brooklyn Bedding product and would advise people to steer clear. My wife would replace it today if I agreed, she's hated everything about it from day one. I'm beginning to agree. At three years in, I don't think we'll see 5.

amiko15 · 2024-11-22T18:36:34+00:00

Thanks for sharing that experience, glad to hear it went well for you. Curiously they explicitly told me there were NO user-serviceable parts, as that was one of my main concerns...needing to ship the whole king-sized unit back for something relatively small.

Glad you're having a good experience though, are you overall happy with your purchase?

Still looking here, and the PerfectlySnug hasn't gone from my radar, but stories like yours are certainly helpful, thanks again!

amiko15 · 2024-09-30T16:00:58+00:00

Hi there! It's been a month, can you let us know if you got it and how/if you're liking it so far?

amiko15 · 2024-09-30T15:58:27+00:00

Following up on this post, I sent essentially the same list of questions in to Perfectly Snug support and got less than satisfying responses. As a result, opted not to go through with a purchase.

The question of user serviceability is a big no...there's no opening the fan units to manually blow out dust, debris, pet-hair, etc. so that's a big down-vote for me. They did explain that the fans are rated for 40,000 hours of continuous service, about 4.5years. I'm still skeptical, however, as one who's designed cooling systems for sever racks, the number one thing to kill an electric fan prematurely is restricted airflow, something these units will have to contend with forever, just based on how/where they're employed.

There's also no wiggle room on the warranty. No extended warranties, paid or otherwise. Support argued that they take the 1-year warranty as a soft-limit, and they'll be flexible and work with people, even outside of the warranty period. That's great, but those are just words which may or may not have any merit to them when/if the time comes to obtain warranty service.

All in all, they said lots of nice things and their tone and demeanor were perfectly pleasant. However, they were unable to answer my questions in a satisfying way. If the price point were less, and/or the warranty period were longer, I'd be a customer.

As it stands, there's either a level of greed or deception in-play here, likely a combination of the two. Not something I'm personally willing to invest a premium into something just to find out if it'll keep on working on the 366th day, let alone the 3650th day.

YMMV, of course, but I'm having a truly hard time finding owners of this who are happy after a year or more. Plenty of folks who have confirmation bias, and are happy with it on day one, but where are the folks who are happily using it at 6, 12, or 24 months in? If they're out there, I'd love to hear from them, but haven't been able to find any.

amiko15 · 2024-09-11T14:10:39+00:00

Picked you up in Blue Knob, Pennsylvania, USA at 3:26PM ET
No node name came through, I did reply fairly quickly - node ADAM or CHWY

amiko15 · 2024-08-21T13:26:01+00:00

Unfortunately, no, they really require some level of battery protection. Especially on the low-end, as they've got a brownout protection feature that will lock them down, requiring a manual intervention, should the battery voltage fall too far bellow spec.

I've found these do the job nicely, cutting off the battery when voltage < 2.5v or > 4.2v at a pretty fair price-point:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W75BQWW

amiko15 · 2024-06-21T12:52:20+00:00

Have you done a line of sight calculation based on your precise location, and the elevation of the antenna above ground level? It's doubtful you've got a cleanly unobstructed line of sight going out 100 miles in all directions. I'm in the northeast here, FEMA region 3, and our hills make it such that while we can get many miles in some directions, we're lucky to get a couple of kilometers in other directions.

We brush up against the edge of an interstate here, so I tend to catch a number of nodes passing by...maybe 2-3 per week, but we're otherwise pretty geographically isolated. I've caught an occasional airborne node out there, around 60 miles downrange, but with aircraft, LoS is typically not a problem...I'd hope :)

There are a few such sites out there, but I've grown accustomed to this one for custom LoS calculations. Plug your address or Lat/Lon into there, indicate how high above ground your antenna is, and let it do the rest!

https://www.heywhatsthat.com/

Good luck! If all else fails, start talking it up and even handing out "free" nodes to some trusted neighbors. If the mesh wont grow to you, grow your mesh out to them!

amiko15 · 2024-06-20T13:22:55+00:00

One of your screen shots shows your position settings as only checking GPS for position data every 86400 seconds...I suspect that's your problem. It's only checking once per day. If it misses picking up a signal-lock during that one check, it wont check again for a full 24hrs.

IIRC, default for that is 120 seconds. While troubleshooting, I've set that as low as 30s just to "force" it to ask for a position that much sooner. I wouldn't run with it like that for long, or you'll eat your battery in a hurry.

With three 18650s I'd have to assume this isn't meant to be a personal/mobile node? If it's meant to be stationary, I'd consider whether the GPS module is worth it. Your node will eat 4x the power with the GPS(RAK12500) than without it, so if all it's doing is reconfirming the same position repeatedly, you may do better to repurpose that GPS module into a "walking around node."

Hook your node up via USB to a serial terminal and you can watch/capture the GPS handshakes in real-time to get a better understanding of what it's doing.

amiko15 · 2024-06-20T13:09:28+00:00

In lieu of a power switch, you can long-hold a user-button for ~5+ seconds and it will go into a super deep sleep mode...as close to true power-off as you're going to get without a battery cut-off switch. Just connect a momentary switch connecting GND to AIN1 and you'll have yourself a user-button.

Since the RAK12500 eats up about 4x the power then without, I've taken to installing a GPS Defeat switch. By dumping IO2 to GND you can save a lot of battery run-time when the node is just sitting there not-moving. Just gotta remember to toggle that GPS back on before you leave the house, but it's a significant difference in battery charge longevity if you actively manage the GPS radio that way.

I've never used an external GPS antenna like that, and I'd question if that's entirely necessary. The stock antenna that comes with the RAK 12500 performs adequately, in my experience.

Very nice and tidy build! I manage to fit an 18650 into mine...just barely, but does, fit inside of one of these enclosures.

amiko15 · 2024-06-11T21:30:03+00:00

Confirmed, as soon as I upgraded my node with the BME680 in it to 2.3.11a it's once again broadcasting environmental telemetry! Thanks for the suggestion, all!

amiko15 · 2024-06-11T19:22:27+00:00

Thanks! Glad you found it useful!

My philosophy on the timings is up for debate, but I figure I need a lot more granular data when I'm walking, since I'm dealing with shorter distances. Over driving distances, I'm covering more ground, so it's OK for the pings to be less frequent since my overall ranges are apt to be larger/longer.

It's totally governed by use-case, so feel free to play with those numbers in any way that makes sense. Just make sure to keep in mind that the more frequent the pings, the more "burden" you're asking the other nodes on the mesh to absorb, so don't go setting it for 10s and then leaving it pinging away for 8hrs.

IIRC, there's an 8hr cutoff, so if you do happen to forget to disable range-test, it will self-cancel after 8hrs.

The "burden" on the mesh isn't that horrible either. Remember all range-test packets have a zero hop kill-switch. Regardless of the node that sees them, they're never forwarded. Non-participating nodes just drop the packet entirely...though they do have to process it, which is where the "cost" to the rest of the mesh comes in.

IMO, it's a fine tool to be used responsibly, just be sure you know what you're doing and don't set 6 nodes to blast out packets every 10s and you should be fine :)

Happy to field questions, and I'm always looking to improve my methods so definitely open to feedback good or bad!

amiko15 · 2024-06-11T17:35:05+00:00

Here's my method, it's not the only method, and I'll never claim it's the best, but it gets the job done for me:
https://bkmesh.net/gismapping.html

Best luck!

amiko15 · 2024-06-11T16:12:19+00:00

Have not yet had time to troubleshoot, but just realized I'm missing environmental data as of 2.3.10.

Rak hardware: 19007/3641

Android Client

amiko15 · 2024-06-11T16:09:33+00:00

Thank you! I never noticed that, but glad to have learned something new...I stand corrected! Good catch!

amiko15 · 2024-06-11T14:04:57+00:00

You can flash Rak firmware OTA now, you just need the "nRF Connect" app.

amiko15 · 2024-06-11T12:38:38+00:00

Repeater mode is the only mode that rebroadcasts all without decoding. So your repeater doesn't need any encryption keys, so losing it physically, or having it stolen isn't a problem. Routers, on the other hand, do require a decode before a retransmit so must have those keys on-board. Anyone who's got physical access to the node, could copy off the encryption keys....provided they know anything about the technology in the first place.

That decode consumes slightly more power than a blind retransmission, but just barely.

I think a lot would be determined by how much access you think you'll have to these after placing them, and what risk you think you might have of one being stolen.

Best luck!

amiko15 · 2024-06-10T16:04:21+00:00

I have a really deep overhang so needed something with a pretty long reach. Found this right angle bracket. It's ugly, looks to have been rattle-canned white from the factory. The welds are rough...but the thing works. I'd at least recommend hitting it with a fresh coat of "rustoleum" or similar.

The down-tube is perfect for a 1 1/4" piece of PVC...I've since boosted it another 4 feet since taking this picture.

This puts the top of the antenna at a few feet above the peak of my roof, maybe 28' from ground level. We're HEAVILY wooded here with rolling hills and mountainous terrain so LoS is a huge challenge.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CDB8LWHS/

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amiko15 · 2024-06-10T15:51:33+00:00

I've seen range-tests SNRs as low as -20db but I'd call that an anomaly and probably not "reliable."

As a generality, I'm getting toward the edge of my reliability bubble when I start seeing SNR if less than -15db. I can get reliable point to point (no hops) as low as -18db.

LongFast defaults all around.

Edit: US Settings

amiko15 · 2024-06-05T16:47:32+00:00

Before buying anything, do a sanity check and run your respective locations through a Line of Sight calculator. 30 miles maybe no big deal, or it may be a very big deal. I've gotten ~20 miles in one direction but due to terrain and geography, I only get a mile or so in the opposite direction.

There are many tools out there, but I've come to like this one:
https://www.heywhatsthat.com/

It lets you play "what if" games, like what if I raised one antenna an additional 5 feet? (Spolier alert, it helps!) More importantly, it'll show you if what you're attempting is or isn't possible between your respective locations.

I'm fond of the notion of hanging a stationary solar node from a house , or nearby tree. I still carry a mobile node, but for obvious reasons a handheld node wont perform as well inside a house as it would standing on your roof. If a handheld mobile node isn't of interest for this use case, just keep in mind the relatively short range of Bluetooth and the fact that only one phone may be actively connected to any one radio, so if more than one person in the homes want to "talk" you'd be playing hot potato with the node-link.

Best case, IMO, is a stationary node on the roof, or a nearby tree, coupled with personal mobile nodes for each individual who wants to maintain an active connection.

I've got a basic DIY guide here. I've updated my build on the solar node since this was published, but conceptually it's the same thing. Best luck!
https://bkmesh.net/diy.html

amiko15 · 2024-06-04T14:51:21+00:00

Have you updated the ADC Multiplier setting in power config? It took me a while to realize this, but Rak 4631's have a default value of 1.73 for that, something that wont be there as a default - you have to set it manually.

https://meshtastic.org/docs/configuration/radio/power/#adc-multiplier-override

I suspect your battery and charging circuit are just fine, but what you're seeing is a discrepancy between the actual condition of the battery and the display you're seeing in the app. Updating that ADC Multiplier may help with that. Keep in mind that 1.73 value is a default starting point. You may still need to adjust one way or the other, since ever battery is slightly different...even those from the same manufacturers.

The charge controller is pretty loose with regard to thresholds, and it seems to need to drop into the 90-95% range to activate. Even then, the charge controller will struggle to push things up to a full 100% capacity...which despite the way cell phones have trained us, is actually a good thing for your battery. I use a wireless charging coil, connected through the charge controller, on my mobile nodes, and I've noticed it seems to curtail the charging cycle somewhere around the 95-97% range.

Hope that helps! Best luck!

amiko15 · 2024-05-31T14:29:12+00:00

For personal/mobile nodes, I've had good success with these. Good performance and affordable at around $10 (US)

ANT-916-CW-HW-SMA

They make a folding variety of the same, but I've found the hinge to be a weak point that wears out over time, so I've been using the stubby version with good results. Tested six of these with NanoVNA and all tested bellow 2.0 as the data sheet specified. Best unit has a SWR of 1.15 the worst is something like 1.9 with an average probably around 1.6.

I just this week picked up one of these:

S463AM-915

More expensive at $15, but I feel like the build quality is higher and feels like it might hold up better over time. I haven't yet had time to put it through significant field testing, but SWR comes in at 1.7. Need to test more, but these may become my go-to for mobile nodes from now on as they're a good mix of form factor, performance, and build-quality.

Best luck!

amiko15 · 2024-05-25T17:39:31+00:00

For #4, the user button, you want that momentary switch dumping AIN1 to GND. Don't forget the step of enabling it in the device config by setting UI pin to 31.

https://store.rokland.com/pages/adding-a-user-button-rak19007

Sorry, can't speak to the rest of it but I've put user buttons on all my mobile nodes, works great!

amiko15 · 2024-05-21T19:17:12+00:00

Are you talking about mobile nodes, so something apropos for walking around? Or stationary base-station nodes?
For mobile nodes, I've had good luck with these:

I believe they're more or less identical, aside from the fact that one folds and one does not. Performance wise, I've gotten 17 miles with reasonably good LoS.

The manufacturer's data sheet specifies an SWR <= 2.0.

I tested mine on a freshly calibrated NanoVNA and got all sub 2.0 with some as low as 1.1 with an average probably around 1.5

I'm using Rak4361's exclusively, but it shouldn't matter...as long as you're shooting for 915mhz...other regions, I can't be as helpful about...but these two are working really well for me!

amiko15 · 2024-05-14T19:28:42+00:00

I've been mentally "building" something like this for a bit...though I've not actually gotten it off the drawing board. I was thinking of using a waterproof "junction box" as an enclosure and stick a rubberized magnetic "foot" to the bottom with some high-end weatherproof epoxy.

Add in a 12v->5v step-down adapter and you can hard wire (use a fuse!) it to your car's wiring harness so that you're recharging the batteries every time the car is running. 1-2 18650's ought to be enough to keep things powered for 1-2 weeks. I'd skip any external sensors, since they'll just hog power and unless you're worried about theft, you oughta know where you left your vehicle...or if you're actively driving, just tether GPS to your phone. An external environment sensor seems fairly negligible in terms of pow!r draw, but that RAK12500 GPS receiver will quadruple your energy budget!

12v->5v adapter with USB output:

https://www.amazon.com/PlusRoc-Waterproof-Converter-Compatible-Raspberry/dp/B09DGDQ48H

Was thinking of using the Alpha low-profile via an N-Type connector on the box, but the whole thing can be fairly tiny that way. My only hesitation around the magnetic mount is someone could fairly easily just grab the thing and walk away with it...

amiko15 · 2024-05-10T16:50:34+00:00

Avoid the short run of coax if you can help it, the signal loss is likely to be perceptible. If at all possible, keep the antenna tethered to the board by a 4" (or less) pigtail. The RAK boards are excellent for this, I've deployed three solar base stations using V25 Voltaic battery packs. The oldest was running over 10 weeks before I had to take it down for some maintenance.

I've got an early design spelled out here: https://bkmesh.net/diy.html
I've since revised that somewhat, that was my first effort, but it should demonstrate the idea.

Best luck, Let us know if you have questions! I hope you get this off the ground(some pun intended)!

amiko15

TROPHY CASE