The most common question after "how many do I need" is "how far does it actually reach." The honest answer: it depends almost entirely on terrain and elevation, not on a single headline number.
Why line-of-sight is everything
LoRa is a line-of-sight radio protocol. Radio waves at these frequencies travel in roughly straight lines, so what matters most is whether the two nodes can "see" each other with nothing solid in between. Height beats power every time. A node on a ridge will out-perform a node with a bigger battery sitting in a gully.
Rough expectations by terrain
Open terrain with elevation, like fields, ridgelines, or open water: several miles per hop is realistic, sometimes much more with a node up high. Mixed terrain with rolling ground and patchy tree cover: expect shorter hops, often one to a few miles, with dead spots behind hills. Dense terrain, heavy woods, valleys, or urban blocks: range drops sharply, sometimes to a fraction of a mile, because everything between nodes absorbs signal.
How the mesh fixes the gaps
This is exactly why the system is a mesh and not a single radio. Every node relays for every other node, so you bridge a blocked path by placing a node where it can see both ends. A repeater on a hilltop between two teams can connect groups that could never reach each other directly.
The practical takeaway
Don't buy for a range number; buy for your terrain. Open country may need nothing but kits. Tough terrain wants repeaters staged high. The kit calculator on the Frontier Kit page turns your team size and terrain into a specific recommendation.