The most common question we get isn't about range or encryption. It's "how many of these do I actually need?" The answer comes down to two numbers: how many people need to communicate, and how hard your terrain fights the signal.
Start with people
Every person who needs to see the map and send messages needs their own complete setup: a node paired with an Android device running ATAK. That's one Frontier Kit per person, full stop. A four-person hunting party is four kits. There's no sharing a map screen across a ridgeline.
Then look at your terrain
LoRa radio is line-of-sight. On open ground (fields, ridgelines, open water) your kits alone will likely cover miles, and you may not need anything else. But terrain eats radio. Rolling hills, tree cover, valleys, and buildings all carve dead spots out of your coverage.
That's where repeaters come in. A Repeater is a bare node with no EUD. Its only job is to catch traffic and relay it. Because every Meshtastic node automatically relays for every other node, a single repeater placed high (a ridge, a rooftop, a tree line) can bridge two halves of a team that terrain would otherwise split.
The working formula
Open terrain: kits only. Mixed terrain (rolling ground, patchy cover): add one repeater for every 4 or so people. Dense terrain (heavy woods, valleys, urban): add two or more, and prioritize getting them elevated.
A four-person team in dense woods? Four kits plus two repeaters staged at high points. An eight-person SAR element across mixed ground? Eight kits, two repeaters. When in doubt, add the repeater. It's the cheapest range you'll ever buy, and an extra node never hurts a mesh. More nodes always means more coverage and more redundancy.
If you want this calculated for your exact situation, the kit calculator on our Frontier Kit page does it interactively. Set your team size and terrain, and it fills your order for you.