# LoRa radio

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/lora/

11 people recommended LoRa radio in Hacker News comments, 11 had mixed feelings and 15 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 12 months, in 12 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Criticized more than recommended, mainly for short range, limited bandwidth and proprietary chips; those who recommend it cite long-range, low-data sensor links and strong jamming resistance.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## What people warn about

- Short range and low bandwidth (4 comments in the sample): "its limited chirp spread spectrum (CSS) based modulation is bad for any limited LoS environment" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46019997)) "It's limited to 27kb/s at best, and in practical conditions reaches more like 10km." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50156442)) "LoRa is only good for very short text messages at somewhat long distance" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48001320))
- Unreliable in practice, hyped (4 comments in the sample): "LoRa as the centrepiece falls apart really quickly the moment someone somewhere decides they don’t want your WAN to exist anymore" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45809742)) "It's a super weak hobbyist protocol with a lot of hype and marketing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49413264)) "LoRa diverges too strongly when applied in the real world." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46423080))
- Proprietary chips, not an open standard (3 comments in the sample): "LoRa is not an open physical layer protocol standard, but rather an interesting niche chip product from a small manufacturer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48224670)) "The physical layer is unavailable, but the link layer protocol spec is downloadable by anyone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46843372)) "LoRa radios themselves are all proprietary Semtech turf." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46842688))
- Blunt spectrum use, easy to detect (2 comments in the sample): "It so clearly looks like such a blunt force user of spectrum." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48002198)) "Lora operates on very specific frequencies.  It would be easy to spot you with an RF scanner." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46645976))

## Why people recommend it

- Long-range, low-data sensor links (3 comments in the sample): "Lora seems to be a great technology for remote sensors within a 1km of each other that can transmit occasional data." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47914600)) "Long distance links with only a few bps or kbit/s are a solved problem (LoRa" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49133414)) "LoRa is another level. It works down to -146dBm." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47890598))
- Good enough for simple applications (2 comments in the sample): "the bandwidth should suffice for this sorta thing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49407288)) "Perfectly sufficient for our application." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45861527))
- Praised as useful, amazing tech (2 comments in the sample): "immensely useful new tech and research that benefits many" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49954679)) "ELRS/LoRa is pretty amazing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47929432))

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "LoRa radio", https://hackerapproved.com/p/lora/ (11 recommend, 11 mixed, 15 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.