A Review of the Bobcat 300 Helium Miner

Is it worth purchasing a Bobcat 300 Helium miner? Short answer: maybe! It depends on your location, your goals, and what you think of Helium the company. We will cover all that and more in this article, which will include

• A Review of the Bobcat 300 Helium Miner
• A quick review of Helium Mining
• Investing in Helium — is it time?

A Review of the Bobcat 300 Helium Miner

Bobcat is one of the most popular companies that produce Helium miners. Their model is one of the most reliable and purchased models out there, and since Helium announced that third-party companies would create their miners, Bobcat has stepped up to the task. Their Bobcat 300 Helium miner is the standard model, but they have two other products in the production line to give users access to the next-level of Helium mining. 

Bobcat 300 Helium Miner

Features Include:    

• Quad-core Cortex-A35 CPU
• 2 GB RAM
• Works in EU868, AU915, CN470, and AS923 regions
• Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi

The Bobcat Miner 300 is one of several Bobcat miners. Their flagship model costs $429 and boasts impressive performance over the course of its operation. It is compatible with Helium LongFi, their main network that connects IoT devices. Its 4dbi antenna, processor, and storage consume as much power as a 5W light bulb, so its running costs are pretty nonexistent. Their antenna is optimized to increase the network coverage, resulting in better proof of coverage and, subsequently, more HNT earnings. The performance varies based on location, meaning it is important to find the best place in your home to maximize its coverage. 

Antenna extensions available for purchase can be placed outdoors, further increasing the spread of your miner’s coverage. 

Bobber 200 and 500

Bobcat sells a pair of other products, the Bobber 200 and the Bobber 500. The bobber 200 is a new kind of Helium miner called a Light Hotspot-only platform. It is a Helium LoRaWAN mining platform that has different hardware than the Bobcat 300 and lets users mine HNT at a reduced price. It is lowering the cost to enter the helium mining game while not creating as robust of a network as its older brother. 

The Bobber 500 is Bobcat’s first foray into Helium’s 5G network. It is a dual-purpose miner that provides Helium LoRaWAN coverage (like the Bobcat 300) which mines HNT while also providing Helium 5G/CBRS coverage to mine Helium’s upcoming MOBILE token. It is compatible with all FreedomFi Small Cell radios and all upcoming radios of the same designation. The Bobcat 300 and the Bobber 200 have similar hardware, while the Bobber 500 is an entirely different beast. Its hardware is different in order to facilitate the transmission of data on the two networks that it can interact with. The Bobber 500 is much more expensive than the other two products and you are making a big investment into the future of Helium if you decide to purchase it. 

User Reviews

The reviews for the Bobcat 300 Helium miner are very positive. Helium miners have very similar components due to the nature of the mining, so the mining capabilities of each specific model are pretty similar. Where Bobcat shines, however, is in the reliability and customer service. Bobcat 300 Helium miners are known to last indefinitely, chugging away for as long as you have them plugged in. The Bobcat models are some of the most popular Helium miners out there, and their reviews speak highly of them. 

Performance

Most Helium miners are able to perform at similar levels. When you get a Helium miner, location is everything. We recommend looking at the Helium Explorer website to make sure your area could use another Helium miner before you purchase the Bobcat 300. While it delivers the best reliable performance on the market, if you are in the wrong area it will not net you many rewards. There are two major variables in your miner’s profitability that are out of the hands of the miner itself. 

• One is location. You want your miner to have the biggest coverage area, which means you want it to be high up in your house or connected to an antenna outside. A basement miner is not going to perform nearly as well as a top-floor miner.
• Another is the other miners in your area. If there are too few or too many, there will not be a lot of rewards for each individual miner. This is, alas, pretty much entirely out of your hands, but it is always worth checking to see if your area will be profitable. 

What is Helium Mining, Anyway?

The Bobcat 300 Helium miner acts as a hotspot on Helium’s worldwide LoRaWAN network. Their network is designed to transfer the data of the internet of things all around the world in a secure and cost-efficient manner. Theirs is one of the first major commercial decentralized wireless networks, something that has gained a lot of buzz in the recent past with the creation of the CBRS spectrum. 

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Helium did, however, come before CBRS. Their 5G network is set to run off of the CBRS spectrum, but their first network, the LoRaWAN network, operates on a different frequency band. For those interested, it is 915 MHz. Helium is an ambitious company, and to succeed they need assistance from countless people like yourself who are interested in Helium mining. Their whole network, in fact, runs off of Helium miners all around the world. 

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Helium has allowed a variety of third-party companies, like Bobcat, to create miners that function on their network. Their hotspots spread a network around the point of origin, and that network coverage is the basis for all of the mining done by your Bobcat 300 Helium miner. 

Helium’s Refreshing Mining System

Helium’s mining system is very different from other systems out there. A lot of crypto mining happens on the back of processing power. For instance, if a computer with one unit of processing power mines $1 worth of crypto each day, a computer with double that would mine twice the amount, and so on. It is, of course, a little more complicated than that, but that’s a rough reason why Bitcoin mining happens mostly in huge corporations with warehouses full of computers. That is also why Bitcoin mining takes so much energy. 

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Helium’s mining system is different! Each miner only uses about $1 worth of electricity each month because it is not the processing power that drives the mining, it's the network traffic in your area. You could buy a Bobcat 300 Helium miner and make some serious HNT each day while your friend, a dozen miles away, is making pennies. The miner itself is not the driving force behind your Helium miner’s profitability. The network in your area is the biggest variable in your HNT mining, which is why we recommend checking out Helium Explorer. There are a lot of good areas to mine, there are some areas where you won’t make much HNT, and there are areas that are still developing. Only time will tell. 

Helium’s Two Mining Networks

Helium is working on spreading two networks. The way it works is, more or less, that each miner acts as a hotspot on the network, similar to how cell towers or Wi-Fi routers work but on a smaller scale. These little hotspots can get plugged in anywhere and spread out a network as far as they can. These networks, in turn, transfer data. Setting up a Bobcat 300 Helium miner on one of these networks allows you to mine HNT transferring data on the network as well as complete their proof of coverage. 

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Helium’s proof of coverage is the way that they keep tabs on their network. The company isn’t in charge of any of the miners, so there is nothing that makes users keep their miners running. Because of this, Helium miners gain a lot of rewards by “challenging” other miners, being “challenged,” and “witnessing” challenges. Helium regularly assigns these challenges to all the miners in their network to check up on their coverage and strength. This, in turn, allows them to show their users accurate maps of their coverage and network strength. 

LoRaWAN IoT Network

Helium’s LoRaWAN IoT network is compatible with all LoRaWAN class A devices. This network is primarily used in machine-to-machine or machine-to-database communication. This was the first network that Helium designed, and the Bobcat 300 Helium miner mines specifically on this network. This allows corporations and companies to connect devices over a huge area without having to first build a significant infrastructure to support them. This network, as well, is able to transmit data at a much lower cost than other networks have been able to do in the past. 

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Helium’s LoRaWAN network was the first of its kind, and this kind of people-driven decentralized wireless network has created a new way to transmit data quickly, cost-effectively, and securely. The applications and uses of their network are numerous across all corporate sectors. Over the years, their network has grown exponentially as more and more miners are set up across the world. There are almost 500,000 active Helium miners across the globe. 

CBRS 5G Network

Helium’s 5G CBRS network is their next big project. 5G networks will revolutionize communication, and Helium is currently going through the process of laying the foundation for their 5G network to become the next big thing. There is a lot of potential for rewards on their new network. They have created a new token, MOBILE, and are planning a separate structure to reward hotspots for proof of coverage and transferring data. 

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Investing in Helium’s 5G network is a risky proposition because it is still in the final stages of development and because the conventional Helium miners, like the Bobcat 300, will not mine on that network. Helium miners that mine on their LoRaWAN network and their 5G network are over $1,000, making it a much larger investment, that being said, it does come with the potential of much greater rewards as well as providing assistance to the growth and development of this company.  

How does the Bobcat 300 Helium Miner Work?

The Bobcat 300 Helium miner works by piggybacking off of your home network to create a low-power network around your house that can transfer data from compatible devices. Your hotspot connects to all the other ones in the area and they work together to create a network. On this network, these hotspots transfer data and keep Helium’s proof of coverage up to date. There are hundreds of thousands of these little hotspots dotting the globe, and it creates a very impressive coverage map, allowing Helium to transfer a ton of data on their worldwide networks while all of their users get to share in the profit! 

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Due to the interconnectedness of Helium’s network, there are some locations where the hotspots are much more profitable than others. Some areas are already full of Helium hotspots, meaning they all have to share data transference rewards as well as proof of coverage rewards. If, for example, you live in an area with dozens of other hotspots nearby, your hotspot will take part in way less challenges because the challenges in the area are shared between all of the hotspots. On the other hand, if you are the only hotspot in the area there won’t be any challenges to take part in! There’s a fine balance between too few and too many hotspots in your area, but Helium is working to share enough rewards to make it worth it even if it is not optimized. 

Is it Worth Investing Into Helium?

There are pros and cons of investing into Helium. Helium is doing something really cool with its company structure in a way that is refreshing and brings about a practical use for Crypto mining. All of the Bobcat 300 Helium miners out there are contributing to the success of the company, and the mined HNT is their reward for helping Helium grow and prosper. Because of the rewards on the network, hundreds of thousands of people have purchased miners in the years that Helium has been operational. 

The Economic and Non-Economic Investment into Helium

From a purely economic standpoint, there are a lot of variables that will determine the return on investment of your Helium miner. If you live in a good area and you put your Helium miner in a good location in your home, there is a chance that it makes a few dollars every day, will pay for itself within a few months, and from there the rewards are all yours. It will sit in the corner, look pretty, and mine HNT rain or shine. There is, unfortunately, the circumstance that it never really takes off and you are only making a few cents each day, resulting in it just about breaking even for the price of electricity it's using. 

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When you purchase a Bobcat 300 Helium miner you are investing into the future of the company. For, if they continue doing well, the price of their cryptocurrencies will rise and those pennies you were making may turn into dollars, making your miner much more profitable. If you decide to buy a Helium miner we hope that it is for the continued success of the company, not just your own economic benefit. 

Key Takeaways

Whew, all of this Helium talk can get tiring! Grab a cup of victory tea and join us for just a moment longer as we go over the key takeaways of this article. Helium miners are a fun investment if you have the money and if you are okay with the possibility that it will not pay itself back. 

• The Bobcat 300 Helium miner is an excellent choice if you want to purchase a Helium miner
• Helium is preparing a 5G network which will likely increase the interest into Helium and create a new market of miners
• Helium will mine on two separate networks, creating a new market for miners 
• Helium mining is a good hobby for those who want to get into crypto mining

There are benefits to Helium mining over other crypto mining because Helium mining is not something that huge corporations have jumped on just yet