Some devices are needed, many devices can collapse the mesh. In fact, depending on the conditions, it is recommended to use a rol "client_mute" (do not contribute to the mesh) in your device if there are many devices, for avoiding too many retransmits. I hope you understand, my english is limited.

Yes and no.

Yes, it's part of a mesh that needs a lot of passive sensors to hop farther than the radio. However, it's still long range and low power. You can get anywhere from like 1 mile to 50 mile distance in one hop depending on whether you have sight of them, like being at the top of a hill or something.

For an emergency situation where a family is within miles of each other, you can probably still make good use out of it as a long range radio.

Also, we assume that you take the device out and enable it during an emergency, so that others in an emergency will have access to a mesh. I imagine this would currently be the case. I mean, my devices are off right now. If shit hit the fan, I'd turn them on. I imagine I'm not the only one with this plan.