Best Helium Miners to Earn HNT

The best part about helium mining is its set-it-and-forget operation. Additionally, it powers a world-class distributed wireless network.

Cryptocurrency mining is considered complex and expensive.

How should we imagine high-performance GPU and ASIC miners constantly humming with life around them while emitting excruciating heat in a traditional mining setup?

And don’t even get me started on mining investments. 🤐

Helium blockchain is an open-source, decentralized wireless network that powers billions of IoT devices with low-cost internet. But there’s more in the works, including a Helium 5G network that pays based on the data you actually consume, rather than a fixed monthly subscription.

This is very economical and the long-term plan is to drive traditional internet service providers out of business. 😅

But we’re here primarily for helium mining.

Simply put, you purchase wireless devices and place them on your premises to earn mining rewards. In contrast to traditional miners that consume a lot of power, these small WiFi devices consume only 5W of power.

But it poses a challenge for regular wireless hotspots. Powered by Helium LongFi technology, these routers have 200x more coverage than standard WiFi routers.

Therefore, only a few hundred such devices can cover an entire city. This technology is made possible by a low-power wireless network, technically known as LoRaWan.

Helium mining (TL;DR)

Simply put, helium mining for non-technical miners is as simple as purchasing and setting up a hotspot device. It doesn’t take long to install either, and there are plenty of YouTube videos about it.

Except for this, everything else will happen automatically.

Owners of these hotspots earn helium tokens in exchange for “coverage.” The only downside is that the revenue is very low, especially if you are the only helium hotspot in your area.

There are many activities that miners perform, most of which cannot be performed without a network of hotspot miners.

See people’s networks with Helium Explorer .

It’s similar to Google Maps, with green hexagons representing the extent of individual hotspots.

You can check this to see the number of miners in your location. Additionally, you can explore all the past activity and rewards of every miner on the Helium network.

We’ll go into more detail, but if you’re not familiar with this, feel free to skip the next two sections.

How is helium mining done?

Power the Helium Network (aka The People’s Network) and earn rewards by setting up devices like WiFi routers.

Behind the scenes, the device builds Proof-of-Coverage (PoC) challenges for other routers, extends network range (data transfer), completes PoC tasks sent by other routers, and accesses accessible hotspots. Check out our PoC activity.

Overall, there are five mining-related ways to earn Helium Tokens (HNT).

• Become a PoC challenger (up to 2.11%)
• Participate in PoC challenges (up to 11.78%)
• Witness the challenge (up to 47.11%)
• Network data transfer (up to 35%)
• Consensus group members (6%)

The percentage indicates the rate at which you can earn HNT mining rewards based on the activities you participate in.

Depending on your surroundings (and hotspot devices), you may perform one or more such tasks.

Additionally, if you are selected to be part of the consensus group that validates your transactions (data transfers), you will also receive mining rewards. This group takes up to 6% of all mining rewards.

The remainder of the mining rewards (33%) will be given to Helium, Inc. and network investors.

Please note that like any other mining, helium mining does not guarantee a steady profit.

Another way helium mining is similar to typical mining procedures is that it halves events. The Helium blockchain observes such events every two years. Similarly, this is done to assess the value of the native token.

Risks of helium mining

Mining rewards are not guaranteed. A big problem occurs when you are the only miner in a particular location.

In that case, you will not be able to participate in PoC activities or become a witness. Therefore, you only get paid for data transfer.

The only other way to earn HNT frequently is to become a Challenger .

These entities build PoC challenges for other hotspots named Beaconers or Challengeees . The beaconer then initiates a PoC challenge and completes the challenge in the presence of nearby witnesses .

However, please note that all reward-generating activities are completely automatic and random. And once you turn on your device, you don’t have to lift a finger.

Now that we have a good understanding of this, let’s check out the appropriate hardware.

best helium miner

The first few miners were manufactured by Helium, Inc.

It later allowed some companies to do the same. Therefore, when purchasing a helium miner, make sure it is on the official list of helium miner manufacturers (available on their website).

finestra minor

Features:

• Raspberry Pi 4 processor
• 4GB RAM
• Support frequency: EU868
• Bluetooth 5.0
• WiFi 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, Ethernet
• Antenna gain: 2.8 dBi

The FinestraMiner comes with a non-adhesive mount that can be used to mount it in an elevated position to provide better coverage. Dashboard management is supported by Helium or FinestraMiner apps.

Sense Cap M1-US915

Features:

• Raspberry Pi 4 processor
• 2GB/4GB/8GB RAM
• Support frequency: EU868, US915
• Bluetooth 5.0
• WiFi 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz
• Antenna gain: 2.6 dBi for US915, 2.8 dBi for EU868
• 64GB MicroSD card storage

Product description lists miles of coverage and is eligible for automatic OTA upgrades.

Additionally, SenseCAP M1 comes pre-installed with a cooling fan and heatsink to ensure smooth operation.

preview	product	evaluation	price
	SenseCAP M1 LoRaWAN Indoor Gateway Helium Crypto Miner – US915		$134.47	Buy on Amazon

Blowan Merriott Hotspot

Features:

• Rockchip RK3566/Quad Core Cortex-A55
• 4GB RAM
• Support frequency: EU868/US915
• Bluetooth 5.2
• WiFi 2.4GHz
• Antenna gain: 2 dBi
• Built-in antenna
• eMMC 32GB/64GB TF card

The Brown Merryiot comes with an internal antenna, but you can use an external antenna to extend its range. But what sets it apart is its eMMC storage, which exhibits super-fast beacon detection.

Milesight LoRaWAN Hotspot

Features:

• Quad-core 1.5 GHz, 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 processor
• 2GB DDR4 RAM
• Support frequency: RU864/IN865/EU868/US915/AU915/KR920/AS923/AS923-2
• WiFi 2.4GHz
• Antenna gain: 2/5 dBi
• 32GB eMMC storage

The differentiating factor in this case is the high antenna gain, which provides a wide proof-of-coverage range and high HNT revenue.

Finally, Milesight offers two models to choose from, UG65 and UG67, for indoor and outdoor use cases.

bobcat minor 300

Features:

• Quad-core Cortex-A35 CPU
• 2GB DDR3 RAM
• Support frequency: AS923/AU915/EU868/US915/KR920
• Bluetooth 5.1
• Wifi
• Antenna gain: 4 dBi
• 64GB eMMC 5.1 flash memory
• OTA upgrade

In addition to extremely fast eMMC storage, Bobcat Miner was honored as a favorite hotspot by the helium community in 2021.

preview	product	evaluation	price
	Piecemaster Bobcat 300 Hotspot Helium HTN Minor US 915, Black		$140.00	Buy on Amazon

And high antenna gain paves the way for wider coverage, leading to higher mining rewards.

MNTD Black Spot by RAKwireless

Features:

• raspberry pi 4
• 4/8GB RAM
• Support frequency: RU864, IN865, EU868, US915, AU915, KR920, AS923, CN470
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 2.4 & 5Ghz WiFi
• 32GB SD card storage
• Built-in heat sink

As stated on the website, MNTD blackspots are based on RAK hotspots. And noticeably, all these mentioned specifications belong to the RAK version.

preview	product	evaluation	price
	MNTD Helium Black Spot Minor (Black)		$215.00	Buy on Amazon

nebula rock pie minor

Features:

• Dual-core Cortex A72 1.8GHz/quad-core a53 1.4GHz
• 2GB RAM
• Support frequency: US915, AU915, KR920, AS923, EU868, IN865, RU864
• bluetooth 5
• Wifi
• Antenna gain: 3dBi
• 32GB eMMC storage

Nebra ROCK Pi comes in two plans: Basic (free) and Advanced (paid). The basic plan configures automatic updates, and the advanced tier represents remote management of device statistics, performance, and more.

RADACAT COTX-X3

Features:

• Quad-core Cortex-A72 @1.5GHz processor
• Up to 8GB RAM
• Bluetooth 5.0
• WiFi 2.4/5GHz
• Antenna gain: 3.5/8 dBi
• 32GB micro SD card

This is the most premium option on this list, with an optional high-gain antenna and LCD display. As of this writing, this COTX-X3 mining hotspot is available for immediate purchase with no reservation period.

conclusion

This was helium mining. It’s the easiest plug-and-play type of mining procedure you can ever hope for. The best part is the small one-time investment (approximately 500 USD), noiseless operation, and support for the world’s largest wireless network.

However, the rewards are comparable and cannot be compared to typical Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining.

Are you interested in PoW mining? Check out the profitability of crypto mining and some mining platforms to start your adventure.