Hardware Only vs Ready-to-Run

Same hardware. Different who loads the receiver image. That is the whole decision. The radios do not change. The Remote ID path does not change. ADS-B on a Pi kit does not change. You are not buying a second radio class.

On the shop card the large price is Ready-to-Run. Hardware Only is the second number. Open the product page to pick. The large price on that page updates with the choice. Add is Ready-to-Run unless you switch it.

Pocket Remote ID is the one-piece ESP32 with a color screen. Raspberry Pi Receiver is the indoor named-site kit: Pi 5, Remote ID board, USB receive radio, and a 1090 whip. If you have not picked the computer yet, read Pi vs ESP32 first. This page is only who loads the image.

Labor is the gap between the two numbers. Pocket is $50 on the same board. Raspberry Pi Receiver is $80 on the same kit. You are not paying for a different radio.

The image is how the receiver boots. It is not a new radio. It is not a map license. It does not add range. Rings on a map are scale, not a claimed distance. Same radios either way.

On a Raspberry Pi kit, Ready-to-Run is an official 64 GB card with the Dark Sky image. The card is in the box. The Pi boots that image. Hardware Only does not include a card. You supply one and you write it. The shop lists both a blank card and a card we have already written, for a Pi you already own.

64 GB microSD card $19. Blank. You load the image. 64 GB Ready-to-Run image card $49. Same card, our image loaded. Extra business day. For a Pi you already own.

On an ESP32, Ready-to-Run is flashed firmware. There is no microSD. The board arrives with our image on the flash. Plug in USB-C. The screen and buttons work. Hardware Only is the same board without that step. You load the firmware with the tool you already use.

Copy-flash is the restore file. On Ready-to-Run it goes to the email on the Stripe receipt. If you wipe the card or the ESP32, you can write the same image again. A smoke-test on our bench is not a shipment. The unit ships after that check.

What the radio hears does not depend on who wrote the image. Cooperative Remote ID on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. ADS-B on a Pi kit when the USB receive radio and the whip are in the box. Dark or RID-off aircraft are not in the picture on either checkout. Read Remote ID receivers if you need that line in one place.

Pick Hardware Only if you already flash ESP32 boards or write Raspberry Pi cards. You have the cable, the imager, and a quiet hour. You do not need us to touch the unit.

• You already flash ESP32 firmware.
• You already write Raspberry Pi images.
• You have a 64 GB card, or you will add one from the shop.
• You want the faster door, from US shops after Stripe.
• You will own the image from the first boot.

Hardware Only is the factory kit. Pocket arrives as the board. A Pi kit arrives as the computer, the radios, the supply, and the rest of the kit. No Dark Sky card in a Hardware Only Pi box. No flashed firmware on a Hardware Only ESP32.

If you have never written a Pi card and never flashed an ESP32, do not pick this to save the labor line. The labor is the hour you will spend, plus the card you still have to buy. Ready-to-Run exists so that hour is ours.

Pocket Hardware Only is $79. Same color screen. Same USB-C. You load the image. Open Pocket Remote ID Receiver and switch the checkout.

Raspberry Pi Receiver Hardware Only is $399. Same Pi 5, same Remote ID board, same USB receive radio, same 1090 whip. You write the card. Open Raspberry Pi Receiver.

Pick Ready-to-Run if you want it to boot. Extra business day. Labor, not a radio markup. We load the image. We check it on the bench. Then it ships from us.

• You want first power to be a live receiver, not a blank board.
• You do not want to run a flasher this week.
• The unit is for a desk, a door, or a named indoor site.
• One extra business day is acceptable.
• You want copy-flash in the welcome email.

Ready-to-Run is the recommended checkout on every dual-price receiver. The shop card leads with that number. The product page leads with that number. Hardware Only stays one click away for people who already flash.

Pocket Ready-to-Run is $129. That is $50 of labor on the same ESP32. Plug in USB-C. The color screen is the picture in your hand. Cooperative Remote ID only.

Raspberry Pi Receiver Ready-to-Run is $479. That is $80 of labor on the same indoor kit. Official 64 GB card, Dark Sky image, in the box. The Pi boots that card.

After the radio is on, the next decision is the map. Dark Sky Field Pad is $5,900 — the /console/ glass on a host we build.

Hardware Only ships from US shops after Stripe. We order to the address on the receipt the same day. You receive factory hardware. Tracking comes from that shop. We do not hold a second warehouse of blank boards.

Ready-to-Run ships from Dark Sky after the bench check. The kit comes here first. We load the image. We power it. We confirm receive-only firmware. Then it ships. Extra business day. U.S. shipping.

Copy-flash instructions go to the email on the Stripe receipt. A smoke-test is not a shipment. If the bench is still running, the unit has not left. Do not treat a test ping as a tracking number.

Both checkouts are U.S. shipping. Pay on Stripe. Texas LLC. If a line is out of stock the page stays up and checkout is off until the shop has it again. We do not delete a listed product to hide a gap.

Hardware Only is the faster door because the shop already has the part. Ready-to-Run is slower by one business day because we write the image and we check it. That delay is the labor you paid for.