Held together without any solder ^^
Uses an old phone battery for power and is housed in the box that the heltec v3 hardware was shipped in. Unfortunately I had to bend a row of pins to fit it in the box with the battery, but this is only because on my model the two rows of pins are already soldered in. Normally they should be included extra I think.
I am seeing lots of other meshtastic devices, but haven't yet managed to send a message. Maybe I am not in a good location or I need a better antenna.
Kinda want to buy a second device just for messing around with two of these ^^
I highly recommend buying off of aliexpress directly.
No I am a noob at this as well. The heltec v3 seems to be the most popular device though.