Just dove down this rabbit hole myself yesterday. I decided I wanted to be up and running with my Meshtastic device sooner than later and with little headache, so I went and got myself a RAKwireless WisMesh Pocket v2 that was pre-assembled. (Bought from Rokland, if you're in the US.) I decided to g...

Seeed SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000-E is a good out of the box start. Budget version are Heltec LoRa V4 kits.

I've been using it for about a year, and I seriously suggest the Heltec MeshPocket since it doubles as a USB power bank for your phone.