Various embodiments provide improved mesh networks with properties that address various shortcomings of current mesh network implementations. At least some embodiments are directed to improving operations of mesh networks in connection with battery powered devices and address concerns associated with latency issues due to power save nodes as well as load balancing. Yet other embodiments address route cache timeouts, reduce route discovery overhead, perform proactive route maintenance based on a node's battery, and provide a straightforward battery-aware process based sleep protocol.