Thats actually a really good choice. Like choosing the LTS version of your distro to develop on. Things have definitely gotten better than the "bad old days" my war stories are from. These new integrated radio-on-a-chip are much easier to deal with and manufactures are taking their reference designs seriously with an eye toward helping smaller projects clear these hurdles. Using TI instead of obscure-asian-manufacturer is also a good choice.
That said, if they're depending on ($80k - kickstarter fees) alone to get off the ground, I think that's a bit sparse. Then again, they seem to have done an above average level of pre-campaign development.