Any info on Garmin Rino ?

iahntr

iahntr

New member
Hi all. Myself and a few buddies are thinking about getting the Garmin Rinos. Just looking for some feedback on them to maybe help make up our minds. Anybody have any experiences with them,what model, how radio, buddy locations, etc. work, let me know. I appreciate it. Thanks
 
I have the 120 and everything on it works great. Myself and a Friend purchased one for a hunting trip a few years ago. We downloaded the MapSource Topo of the area we were hunting. This feature was great. You have to buy the MapSource products extra. The buddy location works great. As long as you stay within the range of the radio, you can immediately send your location and receive your buddies location. The radio transmission is clear and the radio is quiet. You can put it on vibrate to let you know when someone is talking. Right now I have it mounted on my 4-wheeler with a RAM mount. With the topo downloaded, it shows just about every road and trail I ride on. For hunting the size is perfect and I can see the screen clearly on my 4-wheeler. I would not hesitate to buy another one.
 
I have the 110, cant load maps on it, but dont need them anyways, It still has more features than I can use /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Its a great little unit, like it was said above, the radios work great, the buddy location is a nice feature. I would buy them again if needed.
 
Thanks guys. Just curious, have you guys used other gps or radios, to compare range to? That's probably my biggest concern, is range of the radios, and in turn, effectiveness of buddy location. It's a perty big jump in price to go up to the higher watt models 520 or 530. The 110, 120, and 130 say 2 miles FRS and 5 miles GMRS, and the 520 and 530 say 2 miles FRS, and 12 miles GMRS. Which if they are like my "12 mile" radios, that can mean 1/2 mile in some places. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I'll try to answer with.....
The garmin's we use are alot better than the motorola's I used to have, but as with any radio like these, range depends on terrain, I have had them work out to a mile, sometimes not that far. Here in the mountains its tough.

Besides how far do you want to get from your huntin buddys? For us as long as it reaches to the next ridge...thats good enough.
 
My father and I both got Rino 110's for Christmas two years ago and we just couldn't keep batteries in them. We ended up replacing the batteries every other trip out and they would die 3/4 the way thru the second trip. I gave up on them and went back to carrying my old Garmin GPSIII and a seperate Midland radio, my father did the same. Having two units in one was a great idea but just wasn't worth it for us. Rechargeable batteries might make it the way to go.
 
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