New Garmin Rinos released

[captainjoe]

Don't know if you all saw that Garmin updated it's Rino series of combination radio/GPS. Would love it if someone would post a first impression or review if they buy one. Pretty pricey though and I'm particularly concerned about any tradeoffs of trying to combine radios and GPS in one.

Garmin | Rino®

 

[youngbuck]

I use a rino. Most of the guys I hunt with do as well. They work better the more guys that have them, not the radio but gps. Its handy if you are picking some one up along a road or trying to figure out where they are at. I'll have to look at them. Once you are used to them its hard to go back.

 

[Night Hunter]

We had a group of 5 guys that had them and we all got rid of them. GPS works fine as stated above but the radio part sucks.

I was standing less than 1/2 mile from another guy with a radio and had a clear line of sight and you could only catch about 3/4 of what was said. Not worth the $500 at Bass Pro. If you cand find them for under $300, you can't go wrong due to the quality of the GPS.

Others may have had better luck... I sold mine for under $300 for what it's worth.

 

[MachV]

If the GPS workt better in that 530 Rino than the radio= Its a pile so far. I put the Wyoming BLM overlay chip in it and have yet to get it to work anywhere near satisfactory. Put the chip back in the old Nuvi 350 and can track the property lines down to within a couple feet.
Gonna try to have have someone look at it, I might not have the setting right?

The main reason the Rhino interested me was the fact that we can keep track of each other with GPS waypoints unit to unit so we know where our party members are.

 

[Night Hunter]

Hope it works better for you MachV. My buddies ended up with two that they really like as far as the gps goes.

 

[GPSmaps]

I'm hoping the radios can reach farther than the Rino 530, especially in thick cover or mountainous terrain.

I think it will do better than the 530 because the 530 had 5.0 watts, GMRS (US) which they said was good for up to 14 miles. The 650 and 655t are good for up to 20 miles.
From my experience that translates to 2 miles in mountainous terrain, so I'm hoping the 650 radio can reach out to 3 or 4 miles in the mountains.

-Eric

 

[captainjoe]

Unless Garmin has negotiated something different with the FCC, GMRS is restricted to 5 watts. What some people also don't realize is that GMRS requires a license. It's easy to get, but costs about $70 for five years.

FMRS is 1 watt if I remember correctly and can be used without a license.

All that said, Garmin may have done things to make the new radios work more effectively and still be 5 watt GMRS radios... (i.e. better batteries, antenna, etc.)

 

[orangeride]

I've had the 130, now ive got the 530. The 530 is way better in every aspect other than the size was getting a little to big. I've also got some cheap midland 5w radios and they always outperform the 530 in back to back test. I hope this new model is smaller and the radio is a little better. I will say this. Two years ago I got stuck real bad out on the Wyoming priarrie. My winch was 80' short. To make a long story short i picked up my dad on top of a mountain glassing 16 miles away! His map showed exactly where I was at, and in 45 min in was out. I was pretty sure I was Gona be spending the night.

 

[rcdinaz]

I have a couple of the 530's a 120 and a 130 and I will agree that the radio is not great. They work wll enough most of the time for our group since you can usually see where the other person is on the screen. They are a God send when we have kids out hunting with us at least for piece of mind.

If I were going to spend $600 I have to say I would probably buy a seperate GPS and very small radio that works well. However, I almost always have others with me so I can't get away from the Rino since it is nice to just take off and then be able to find each other later on or when you find game.

I do like the addition of a camera in the high end models and wish mine had that. That feature is valuable since you can leave one more piece of equipment back at camp.

 

[PDA]

Does anyone have experience with the Nuvi 550? My wife wants a vehicle GPS for long trips, and I want one I can plug chips into for BLM and other land info. This looks like a decent unit that can do both and is "waterproof". Also price is right at $230 shipped online.

 

[rcdinaz]

I looked at the same one and have an old Nuvi. they are very convenient and the 550 can do topo maps which is why I was going to get it. You should be able to download and use the different maps such as "land owner" and such on this unit just like the hand held.

The only reason I didn't upgrade and buy this was because I started using my iPad instead.

 

[MachV]

I relized my old 350Nuvi would take a chip last fall so I ordered a chip. I like the Nuvi better than the 530Rino I have since bought as it is touch screen and is a lot easier to use. The 350 Nuvi is not waterproof and the internal battery will only last a couple hours but for the $$$ it works as long as you work within its peramiters.

 

[rcdinaz]

MachV if you have had it for a long time buy a new battery and replace the original. I did this on an old Nuvi and it stays charged most of the day and aftermarket batteries are cheap.