camping equipment at target

I was delighted to see the RINO models, as we found that carrying both a GPS and a separate radio while hunting was a real juggling act. This combination was an answer to prayers. I expect a significant number of my family and hunting friends will end up with these units.

Some of the reviews mentioned problems with radio compatibility with the Motorola FRS units. We have six of the Motorola units and have had no problems between them and the Garmin. I have also, so far, not had problems with battery life, and have used the unit in all combinations of operation. One hopes these problems were isolated events.

I find the RINO's operation to be very intuitive, little or no reference to the manual was necessary (though I have now read the entire thing). The unit is certainly the easiest of all the various GPS units I've used. This one even picks up signal while in our house, something no other unit I've seen has done.

A factor I had never considered with other units is how well the machine fits/holds in the hand.

So far, in our short association, I'm both very impressed and pleased with the machine. I would recommend it highly.

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June 03.
The RINO and I have now been together for a number of months. It continues to be an excellent tool.

In addressing the reports of battery life and radio reception, I feel it necessary to report that I STILL have not had problems with battery life. I get two full days of 8-10 hour use from a set of batteries, with power left over.

Between my wife and kids, we have five different Motorola units and have zero problems communicating with them. Both my parents and my in laws have generic "no name" radio sets and the Rino also "talks" to them with zero problems. My unit has software version 2.10, and that may be a factor.

I bought this device to cut down by one the number of electronic gizmos that I carry around while traveling with my family, not for its position transmission feature. After using the Rino I tink that the combination of radio and GPS in one device is an excellent idea in theory, but the execution of the idea in the Rino is flawed because of the poor performance of the radio.

The GPS in the Rino 120 is very similar if not identical to the Garmin etrex Legend and even the included basemap is useful for rough navigation. I found the GPS user interface to be quite intuitive. Further, the satellite reception was considerably better than I expected; surprisingly, I could get a 2d lock from inside my house. More memory would be nice for downloading MapSource maps, but really I don't have any substantive criticism of the GPS - this is what Garmin does, and does well, in the rest of its product line.

However, I was so disappointed in the performance of the Rino as a radio that I returned the unit. I'm an amateur radio operator and I well understand the limitations of FRS / GMRS in simplex (no repeater) operation. (If you didn't already know, those "2" and "5" mile maximum range claims that all radio manufacturers seem to make are obtainable only under the most favorable conditions and in the real world you will do well to get, at best, half of those distances.) Even within these limitations, the radio in the Rino is poor by comparison to good standalone FRS radios (We use Icom 4008A's).

When I was testing the Rino, I set it side by side in my house with my Icom and used both to scan the FRS channels for traffic. The Icom repeatedly picked up clearly audible conversations (by people using unknown types of FRS radios) that the Rino never heard. When I turned off the squelch on the Rino ("monitor mode") and set it to the channel the Icom stopped on, I could hear only the faintest echoes of transmissions that were clearly audible on the Icom. On a recent trip, I was using the Rino and was standing right next to my wife who was wearing an Icom. Another in our party called us from perhaps 1/2 mile away using his Icom. I could hear him clearly on my wife's radio while the Rino barely broke squelch and was unintelligible.

If your use for this device is heavy on the GPS side and light on the radio side, then I would consider it. If you are looking for a radio that incidentally contains a GPS, I would pass on the Rino for now, go for the Batman look and buy standalone GPS and FRS / GMRS devices. No, you won't have the position reporting feature this way, and that is one of the strongest points of the Rino. However, given that this feature is tied to the Rino's FRS performance, don't expect too much.

All in all, kudos to Garmin for this truly excellent idea, and I will certainly buy another release of the Rino in the future if Garmin will give us radio performance equivalent to their excellent GPS. Frankly, I would be willing to pay more for the unit if it had that kind of performance.

I bought the Rhino 120 for Hiking with my Daughter & we also ride quads & motorcycles on remote trails. The GPS was simply awesome. Accurate & easy to use the basic features, their are alot of features & I am still working on learning them. The basics are easy to learn so you don't get lost & it is easy to find your way back with the tracking & waypoints. We used the radio, however it did not seem to work that well with other brand FRS radio's. The range was very limited, but this may not be Rhino's fault, but rather the different brands of radio's, I did not get the opportunity to give a good range test on GMRS. Anyway, my riding buddy was so impressed he is going to get one as well. I am pleased.