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not well written and missing critical details. They further stated that I "sounded unhappy" and actually encouraged me to return the unit. Funky battery pack design: It's an add-on module affair. It was designed to be changed out for the alkaline battery pack (available as an accessory from Garmin). I felt this was an odd response for such a large company. I found myself constantly zooming in and out. BTW, the charger connects to the unit via a super-funky (and easily lost.). First off, I think the display is too small.
I bought this unit for a Deer hunt in Utah. I found that, in the mountainous area we were hunting in, that 2-3 miles is about the best you could hope for. clip-on adapter. Speaking of which, the owners manual is (typical for this type of equipment.). I realize it was designed to prevent water intrusion , but the battery pack should and could easily be designed so that it is fully internal in the main case of the unit, as it is on nearly all handheld (and now fully submersible) Marine VHF radios. Battery life of the Li ion battery is OK if you are using just the GPS. While there are many things to like about it, my unit had a number of negatives that ended up being a dealbreaker with me. I would also like to preface this review by saying that I have extensive experience with marine GPS units, starting with the first small black and white Garmin unit I purchased 18 years ago to the latest top of the line Garmin 5212 GPS Chartplotter.
I called Garmin on this issue and they postulated that it was "probably some kind of software glitch". Radio transmissions were crispy and clear though. Garmin states that the radio has a 14 mile range set at 5W. It's funny, the use of these UHF frequencies require the user to obtain and FCC LICENSE.there was never any mention of this in anything I have read re this unit, nor in the owners manual. In just one day of hunting, (4hrs morning, 4hrs evening) the battery was half discharged after very minimal radio use.
The most glaring issue I had with this unit is that it switched itself off for no apparent reason 6-7 times in the course of only 2 days use. From the number of "refurb" units I see for sale, this strikes me a probably not an isolated instance. Too bad, because this unit is not what I would describe as intuitive, and can be downright confusing to operate without several days for intensive familiarization. Because of this, I feel that my hopes were set too high and perhaps I had unrealistic expectations for this unit. I don't know what other radios this can communicate with, so if others in your party are not similarly equipped, you may be just as well off with the radioless 520 model.
Better you make sure that you get the (optional at extra cost) car charger. When you zoom out to a certain point, roads disappear. Use of the radio will rapidly deplete the battery.
It's big and ugly but it works. uses battery power fast so I recommend the AA battry pack backup. best thing going for keeping track of your buddies as long as everyone has a Rino. Reception can be a problem in rough terrain but I heard and tracked someone on a mountain 76 miles away.
there goes 50 in one battery pack.To my surprise i could not load the routes from the computer to the GPS. This feature was no problem with the rino 130Maybe it is an defect in my system or the battery pack. This is a great powerful GPS given the right conditions. OK, the routes would load but an error would come up when I tried to use the roads. I was initialy pumped and impressed and ended up disappointed. I praised the improvements from the rino 130. Great features and options.Unfortunately my GPS battery wont re-charge after the first use.
It would be nice to make it available on the top level. The party on the other end of the device does not need to have any knowledge as to how it works. There is no cell coverage there so 2 way radios are the only way to communicate. Many of the features require a day or two of use to become fluid with. In the past 2 way radios only worked if both people were trying to find each other. I have used man GPS receivers and 2 way radios.
I used it primarily at a music/art event called Burning Man in the Nevada desert. I would then walk to where she was on the map, look around and in most cases find her within 25 feet.The reason I did not give it 5 stars is that the polling feature is buried deep within several levels of menus. I have to say I am most impressed with the function of the 530 HCX. With the 530hcx, when separated, I could page out "Poll" my wife and see just where she or our art car were. Be sure to practice before you need anything in a real life emergency. IT does an amazing job at locating others.
I was able to place on in my wife's purse and one in our mobile art car.
I would assume that if both parties had the 530HCX the recpeption and the peer to peer would be better, this is a case of "your only as strong as your weekest link" and in this case its the 120. I recently purchased a Garmin Rino 530HCX, it is a great product, I am having a problem using the peer to peer with the Rino 120, in a dense forest the position updates take longer than I would like but i dont think this is because of the 530HCX, its most likely the fault of the rino 120. It gets bad reception even at a 1/4 mile from a moving vehicle, and unless it has a clear pathway to the 530 it doesnt seem to update.
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