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Hi all, these GPS Rhinos from Garmin have been on the market for a few years now....who rates them in 'the bush', not talking about open fields or on 'the tops'....are they any good distance wise using the radio????
Me n me mate are thinking of getting them if it gets the 'thumbs up'.......:ORLY:
I have two and they work well in the bush. Have used them several times over three years on Stewart Island and can't fault the GPS function in heavy bush with lots of overhead canopy cover.
Radio is OK but basically line of sight, will find its way over some hill but can't depend on it to do it every time. Being able to ping locations and send txt type messages is good it uses the radio to achieve this so its line of sight too.
Only problem is that its a bit hard on batteries when using the radio a lot.
Radio is not likely to work if you have to resort to using AA batteries too.
Also if you are a clumsy muppet like me and crack screen . It dosnt work . Ie lights are on nobody home ! It's a touch screen
Cheers @Pengy, so you have to use the battery pack supplied or have Ni cad rechargeable's?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pengy
From memory, the radio will only work when using the main battery as supplied. Even rechargeable AA s are not grunty enough to run the 5 watt output.
Personally I prefer to carry a decent dedicated radio, in case the Rino craps out.
Hi ,I've had one of these for 2 years now & it is awesome ,highly recommend it.
radio is crap, daughter had hers on 5w, i had a gme 5w and a mate was about 1km away above bushline (like us) i could hear him and he could hear me plain as day, the rino was staticky? and my mate could hardly hear what was being said when my daughter used hers.
If you're lookin to flick the garmin I'll find it a home mate...been lookin to upgrade the etrex for a while and I usually use the uniden's but ones on the blink at the mo...
I was goin to get one but don't have any mates, talking to some out of town "mates" who bought one each they were for sale within a week,rang to ask why, massively bulky shit batt life and radio is line of sight so complete waste of time.
I just use the next model down without the radio its good I carry a separate radio
Thanks for the feedback guys, decision made, sorry CO, I'm staying with what I've got!!!!!!!
Yeah it was a hopeful request - yeah I find the unidens are pretty good and you trash'em and cheap to replace. I'll just have to keep peering over your shoulder regularly when we loose the track (again) and go off course...
If anyone knows how to stop one of my Uniden uh47's units keeps going into RX mode and loud static every few seconds (stops after about 5 mins) but then will set off again with any button touch or incoming call. seem like the receive sensitivity is up the spout... Thought I'd ask before I just replace.
Cheers CD.
Just a theory, but have you possibly got it set to a repeater channel, or maybe squelch setting too low/high
Thanks Pengy I'll check - both of those ... ta very much!
Most likely the wife tutu-ing with it - and when you ask "what buttons did you push" I either get a dark look or "All of them", or both is the usual response...
Will investigate further tonight...
Vehicle mounted ?
Nah hand held UH 47's and the manuals are scant on the subject to say the least... Found the fix for the in car versions no problem
Just FYI - The radio works on AA battery pack, but is limited to 2W, not 5W that you get on the supplied battery.
I use the garmin 650 and whilst I don't use the radio much, I figured it was handy if like the last trip I was on, all the guys had their own radios and I could stay in the loop.
For the record I've found the original as supplied battery is awesome and have yet to need the aux battery pack I bought in anticipation. Car charger helps too so keep it topped up when back to vehicle of course.
And I'm very pleased w gps reception in bush.
fuk....now im not so sure!!!!!.....buggar!!!!
I've had one for maybe a year now too. Pretty happy with it. I knew it was a bit bulkier than others when I bought it, but it's not as bulky as a separate GPS and Radio..
I brought a screen protector for it pretty promptly, just a stick on plastic film type that cost me maybe $15 from ebay for a couple of them.
Regarding battery life, no issues there. As with anything, the more you use it, the quicker it runs down. But just powered on and recording your track, I've had it go for a couple of days with a good chunk of life left in it still. (Turning off overnight of course)
I haven't really had much use for the UHF yet, but will come in handy sooner or later and that along with the in-built rechargeable battery was one of the features I bought it for.
As with anything, use a bit of common sense to prolong the battery - Turn the Radio function off when you don't have need of it, let the display sleep when inactive, don't run the display on full brightness.
I've used it in bush a few times, nothing too gorged in or anything, but still pretty steep and thick, and had no issues retaining signal. It typically runs at the max accuracy of 3m (Actually 3.6m according to the manual)
Does anyone know if you can attach an external ariel to a Rino to extend range ?
You can't. There's just one port for power, one port for USB connection to your computer. (Which unlike some, you cannot charge it via USB)
Edit: Also a port for a headset maybe?
Why would you need an external antenna. The GPS works great with the built in one.
The antenna extension would be for the radio, I guess.
The idea is to extend the range of the radio, not the gps
Typing at same time
Beat Pengy to the draw ;)