GPS? Rino 120 or GPSMap 60 bw

[Hornet]

Another what to buy question. The only GPS I have been able to use (borrowed) is a GPS 12.

I have it narrowed down to either the GPSMap 60 the new B&W one or a Rino 120.

I will be using it for hunting fishing in the backcountry kayaking and want to get into Geocaching.

I wouldn't be able to get the second rino for some time and most of my activities will be on my own. But the rino would be nice for hunting and even the kayaking because of the radio.

Will I be disappointed in the rino compared to the 60. I know the 60c gets a good following and was thinking the new one would be close. It dose have 24 compared to the 8 for memory on the rino. I will be using it for topo maps.

Thanks for any help
Hornet

 

[redcar]

How big or long of a trip do you take? Do you need all that memory for one trip? If on vacation do you have a laptop to load different maps as you go on a road trip? Or do you need to have it all loaded before you go?

I have a Street Pilot with 8 meg and 2 rino 120's. I have the older Road and Rec and also the older less detail topo maps from garmin. It is more than enough detail for me, and I was raised on USGS maps, then the military jobs later on. For me, 8 megs is enough. With my maps and where I live, I can drive about 2 hours in any direction and still be on the loaded map on the Rino/topo and the SP/R&R. Which is about as far as I usually go on a spur of the moment day trip or geocache. Your mileage WILL vary. You might want to buy the software first, look at what you would want or need to load, then decided how much ram you need. When you 'make up' a map, the Garmin map software will tell you much ram is required to load that map. If you want to go on a big cross country trip and don't want to lug a laptop, go with one with tons of ram.

When we go on a trip, I usually load all the maps I will need of where I am going, then maybe one or two here and there along the way where I plan to stop or if there is a big city. Otherwise I don't need to know the name of every stream and cemetary along the highway from here to Omaha.

My wife and I have used the Rino's to talk while walking or hiking apart and watched each others bread crumb trail on the screen, lots of fun. I have also made an 18.5 mile contact using the FRS side while mountain topping. Could go farther if I could find someone on GMRS, but not successful there. Used it this afternoon to check on the moon conditions as I was considering getting out the scope for stargazing - clear sky tonight. Nice full moon, so not many stars. Good night for the moon though.

Have you looked at the Rino 130? or the 60C? Here is website that I have used that sometimes has good prices:

GPS Store

 

[gorn]

I bought a pair of Rino 120's when they first came out. I was really dissapointed with the radio range they had. I returned them after about a week of testing. The GPS worked fine.

I have a Garmin Etek and Emap now. They work very well. For FRS radios I have some uniden, motorola and some generic one's that I got for buying a radio at the Good Guys.

 

[Pydpiper]

I have a Rino 120, the penetration you get with the GPS in the trees is remarkable, I fish, Geocache, camp and I also use it in my truck to be the "brain" driving my Microsoft Mappoint software on my laptop. The radio is ok, it isn't the best out there but it works fine in my opinion. The GMRS frequencies are terrific (just became legal in Canada) and the features are more than sufficent. Water resistance is just what it says, I use it in the rain with no problems.
I camp alot, the automatic polling is very handy, I strap a Rino to my 2 year old son and off he goes, every 60 seconds my Rino beeps and an arrow points to exactly where he happens to be. That is way too cool.

 

[matt_j]

I have the 120 that I'm using for kayaking... First of all like everyone here said: radios are so so... But they do work excelent on flat water. GPS portion is really good. Software and maps that come included with Rino covers most of your needs but for any type of crazy ocean venturing only selective markers are shown and you will need to update your software. But you shouldn't be out there without a map anyway so with combination of map and rino I'm always right on the money. Buddy postioning system is also great if you are in charge of the group and try to figure out where everyone is. As far as being waterproof... I did eskimo rolls with unit straped to my yak, I left it out on the deck in the pouring rain so the unit is tough and durable. Batteries will be drained if you use radio a lot.

One of the coolest features of the rino (and most garmin products will have it anyway) is the speed chart. It tells you current speed, avg speed, distance traveled and time... Very usueful tool when you need to plan out multiday trips. You know if you can slow down or if you need to push yourself...

I like the radio, I wish it had brighter and color screen... The new 130 has some extra features like a weather radio which may be nice to have.

Matt

 

[Rogue_monkey]

unless your gunna use it with some else who has a rino get the 60. more options and better all around unit.

 

[Hornet]

Well I decided that am by my shelf 75% of the time. I already have a set of radios and really wanted the mapping ability of the 24meg so I got the 60.

The unit is very nice and very accurate I have been able to get 9ft threw the car window without the waas and with it turned on I had a reading of 4ft. The only letdown was everyone including Garmin has it stated as 1000 (Garmin has changed it since the 20th to 500)waypts but the box it came in only has it having 500. Not really a big problems. I still am very happy. And thanks all for the help.
Hornet

 

[Rogue_monkey]

update your firmware on their website to the latest version if its not already up to date. that should take care of the number of waypoints.