Customer Reviews

Garmin Rino 130 5-Mile 22-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Garmin 130 arrived at my house about 36 hours before the deer hunting opener here in Wisconsin. I ordered a DVD getting started tutorial from another web site which got me started with the basics although the 130 is a feature-packed device that will be sure to keep the most gadget inclinced occupied for quite a while, but the basic features are fairly intuitive and easy to use with two basic buttons: the "click-stick" and the page/cancel button. I don't think the DVD tutorial was worth the money, but it's hard to say how much harder it would have been to get started without seeing it being operated by someone on the video.

A member of my party had a Garmin 120 last fall and I was anxious to unlock the power of the position tracking capabilities during the hunting season (for both him and myself). It proved very valuable while making drives with the compatible Garmin 120 as we were able to see each other's position in nearly real-time. It's not quite real time because the position of your buddies only updates when they release the talk button on their radio, so when we were trying to be quiet, we just got used to frequently keying the mic without transmitting any message.

I've read some complaints about the Garmin 130's radio capabilities, but I have to say it was one of my unexpected surprises with this unit. I had always borrowed a Motorola 2-way radio to use in previous seasons, so I not only stopped mooching off my buddies radios this year, but had best transmitting and receiving radio out of the group of 5 radios (and it was better than the Rino 120, too). On more than 1 occaision I had to translate for two buddies that couldn't hear each other, but I could hear both of them and they could hear me, so I translated for them (maybe I was right in the middle of them, but I think my radio was consistently a better performer under the same conditions and ranges throughout the season).

The 120 doesn't have as much memory and based on the comparison of the 130 and 120 in our camps this year, the satellite signal reception (affects accuracy of your position) and the radio signal strength were both better on the 130.

Other than my rifle, there's no other gear I will rely on more during a hunting season.

I have been using the Garmmin Rino 120 and 130 for two years for Boondocking Snowmobiling in Alaska, and Hunting. As for hunting my son lost his 120 in the tundra caribou hunting and I used the poll for position function and it locked on to his 120 and I used the GOTO function and it brought me right to the lost GPS. I have had no problem with the radio I think it works great, I was able to locate and communicate with other members of my hunting party when they were out of sight in a draw and at an 800 foot higher elevation and 1 mile away. The MapSource is easy to use and down load the needed maps fairly easly, and the Garmin web site is easy to download software updates. I have found the altimiter to be spot on when snowmobiling. The batteries last about 8 -10 hours depending on how much you use the radio and you get about 45 mins of time after you get the low battery warning but the radio does lose clarity and transmission strength at this time.
I find the function buttons and zoom fuction easy to use, I would diffently buy this unit again.

Before i bought my Rino, my mind was made up. I was absolutly convinced i wanted so i ignored the reviews that critised the radio feature. Boy was i wrong the radio built into this unit is usless for anything more that about 250 meters. A distance you can shout over, and even then yelling will be clear to understand. Don't get me wrong i love my rino and take it everwhere, the map featrues are amazing and the built in compass, altimeter and weather radio are so useful. I frequently set out somewhere with only my GPS and address and no map. And find it very easy to get there, using the address lookup feature. Basically i love using my rino 130, but the radio isn't worth the extra weight, i know own a pair of motorolas FRS/GMRS which are excellent.

I bought 2 of the Rino 130's for my wife and I to use for hiking, boating, and geocaching. We were excited about the prospect of peer to peer positioning, etc. After 10 minutes, one of them locked up, then the second one would not transmit only receive a radio communication. The only way to get either one of them to function properly again was to remove the power source, wait a few seconds and reinstall and power up again. The first time this happened I was hoping it would be an isolated incident; then it happened again 10 minutes later. I checked the software; one was running ver 5.40 and the other 5.20. Webupdater would not work with one of them. It would lock up during the firmware upgrade.
I chose to immediately return the items, thinking that if it is this much trouble now, what will it be like later. I expected better quality than this from Garmin. Great features and an intuitive user interface are a plus; however, dependability in the long run is apparently non-existent. The GPS portion of the unit is terrific. The problem seems to be aligned with the communication creating instability. I am purchasing a different unit and plan to make it a Garmin product again.
Amazon is easy to deal with on returns; 5 stars to Amazon.

This update might help users that were having problems with there Rino 110, 120 and 130 Radios. Peer-to-Peer and reception issues.

Garmin is pleased to announce that the FCC has granted Garmin a waiver that will allow the Rino series units to send position data on GMRS channels. In addition, Industry Canada has established a license-free GMRS service. Canadian Rino units will now allow users access to GMRS channels. Position sending/polling will also be allowed on Canadian GMRS channels. (...)

I have had one for almost a year and have sent it back to Garmin twice, they replaced it once. It still has the same problem.

It will lock up and sometimes power itself off. Sometimes I can use the power button to reset it. Other times I have to remove a battery to get it to reset.

There have been a couple of times I have pulled it out of my pack or coat pocket to find it locked up. But, it has also locked up while in my hand. So far this has happened when I have been in the reset menu.

Has anyone else had problems with this GPS ?

UPDATE: 2006-10-05
Garmin has a firmware upgrade that is supposed to fix the "lock up" problem I was having (when using the reset menu in the trip computer). It seemed to fix the problem in my friend's rino130. I upgraded to the rino530. (no problems with it...yet.)

I bought a Garmin RINO 130 specifically for a mountain climbing trip to Mt. Fuji and the altimeter, compass and go-to features failed. Even manually recalibrating the altimeter to posted altitudes proved futile because the successive readings would soon be off. I checked my RINO reading 3,000 meters to a signpost reading 2,700 meters. I re-calibrated the RINO to 2,700 meters and climbed for 30 minutes and my RINO's new reading was 2,694 meters. The GOTO feature took me back down to the wrong rest station that I had stored on the way up. In Tokyo, the electronic compass was 180 degrees off even after recalibration.

On the island of Hokkaido, the RINO failed to find enough satellites. Either there are super secret bases on the island with GPS jammers or I passed through a wormhole to the Twilight Zone.

I hope Garmin aviation products fare better. I got a refund.

After reading all of the online reviews here on Amazon, and on the manufacturer's web site, I decided to purchase the units and judge for myself. I had been planning a trip to the Michigan sand dunes, and thought it would be nice for safety to have at least two units in case any member of my family got lost, or seperated during the trip.

Within the first few hours of using the units, we learned a few of it's idiosyncrocies. One thing you have to know is that the units must have time to "locate" at least 4 satellites before it will accurately report location info. The time required can vary, depending on the environment. Terrain with buildings, or other barriers, natural or otherwise, will increase the time required for the unit to "lock-in" satellites.

Once the unit's find the satellites needed for self-navigation, the unit works without much intervention. My 14 year-old son was able to learn how to use the tracking-navigation feature within a couple of hours of tickering with the unit.

Out in the field, my 14 year-old son made a miscalculation, and ended up in a chest-high pond of water, with him, his ATV, and the Garmin Rino 130 fully submerged for about 3 minutes. After the initial panic of making sure he was ok, and removing the water-logged ATV from the water, we immediately checked the Rino 130, and it was still working great. However, the external PTT microphone that is sold as an accessory did not survive the plunge.

The unit works so well, and is so simple to use, it can seem almost "toy-like" until you realize how much data it keeps track of at one time. Once I initiated the "tracking" feature for the other two units I purchased, it maintained location data for the duration of the trip, without any further manipulation. I was actually stunned by the simplicity of locating any of the units, even standing still. Although the compass feature works better when moving, it is still very accurate in a fixed location under the right conditions.

Overall, I would recommend this unit for anyone needing basic communication and GPS capability. The Radio was a bit under-powered in my opinion, but they were suitable for short distances in wooded areas. Near some metro areas, RF interference is definitely a problem, but that's no fault of the unit. Many of the people who have complained about this unit seem to either have received a defective unit, or don't like to read manuals.

i purchaased a garmin 130. what a joke. i couldn't get the softward loaded. it came with an old serial port connection and cable. modern computers don't even have this connection. company support was terrible. they offered usb softward to try to convert but it didn't work. i compared the radio transmission distances against inexpensive motorola 2-ways. the garmin got blown away. this may be the worse purchase i've made ever.

I purchased the Rino 130 specifically because it also had the radio and NOAA features. Fortunately I read the other reviews on this model as well as the 120 and 110 versions that complained about poor radio performance. I tested the unit and sure enough the radio performance is absolutely terrible, and I was able to return the unit to Amazon in time for a full refund. Be sure to test this yourself. Also the buttons are very small, and the zoom function is impractical as you constantly have to activate the zoom and then slide the zoom level up and down. I returned the Rino 130 and purchased a Garmin Etrex Legend C (color display) for about the same price. I will miss the NOAA feature of the 130 but not the radio. This is an overpriced GPS. Spend the money on a color display unit instead and you will not be disappointed.