Garmin Rino 120 GPS with 2-Way Radio

by Garmin

Product Details

Product Manual [776kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 2 x 4 x 7.5 inches ; 12.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000065DQ2
• Item model number: 010-00270-02
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #20 in Electronics > Portable Audio & Video > CB & Two-Way Radios > Two-Way Radios

Product Description

Color: Hunter Green | Size: 8MB Memory

From the Manufacturer

The Rino 120 is state-of-the-art GPS navigation and two-way communications combined, with enough memory to download detailed mapping for driving, hiking, hunting, fishing, or just about anything else you can dream up.

The Rino 120 is waterproof and can beam your exact location to another Rino user within a two-mile range (on the FRS spectrum) using the position reporting feature. The radio functionality of the Rino 120 provides two-way communications for up to two miles (using FRS channels), and you can talk to friends or family who own conventional FRS radios. There's also a voice scrambler and a vibration mode for silent calls.

Define contacts and navigate to them. The Map Page draws a straight line to your destination. The dotted lines indicate the movement of your contacts. From the Rino's Radio Page, you can select a channel and squelch code so you can talk with your buddies with less chance of interference from other radio users.

The Rino 120 has a built-in basemap consisting of American road and highway detail, along with 8 MB of internal memory for downloading additional road, street, and points-of-interest data from MapSource MetroGuide, Fishing Hot Spots, Topo, or BlueChart CD-ROMs. A PC-interface cable also comes with the Rino 120.

Product Description

Garmin Rino 120 GPS / FRS / GMRS has a voice scrambler and vibration mode for top-secret calls! The Rino 120 state-of-the-art GPS navigation and 2-way communications combined, with enough memory to download detailed mapping for driving, hiking, hunting, fishing... or just about anything else you can dream up. It's waterproof, can send communications up to 2 miles using FRS channels, 5 miles using GMRS channels, and can "beam" your exact location to another Rino user using "position reporting." And because the Rino 120 had standard FRS / GMRS capabilities, you can talk to friends or family who own conventional FRS / GMRS radios. There's also a voice scrambler and a vibration mode for silent calls. Check it out: WAAS-enabled GPS receiver; 22 communication channels: 1-14 FRS, 15-22 GMRS; 38 sub-audible squelch codes per transmission channel for privacy; Transmission distance of up to 2 miles using FRS, up to 5 miles with GMRS (using GMRS frequency in the U.S. requires a FCC license); External voice activation (VOX); Ergonomic design for one-handed operation, with call, press-to-talk (PTT) and page mode buttons on the side, power / backlighting button on top, and volume and zoom buttons in front; Unique 5-way cursor for channel selection and volume adjustment in FRS / GMRS mode, and quick map planning, entering and selecting functions in GPS mode; Voice scrambler and vibration mode for silent calls; Built in basemap consisting of American road and highway detail, along

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent GPS, Below Average Radio, December 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Garmin Rino 120 GPS with 2-Way Radio (Electronics)

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 think 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.

104 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great two gadgets in one..., November 11, 2002

By 

Matt Jachyra (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Garmin Rino 120 GPS with 2-Way Radio (Electronics)

Garmin Rino 120 is the new GPS/Walkie-Talkie that my group picked up for out last kayaking outing. I already own Garmin Legend but I figured that I can sell it and for extra money have a reliable communication and navigation tool in one.
Well using it all weekend proved that it was worth the money. It has the standard features of the radio and GPS unit so you already know what to expect out of the box but there are some extra functions that are unique for Rino. I love the trip odometer feature which allows me to time my progress, adjust speed and control break point. With the buddy to buddy reference positioning system I can do sweeps on the river and keep my group spread out without fear of loosing anyone. Also it's easier to manage food and camp if you know how far people are away from you and what's their ETA is. Obviously I wasn't able to hit every possible feature but from what I got to use it I already establish the possible pros and cons of the unit.

Pros:
-GPS with WAAS build in. Very accurate.
-Unit is small and waterproof (ok no diving).
-Build in very loud alarm clock
-Build in games will kill some boredom (kills battery)
-When talking to your buddy your unit automatically sends your position out so he knows where you are (you can shut it off).
-Strong clip
-Easy to access even in the kayak
-Walkie-talkie has nice scrambler and coding device.

Cons:
-When using GPS (waas on) and Walkie-Talkie batteries drain fast
-Window needs screen protector because it scratches too easily
-Unit doesn't feel that solid as big priced Motorola radios (goes for all Garmin units)
-Like with all GPS units (or at least the one I worked with) you need open (partially open or steady position) sky for clear accurate signal
-Radios even if functional will only have 2 mile radius. Enough for camping and woods but not enough for any other land movement tactics cooperation SAR.
-Screen size was reduced. It still looks ok but I got used to bigger screen from my previous unit so I'm still adjusting.
-Cool white backlight that was a trademark on most of the Garmin units was substituted by green glow one. Is it a problem? No, but I think I was able to see a bit clearer with the white light.

At the end it's a nice tool to have. GPS, radio, alarm clock and games all packed into one nifty unit.

73 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It's currently defective, December 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Garmin Rino 120 GPS with 2-Way Radio (Electronics)

I bought 3 units and they all have the same problem: the slightest impact can cause them to lose power and require that the power be switched back on. Specifically, when dropped from a height of less than an inch, they shut off w/o beeping or other notice. While attempting to use them in practice, everyone's unit was always off due to this problem, so I will be returning mine in the hope that they will fix this problem in future units. The problem is that the batteries are on squishy springs, unlike the Motorola Talkabout's taut ones; and the circuit lacks a capacitor or other means of storing milliseconds worth of power. They will probably fix it, so not the date of this review: 12/3/02.
Also, I assumed that the units would provide automatic position updates to others in a group, but discovered that it only transmits one's location if one presses TALK. Perhaps this will be fixed by a future software release.

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