Rino 530 ?s

[holcombr]

Hi All..........

I live around Boise, Idaho and ride off road motercycles. Desert, Foothills, and Mountains. I am considering a purchase of either the 60csx or perferably the Rino 530. The reason I say Rino perfered is that a ridding buddy has one.

Question 1....using the "polling" feature. Does the rino use 5 watts or 1/2 watt.........

Question 2....If you are seperated by a timbered ridge and 1/2 to 1 mile apart will it make contact?

Question 3....Would I be beeter off with the 60csx and a cheap radio?

 

My buying a gps is about 75% usage of the compass and mapping features. I really could care less for the talking part of the radio. It is the contact or Polling feature I would be using..............

 

Another question....How does the 56 meg memory work? When it gets full can you erase and "load" again?

Thank You all.................

[eaparks]

Hi All..........

I live around Boise, Idaho and ride off road motercycles. Desert, Foothills, and Mountains. I am considering a purchase of either the 60csx or perferably the Rino 530. The reason I say Rino perfered is that a ridding buddy has one.

Question 1....using the "polling" feature. Does the rino use 5 watts or 1/2 watt.........

Question 2....If you are seperated by a timbered ridge and 1/2 to 1 mile apart will it make contact?

Question 3....Would I be beeter off with the 60csx and a cheap radio?

 

My buying a gps is about 75% usage of the compass and mapping features. I really could care less for the talking part of the radio. It is the contact or Polling feature I would be using..............

 

Another question....How does the 56 meg memory work? When it gets full can you erase and "load" again?

Thank You all.................

 

holcombr

I have the Garmin 60CSx and have been very pleased with it. Keep in mind that the "Basic Map" that comes with it will not suffice for what you are wanting to do. You will definitely want Garmin's Mapsource U.S. Topo software for off roading, that is assuming you go with a Garmin unit. The Mapsource Topo software cost around $90 new, but does not require an unlock code (meaning it can be loaded on as many computers and GPSr and you want). You also, may want a larger memory chip if you buy an "x" series Garmin unit. The memory chips have come down significantly in price and if willing to search the internet they can be found for anywhere from around $10 to $40 depending on the size memory card you want.

 

As far as the Rino I don't know a lot about them, but I will relate what I know about FMRS and GMRS radios of which the Rino is a GMRS radio. All of these relative low priced walkie-talkies that have come out in the past few years started as FMRS and then the higher wattage became the GMRS with a few additional channels. Both operate in a frequency range that is basically a line of sight operating range only. Meaning that if any significant object (much more than a tree) is blocking either the receiving or sending unit communications is lost completely or garbled so it is not understandable. I have tried several different brands and models and I haven't found anything yet that will operate even within a 1/4 of a mile of each other when a hill/mountain is between the 2 parties. The same goes for buildings or anything else blocking the signal. The operating range that the Mfgs. state is only valid over open terrain such as water with totally unobstructed line of sight. Granted the higher wattage units do perform better but they still are just a line of sight walkie-talkie. No signifcant improvement can be made to any of these types of units because of the frequency that they operate within. Some unit's receivers have better filters which does improve one brand/model over another, but it doesn't sound like any GMRS radio will be able to communicate the way you are hoping for.

[eaparks]

Hi All..........

I live around Boise, Idaho and ride off road motercycles. Desert, Foothills, and Mountains. I am considering a purchase of either the 60csx or perferably the Rino 530. The reason I say Rino perfered is that a ridding buddy has one.

Question 1....using the "polling" feature. Does the rino use 5 watts or 1/2 watt.........

Question 2....If you are seperated by a timbered ridge and 1/2 to 1 mile apart will it make contact?

Question 3....Would I be beeter off with the 60csx and a cheap radio?

 

My buying a gps is about 75% usage of the compass and mapping features. I really could care less for the talking part of the radio. It is the contact or Polling feature I would be using..............

 

Another question....How does the 56 meg memory work? When it gets full can you erase and "load" again?

Thank You all.................

 

holcombr

I have the Garmin 60CSx and have been very pleased with it. Keep in mind that the "Basic Map" that comes with it will not suffice for what you are wanting to do. You will definitely want Garmin's Mapsource U.S. Topo software for off roading, that is assuming you go with a Garmin unit. The Mapsource Topo software cost around $90 new, but does not require an unlock code (meaning it can be loaded on as many computers and GPSr and you want). You also, may want a larger memory chip if you buy an "x" series Garmin unit. The memory chips have come down significantly in price and if willing to search the internet they can be found for anywhere from around $10 to $40 depending on the size memory card you want.

 

As far as the Rino I don't know a lot about them, but I will relate what I know about FMRS and GMRS radios of which the Rino is a GMRS radio. All of these relative low priced walkie-talkies that have come out in the past few years started as FMRS and then the higher wattage became the GMRS with a few additional channels. Both operate in a frequency range that is basically a line of sight operating range only. Meaning that if any significant object (much more than a tree) is blocking either the receiving or sending unit communications is lost completely or garbled so it is not understandable. I have tried several different brands and models and I haven't found anything yet that will operate even within a 1/4 of a mile of each other when a hill/mountain is between the 2 parties. The same goes for buildings or anything else blocking the signal. The operating range that the Mfgs. state is only valid over open terrain such as water with totally unobstructed line of sight. Granted the higher wattage units do perform better but they still are just a line of sight walkie-talkie. No signifcant improvement can be made to any of these types of units because of the frequency that they operate within. Some unit's receivers have better filters which does improve one brand/model over another, but it doesn't sound like any GMRS radio will be able to communicate the way you are hoping for.

[kb9nvh]

Hi All..........

I live around Boise, Idaho and ride off road motercycles. Desert, Foothills, and Mountains. I am considering a purchase of either the 60csx or perferably the Rino 530. The reason I say Rino perfered is that a ridding buddy has one.

Question 1....using the "polling" feature. Does the rino use 5 watts or 1/2 watt.........

Question 2....If you are seperated by a timbered ridge and 1/2 to 1 mile apart will it make contact?

Question 3....Would I be beeter off with the 60csx and a cheap radio?

 

My buying a gps is about 75% usage of the compass and mapping features. I really could care less for the talking part of the radio. It is the contact or Polling feature I would be using..............

 

Another question....How does the 56 meg memory work? When it gets full can you erase and "load" again?

Thank You all.................

 

I love the idea of a Rino and marking others locations on your gps but no VHF/UHF radio will go very far on 5 watts unless its line of sight. (you can get through trees and buildings to some extent but ground terrain will kill you). Police and community service radio uses something called a "repeater" to get huge distance. A repeater is a radio on a tower (as tall as possible) to recieve the mobile/handheld signal and retransmit it. Everyone is line of sight to the tower so this works very well (50miles still depending on terrain). Most vehical mounted radios put out 50 watts. Most handhelds put out 5 watts. 50watts gives you only 2X the coverage of 5 watts (not 10X as my might think).

 

Now that Rino is transmitting the corrdinates on GMRS you are allowed to set up a repeater on the GMRS radio but the repeater would be fixed so your operating area would be fixed also.

 

Some emergency folks set up portible repeaters out of their vehicals for temporary emergency use. This works well for limited search areas where the terrain is hilly.

[holcombr]

THANK You all for the replys.

 

Because the Rhino can't "SEE" could enough through the trees. I probably will get the 60csx or even the 76 csx..................more mapping functions and memory cards.

Thanks again

[+daiichi]

THANK You all for the replys.

 

Because the Rhino can't "SEE" could enough through the trees. I probably will get the 60csx or even the 76 csx..................more mapping functions and memory cards.

Thanks again

 

I just bought the Rino 530. It's a nice piece of work... but only if the other guy also has a Rino. The mapping features are about on par with my 60 csx. But the lack of a memory chip is really annoying and quite limits the versatility of the Rino if you expect to change areas much.

 

The reason I say that if your buddy has a Rino, it's really cool is that the Rino's 5 watts will transmit up to 14 miles without a repeater. You can set the Rino up so that your position is always plotted on your buddy's map and vice versa. For me, this is really cool when trying to keep track of multiple hiking parties.

 

But if all you need is a GPS and Map, the 60 csx is a better bet. If you could use the position broadcast and radio communications feature (by sacrificing storage), then the Rino would be a good choice.

[holcombr]

Hello....Again

I am posting on another question with the rino 530

Yes , I bought a Rino 530.....My application for now is NOT Geocaching But rather Motorcycling (dirt bike style)....However your groups Knowledge base is a wonderful souce to tap into.

There are 3 of our group with rinos....one 130 and 2 of us with 530's

Can we share Mapsouce Topo????

Can we share City Navigator???

Every time I turn my 530 on it goes back to NO Backlighting. I have to once again enter display setup and set it to 20%....It is difficult for my 58 year old eyes to see without backlight. HOW can I get it to ALWAYS be set at 20%???

I bought this unit from Cabelas...I was pleased with their price matching.......$373.99

THANKS for the help

[+Paulsan]

There is no lockout on Mapsource Topo. I am not giving you permission to do anything that the license forbids.

 

City Navigator does have a lockout and you get two codes. If you decide to upgrade your GPS someday you will need the other code for that unit.

[+Red90]

If you press the power button , the backlight will go to your preset level and stay on for the preset time. It will then come on again at ANY button push. Page 6 of the owner's manual.

 

If you want it always on, go to the display setup page and choose "stays on" for backlight timeout and it won't turn off after you press the Power button.