Garmin Rino 520/530

[+2Wheel'in]

Did a search here and came up dry...have the RINO 520/530 actually been released for sale? eBay auctions list a ton of them, but many have an awaiting shipment disclaimer. Garmin site still says "available September 05". If they are in the field has anyone tried one out yet?

Regards,

Bill

[+JohnnyVegas]

It could be that Garim recieved a late shipment of ond of the parts for the new Rinos. it could even be that they are eaiting for FCC approval for them, anything two way radio has to wait for FCC approval before it can be sold.

[+DarrylW4]

Did a search here and came up dry...have the RINO 520/530 actually been released for sale?  eBay auctions list a ton of them, but many have an awaiting shipment disclaimer.  Garmin site still says "available September 05".  If they are in the field has anyone tried one out yet?

I received both my 520 and 530 yesterday. I'm impressed with the feature set, but as a GPSR the jury is still out. We attempted our first find on the new unit last night and had more troubles than with the older Magellan units (Sportrack and Meridian). At least point we're chalking that up to inexperience with the new units and being our first night find. I'll point my impressions on the units later.

Edited October 19, 2005 by DarrylW4

[+DarrylW4]

Well Firefly03 and I hit a couple of caches yesterday with the new units. I'm sorry to report that they continue to give us bad data. It looks at if we'll need to wait for a new version of the software for these to stop bouncing so much. Till then we're carrying the Sportrak with us for back-up.

[+DarrylW4]

Firefly03 and I spent an hour or so on Saturday, then eight-and-a-half hours on Sunday geocaching our way to and from Cedar Point. It gave us a chance to spend some time with the new Rino 520 and 530 we picked up. Each of these units is running the first release of the software -- version 2.00. I've organized my Pros and Cons into the list below which might help others in their decision to buy a new receiver.

 

Overall: Unless you're looking for the FRS/GMRS functions (which are very nice) I would not suggest the Rino series. Perhaps when the new software is released the performance will improve and make the unit more appealing.

 

Pros:

• Battery Life: The supplied 2400mAh NIHM battery packs a punch. Over the more than 8 hours we used the units on Sunday we only used 15-16% of the battery.
  
• Radio: The ability to send locations through the radio is very helpful. When searching for more elusive caches, Firefly03 and I would stand still and send our locations (or poll the other person). In this manner we could get a better image of the cache location through the two known points -- us. We also ended up sending missing waypoints through the radios saving entry effort in the field.
  
• USB Communication: The USB connectivity to the computer makes downloading information very fast. Sending more than 40MB of the Topo maps into the unit took under a minute. When downloading the 25 locations from Geocaching.com the transfer was completed before I knew it had begun.
  

Cons:

• Inaccurate: The location information provided by the Rinos was far less accurate or stabile than either of the Magellan units we had been using. We brought the Sportrak Pro along for back-up this weekend, but found that we had developed a strong enough geosense that we really didn't need to use it. The worst aspect of the location inaccuracies was the bouncing effect. For example, while standing still in a clearing with the 530 (electronic comprass on), the cardinal would spin from left to right indicating the cache was moving from one side to another (when in fact I was starring directly at the cache 3 feet in front of me) on an accuracy rating of 15 feet. Not once during our searching was the cache at the location published on Geocaching.com. I have contacted Garmin Technical Support about these problems.
  
• Slow Updates: Both units were frequently slow to update the location. Walking at about 3MPH as indicated by the GPSR, we'd have to slow or stop for about the last 30 feet allowing the location on the GPS to catch-up.
  
• Buggy: Both units had their issues in the field. The 530 decided after about 7 hours of usage that it didn't need the LCD display anymore. No button pushes would restore the display, but a full power cycle did. The 520 early on decided that it would lock up at "Arriving at X" and not permit any input. A couple of power cycles and marking the cache as found before the satelites acquired fixed that problem. I have not yet contacted Garmin about these problems but will be later today.
  
• Interference: The radio would receive information at random. Without anything coming from the other radio, the radios would randomly receive a transmission. We ended up with the squelch controll all the way up to minimize the trouble. No matter what the units would still spit out noise at random.
  
• Talk Button: There appears to be an issue with the placement of the talk button switch under the rubber talk button cover. I had little trouble with the button pressing at the lower end of the button. Firefly03 had trouble keeping the button depressed though no matter where she pressed. The culprit seems to have been a lack of rigidity in the talk button cover since changing the finger position would change the results.
  

Hopefully this has been helpful. Enjoy the caching!

[+clegg78]

Yeh I just got my 530 and see that they have some work to do on cleaning up the software.

 

I got off the phone wiht Garmin going over an issue I found in the software that relates to waypoint import/exporting. if you make a waypoint in the Rino, export it to mapsource, and re-import it, that waypoint dissapears behind the map. you can see it in the FIND area but can no longer see it on the map unless you cursor right over it.

 

they reproduced it there, and are going to include that in the first patch.

 

Fortunately Garmin is good about patching their hardware, so I am eagerly awaiting the updates.

 

I bought this GPS to use as a car nav/radio device, and the lack of buttons makes it more challenging for that use. But overall its a great handheld, and will work nice with a headset for doing road trips with other cars, and such (with others having Rino's or GMRS radios).

 

I am a long time garmin fan boi, this is my 5th garmin GPS, unfortunately with complexity comes risks of software issues, and it seems to have bitten garmin this time.

[+clegg78]

Also if you have issues with the radios/GPS I would recommend calling Garmin so they know to fix the issues you are having.

[+DarrylW4]

Also if you have issues with the radios/GPS I would recommend calling Garmin so they know to fix the issues you are having.

I have dropped them three messages through the web interface along with a link to the posting. As of this evening I haven't received as much as an automated response though.

Edited October 24, 2005 by DarrylW4

[+DarrylW4]

Since my last post we've gone through a whole disaster scenario for Garmin. We ended up with two of the Rino 530s and one of the 520s total. One of the 530s arrived DOA -- it wouldn't read any satellites (a major problem for a GPSR). The 520 had MAJOR software issues to the point that it stopped working when routing to a waypoint, and the antenna cover was never glued in. We received the repaired 520 back about 3 weeks after that was sent in repaired, scratched, and glue drips down the side. The 530 never came back after a month. That one was returned to Garmin by DHL for an unknown reason, but I had received a call from DHL that they had a package with a tracking number on it, and that the only information associated with that tracking number was my phone number and the shipper. When I called DHL back and gave them the address they claimed that they would send it on its way. Why it ended up back at Garmin I don't have a clue. So I ended up early this month contacting one of the supervisors at the Garmin Tech Support line and running through the list of complaints on these units and the troubles with the old iQue. Bottom line is that they replaced both the 520 and the 530 with brand new units, not repaired unit (much more acceptable for new units that died) very graciously. While I'm not thrilled with the service I received, at least they were very good about fixing that situation when I brought it to their attention.