[Az-Geocaching] Garmin Rino 520/530

[AZcachemeister]

Sounds like a winner! Does it do auto-routing?

-----Original Message-----
From:  Ford, Denny
Date:  12/14/06 8:18
To:  listserv at azgeocaching.com
Subj:  Re: [Az-Geocaching] Garmin Rino 520/530

Scott,
We use these when we are hunting and they are nice.  They come with a
rechargeable battery that will last a full weekend of use.  We also use
to have the Motorola radios, but the quality is very impressive of the
530.  The color map is also a bonus.  They are not bulky and you get the
added bonus of once you set up the unit to auto send your location it
will update every 15 minutes or so.

I am very happy with the unit, and 3 other friends have the 530, and
makes it real nice when hunting a large area, on flat land you can talk
at a range of 3 to 4 miles where the Motorola radios had a useful range
of maybe a mile if you had trees or hills in the way.  If you have clear
line of site such as a balloon, I am sure it will meet its claim.  It
also comes with the weather radio, which is also useful.

Denny Ford, Tres Hombres

-----Original Message-----
From: az-geocaching-bounces at listserv.azgeocaching.com
[mailto:az-geocaching-bounces at listserv.azgeocaching.com] On Behalf Of
Roping The Wind
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 10:23 PM
To: listserv at azgeocaching.com
Subject: [Az-Geocaching] Garmin Rino 520/530


Anyone on the listserv using the Garmin Rino 520/530... I am interesting
in 
picking up a couple and would like lots of comments and reviews on them.
I 
of course would like to know how well the GPS functions work and how
well it 
would work for geocaching. I dont plan to use it for geocaching, just
want 
to know if it works as well as any other GPS for things such as
geocaching 
(how does it compare to the 60c/cs). Also, and most importantly, am VERY

interested in knowing how well the radio's work. The 520 and 530 boast 5

watts (!) of power for a range of up to 14 miles. I currently use 2
Motorola 
Spirit radios with 1 watt. I think they advertise a 2 mile range. But I
can 
easily talk 10-12 miles or more with these Motorola 1 watt radios. They
are 
VHF radios. Which I 'think' is a higher frequency than a GMRS radio. If
that 
is so, perhaps a VHF would 'reach out' farther with 1 watt than a GMRS
would 
with 5 watts??? Is this so? Or not? Anyone with lots of radio expertise
can 
chime in here. I am not interested in the Rino 530 if it cant reach out
at 
least as far as my current radios do. I also know that with line of
site, I 
have been known to talk over 30 miles (air to air) with my 1 watt
motorola 
radios. Will the Rino 530's do that with 5 watts?? Or are these whopping
5 
watt radio's capable of much more? I dont know too much about radio's so

anyone with knowledge on that can chime in too.