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Garmin Rino 110


Imagine a cross between a walkie talkie and a Star Trek communicator, that's the best way to understand the Garmin's Rino 110. Not just a powerful GPS receiver, this two-way radio can even track your friends and transmit your location to others. These innovative features and low price makes it ideal whether hiking, hunting, playing paintball or just checking up on your kids.

About the size of a small cordless phone, the bright-yellow and black Rino 110 has two fixed antennas coming out of the top. One antenna lets you talk at up to two miles using 14 FRS (Family Radio Service) channels. It also can communicate across 8 GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) channels, offering up to 5 miles of range, though this requires an FCC license.

The other antenna offers the advanced WAAS-enabled GPS tracking you'd expect from Garmin. Using the large 160 x 160 pixel backlit display you can save up to 20 different routes and 500 waypoints in the unit's 1 MB of memory. Plus, in addition to the built-in cities database, you can even upload maps from Garmin's Points of Interest CD with an optional adapter.

The fun really starts when you combine these two features. The Rino can transmit its location to others at up to two miles and track up to 50 contacts simultaneously. So, for instance, you can display a map on the screen with the names and locations of all of your friends, or select a friend and have the Rino guide you to their location.

The Rino's graphical interface makes it easy to control its myriad functions with a 5-way cursor, similar to those found on laptop keyboards, which lets you move quickly across the menu screens. This waterproof device runs on 3 AAA batteries.

Once you use the Rino 110, it's hard to imagine purchasing a two-way radio without GPS functionality, the two features go so well together. --Ken Feinstein

Pros:

  • Two-way radio with GPS functions
  • FRS and GMRS support
  • Waterproof
  • Large backlit display
Cons:
  • 1 MB memory not upgradeable



Customer Reviews

Average rating:

Warning: Rino should not be used in Iraq

There are several testimonials from soldiers who have used/are using the Rino 110 in Iraq or concerned loved ones looking to buy one for their Soldier. While commercial GPS receivers have definitely filled a gap (the old PLGR is laughably outdated, and the new DAGR is more complicated than what you can buy off the shelf), the Army Program Manager for GPS has specifically target the Garmin Rino as a security risk.

Every time the mic is keyed, the Rino broadcasts the sender's location over a non-secure channel to anyone on that same channel. With the built-in scanner, anyone with a Rino 110 within range can pick up the transmission and determine the sender's location--including our enemies. So, every time you key the mic in the FOB, you may be giving away important locational data to the insurgents--especially if you and your buddy use the radio to find each other. "Hey, I'm in the DFAC, where are you?" "I'm at the PX".

I'm not saying that the Garmin Rino is a bad GPS receiver; I'm sure it works fine. But if you're a Soldier or are buying a GPS receiver for a Soldier, you should probably look elsewhere.


DO NOT PURCHASE IF!

Every picture I saw advertised for this unit showed detailed maps. Even in the owner's manual on several pages you'll see detailed maps downloaded from MapSource. This is not possible, even if you purchased the expensive software, it is not possible to download this info to the Rino 110 Unit. If you can live with a totally blank screen and 'bread crumbs' (because this is all you get in the GPS mode) then this unit is okay. If you would like more detail or even the most basic detail in the GPS mode, then purchase the 120 or 130 unit. These units will store additional info and include the cable for downloading from laptop to unit. The 110 does not include the cable. I own a 110 and 120 unit and both are great and are easy devices to work with but beware of the 110's blank screen in the GPS mode, it offers nothing but a blank screen and bread crumbs! (items were purchased for deer hunting and emergencys)


Defective Product

The radio portion was inoperative straight out of the packaging. Made this "discovery" after ordering a second unit but one couldn't send or receive messages. Figured out which was the defective unit by using a third two-way radio. Wrote to Garmin who suggested that I send in both units. Thanks to Amazon who was very accomodating with an excahnge. Wonder what hoops Garmin would have put me through. Maybe the product is "normally" ok but I ended up with a lemon.


great safety item

Got this as a gift for my soldier daughter who was on her way overseas. She has already used it and been proud she has it. That's good enough for me.
Youngest son has another Garmin he uses for hunting. Quality products - top of the line electronics and sturdy.


Could be better with an IASUS throat mic

We have many sets of radios as we use them for airsoft and paintballing. When we decided to buy a 2in1 system (GPS and radio) we deicided to look at these. The GPS unit is awesome. When using the radio, I find that the batteries drain a little too fast. We therefore purchased a set of IASUS throat mics online (AMAZON doesn't carry them!) so we could save more battery power. That actually made the unit sound better also! If the radio didn't eat up so much power and sounded better, I would give the Garmin a 5 star.


Get the Garmin Rino 110 from Amazon.com.