Garmin Rino 130

The Garmin Rino 130 series is an excellent choice for the outdoor adventurist types. I highly recommend this unit for hiking, fishing, hunting, camping, or just about any outdoor activity. It has a built in two-way radio, gps, weather radio, compass, altimeter (elavation), barometric sensor, and many more features. It is also waterproof.

The Rino 130 also has two-way communication that allows other two-way radio users talk to you up to two miles away using the FRS channels, and up to five miles away using the GMRS channels. This feature is great for use in the outdoors, or shopping malls, or between different vehicles while traveling together.

One of my favorite features of this unit is that if you are in the outdoors with other Rino users, you can transmit and keep track of their locations. It has a polling feature where you can request their location, or they can transmit it to you. It allows you to keep track of where your hiking, fishing, or hunting partner is. This unit will keep you in constant contact with your children, friends, or loved ones. You will also be able to know exactly where they are, what paths that they took, what direction they are, and how far away from you that they are.

Another great use would be for if someone in your group got injured. With any two-way radio, they could tell you where they are. What if they got injured to the point of where they were not able to talk, or maybe reach their radio to talk to you. If you both have a Rino, you could track their location immediately with the push of a button.

Fishing Example
With this unit, as you are driving or walking, it shows you on the map where you are. It also keeps track of your speeds. At any point, you can add a waypoint. For example, if you are fishing your favorite creek or stream, you can mark the spots where you had the best luck. This allows you to keep track of all the good spots, year after year. You can also "beam" these waypoints to other Rino users, so they can also find these locations as well. With this GPS, you will also be able to find your way back to camp so that you will not get lost.

Hunting Example
I personally purchased the Garmin Rino 130 for hunting. All of my hunting buddies also have a Rino unit. We are able to leave our weather radios, two-way radios, and maps back at home, and carry one single unit. We can keep track of where everyone in the hunting party is at all times. If we find a water source for the animals, or a great area with a lot of food, or a lot of deer or elk sign, or even deer or elk themselves, we can mark these spots on our GPS units for finding them again the next day. We can also transmit these spots to each other so that we all have a big picture of what our chosen hunting area is all about. Once we get home, we download these waypoints into our computers, so that we can keep track of them year after year. This way we will be able to tell how certain areas or hunting spots have been over the years, and we will be able to watch the animal patterns.

Driving Example
If you are driving with another vehicle (or more) then you can keep in constant radio contact as long as you are within reach of each other. Before your trip, you can even select your route on the map and choose where you may stop to eat, get gas, or find a motel. You can mark the route and the waypoint, and transmit them to the other Rino units. This way everyone will know the exact route to follow. If someone makes a wrong turn, or if you get separated a couple miles, then you can find their location on your GPS unit or you can talk to them on the two-way radio.

Children Example
How much fun do you think that you would have had growing up with a Rino. Being able to track your secret hide outs, and tracking down your friends on the GPS screen. Do you remember how fun it was when you got your first walkie talkie. Even though you had to be within a hundred yards of each other, it was so much fun to play hide and seek, and other games. With these units, your children would be able to talk to their friends up to five miles away. They wouldn't be constantly tying up the phone lines anymore. If you take your family on a trip, when your child comes home, they can beam the highlights of the tip to their friends rino unit. This unit would have been so much fun growing up. It will also spark your childs interest into technology, and will help their heatly imaginations run wild. The possibilites for this unit are endless.

Lost or Injured Example
Have you ever been hiking, fishing, hunting, camping or any other activity, and had someone in the group come back very late. If so, you felt scared and helpless. Maybe you went out looking for them, but really had no clue which way they could have gone. If your group was using Rino units, then you would not ever have to worry about that again. You would be able to poll their rino for their location. You would be able to keep track of their entire trip. You will have total peace of mind knowing that your friend or loved one is also carrying a Rino.

These units are a lot of fun. It is the best piece of equipment that I have ever purchased. It is easy to learn, and easy to use. I use the unit in all my travels. I recommend purchasing the Garmin Mapsource Topo, or the Garmin Metroguide so that your map will have more detail than what come with the base map that is included.

If you are a current user of a Rino, and you are interested in sharing your trips and waypoints with other Rino users, send us an email. If there is enough interest, we will be adding this feature to our forum area of our website.