Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 2 Way Radio/GPS combo units

Does anyone have any feedback on GPS/2 Way Radio combo units? The only ones I can find are the Garmin Rinos. I've read a wide range of revews on non-hunting/fishing sites. Some people seem to love them while others think the radio performs poorly. I'd appreciate the insight of anyone who uses these units to navigate and communicate while hunting. I'm also interested in hearing how effectively the gps unit tracks others in the same hunting party. Thanks

They work well for us. The radio range may not be as much as some others but I really like the ability to know where others in the party are located.
Useful when someone has an animal down and cannot direct others to the site.

Thanks for the feedback.I assume you're using the Garmin Rino. Are you aware of any other models?

I was considering the Garmin Rino, but the sales guy at Sportsman's Warehouse talked me out of it. He told me that in hilly, forested terrain (like here in SW Washington) the radio range is severely limited. Plus, the feature I was most interested in--tracking your buddies' position on your screen, uses the radio signal and is, therefore, equally limited (aka useless).

But, this is just what was told to me. I have never actually used one (outside of the store). Good luck in your decision. Please be sure to post what you buy and how it works for you!!

And welcome to the 'fire!!

Unless one is on the plains of Kansas with line of sight all the way to the geographic horizon, count on radios doing about 1/3 of their advertised range. This is all radios, not just Garmin.

Except for my Leatherman, I shy away from multitasking tools. If one wants good radios, then get good radios. Same same with GPS units. If one is running something like a Rhino in full feature mode, then battery life is the pits. It's doing constant GPS work and sending and receiving radio signals as well. If the radio goes south, will you still pack it for it's GPS abilities or vice versa.

My personal take on hunting and fishing is that I do those things to get away from folks. Yes, I'm out with a party, but we have no need to constantly touch bases. We'll see each other at dinner time and communicate our needs then. We're all old though, and if we have issues, well, we grew up dealing with them.

Rhinos eat batteries like crazy and their range is so limited in a hunting enviornment, they're rendered useless.

I've 3 of them, two of which are the 120's and the the other is the 530. They equally suck.

Get some Icom radios that are VHF and licensed, and then go get you a Garmin 60csx. You'll never look back.

Perfect..

Another vote for two seperate units.

I bought a decent set of FRS radios a number of years ago and they work fair enough, but the GPS tech is still evolving and I am my second GPS and will likely buy another in a couple of years. Two seperate units gives you more flexibility for long term upgrades.

Excellent post noKees I concur 100% on the 2 seperate units.

and Triggerguard1 the VHF option is an excellent option the only problem with the VHF option is that if it's used all the members of the hunting party using VHF Option have to be licensed.

I have that option and have found that it's a valuable option as a couple of years ago we had some ashhole shooting over other hunters heads because they happened to come into the clearcut he was hunting. There was no Cell Phone coverage in the area but I was able to get into one of the local VHF Repeaters to get Law Enforcement into the area.

Your group encroached on another hunter and you acused him of shooting over your heads and turned him in?
Don't think he could have been letting you know his location by firing in the air?
Guess there's more to the story... I hope so.

This is useful. For me the radio is an afterthought anyway. A friend of mine pointed out that I usually deer hunt alone, so why would I need to carry a radio all the time. Fair point.

I just came across a great deal at the LLBean outlet here in Concord today. I picked up a Garmin Oregon 400T at a 50% discount. Those with access to an LLBean outlet store should check out their current sale of 50% off all gps units. (No, I don't work for LLBean.)

The guy was a hot head, it was on public land, and it's not uncommon to walk in on someone on public land, we or I were not part of any group. Why Hell I've had other hunters walk in on my setup and there is no excuse to shoot over someone's head just because you walk in on them. I've also had someone drive into an area where I was hunting and get pissed off because I or someone else was already there retreat from the scene and then fire five or six shots into the air to ruin someone elses hunt. So your damn right I turned him in and I would and will do it again without any reservations.

When I'm shopping for a GPS I want two things above and beyond everything else.

1) Excellent Battery Life

2) Excellent Coverage

The Garmin 60CSX has the market cornered in that dept. hands down. They are by far and away the easiest GPS to use and the color screens, along with mapsource topo is excellent.

The Colorado and the Oregon look nifty, but their advertised battery life is much less and I have to wonder how well the touch screen would hold up to real hunting scenarios.

As far as having the FCC licenses, you can simply purchase a 4 pack of the radios and allow others in your group to use them. That solves that problem, but they aren't cheap.

Was he shooting just to be shooting, knowing you were there, or was he shooting at game?

I am going to have to agree with the above. Get seperate radio's & GPS units.

The comment was made about flat Kansas, well let me say that even in Kansas the range on this type of radio is really limited. Now comes the big kicker, going by Garmin's site the 530HCx which should have the best range costs $499 for 1 unit. That would mean for a pair (which you would have to have for the radio to be of any use) it is going to cost you $1000. The screen size is only 1.3 X 1.7 inches so very small & I didn't see if it had Topo Mapping available for it.

I have used a Gamin Map76CSx for the past 2 years and just love it. I bought a Garmin Oregon 400t 2 weeks ago (didn't need, just wanted to try something new). I also own a pair of Midland walkie-talkies that says has a 26 mile range. The Garmin 76 cost me around $300 when I got it, the 400t was right around $490. I think the radios were about $80 or so. Both of the GPS units has a lot bigger screen than what is shown for the Rino and they both came with Topo mapping on them, which is VERY detailed.

In this day and age, more and more people are buying GPS units to help them get around. I will admit, I only learned to use a map & compass a couple of years ago, from links that was posted on this forum. Give me a GPS unit & I can get most anywhere shown on a map by simply taking the coordinates from the map & then setting them as a waypoint in the GPS.

One or the other of the GPS's is always with me. Usually always have one of them plugged into the power in the pickup.

So what do you think of the Oregon? Have you put it through its paces yet?

So far the Oregon 400t is prooving to be one of the easiest to use GPS's I have owned (all the way back to the Garmin 45). With it being a touch screen, it makes it smaller in size, but with a larger screen than my 76.

It really is a slick unit and very easy to use. The touch screen doesn't take much to work. The only problem I see right now is the little bit of oil on your fingers leaves fingerprints on the screen. This really isnt a big deal. The screen itself seems to have a different finish to it. I was thinking at first of putting a screen protector on, but have decided to wait a while.

I have a Rino 530, two freinds have the 520's, one freinds father has a 530CX, and another guy just bought a 130 but hasn't used it yet. We use them for a week at a time and we may have to recharge them two times. They are great for seeing where your partners are located and the other reasons you buy a GPS. We don't use the radio alot, just trigger the mic to send your location and that works fine. We hunt in very steep conditions at times and if you lose a signal there it will be lost with a regular GPS and a radio. We love them, YMMV! I have carried both a radio and a GPS and it is a pain to carry both, but this unit weighs more than the gps and radio seperate, i believe.
Good luck.
Jon

Not too much on radios but the Garmin 60CSx is hard to beat. Worth it's weight in gold.

g

I use separate units.