UPDATE: I’ve posted Garmin Rino 650 and Rino 655t pages with more details and screenshots.
Garmin is announcing three new Rino two-way radios this morning, the Garmin Rino 610, 650 and 655t. The Rino 650 and 655t GPS receivers feature a 2.6” touchscreen, the same size found on the Garmin Dakota series. It’s unclear from the news release, but I’m assuming the 610 uses the same touchscreen. UPDATE: The Rino mini-site confirms that all three models are touch screens. All three models accept BirdsEye imagery and Garmin custom maps, and are expected to hit store shelves in the third quarter of 2011.
- Garmin Rino 610 – 1 watt FRS/GMRS radio, uses 4 AA batteries (rated at up to 18 hours), MSRP $349
- Garmin Rino 650 – 2.6 touchscreen, 5 watt FRS/GMRS radio, NOAA weather radio, wireless data sharing with compatible units, tri-axial compass, barometric altimeter, Li-Ion battery (rated up to 14 hours), optional AA battery pack (rated up to 18 hours), MSRP $499.99
- Garmin Rino 655t – adds a 5MP camera and pre-loaded 100K scale topo maps to the 650’s feature set, MSRP $599.99
UPDATE: Here’s the Garmin Rino mini-site.
Here’s more pics and the full news release, which is worth reading for more info if you’re interested in these models.
About Rich Owings
Two things. I am really surprised they are touch screen, as opposed to having buttons like the 62 series. Not sure i like this. Also, i believe offering one of these with a marine VHF instead of the FRS/GMRS radio would be a home run with the boating/kayak community. Other than that they seem full featured.
I expect that the touch screen Oregons are outselling the 62/78 series, which may be influencing them to go that direction. But that may be due to the higher price for the more recent 62 series too.
Oregon 450 is ranked #1,069 in Electronics sales at Amazon; 62s is ranked at #1,508. I suspect the $80 price differential is responsible for this. By comparison, the old Garmin 60CSx is ranked at #87 (!), despite being only $90 cheaper than the Oregon 450.
Does anyone know how Amazon calculates their Bestseller list? Could the fact that the 60CSX has been around so long have anything to with it’s ranking?
Amazon says it is “updated hourly.” I suspect that they do some sort of smoothing though. In terms of interest, they’re almost neck and neck on this site – 5636 page views for the Oregon 450 in May, vs. 5547 for the 62s.
I noticed on one of Garmins screen shots of this unit that areas of a map (counties perhaps) are highlighted red with a button above that says weather warning/or advisory. Is it possible Garmin has interfaced NOAA weather warning alerts with areas of the map for a warning indication? It appears so from the picture. That would be really neat and something new, i think.
Rick
Yes they have. A nice feature indeed!
I have an old rhino with ,what they say is ,a 14 mile radio capability. In the woods I can only count on 1/2 mile range. What kind of reliable range will these new rhinos get in the woods.
The 65x models say 20 miles, but as you have discovered, that is very terrain dependent.
If by old you mean a 500 series, check the power setting in the radio setup. These will do much better than 1/2 mile even in heavy woods in my experience. The 600 series must have a better antenna since the wattage is the same as the 500 series but is advertised out to 20 miles.
I love my 530hx, but I hope the quality of the 600 series is better than the 500 series as I am on my 3rd one under warranty.
I just purchased the Rhino 655T and used it 2 days in the field. The features it offers is great and works well, but it has one major flaw. The unit clips on via its battery and three days in hiking through heavy brush while hunting, all I had at the end of the day was a battery clipped onto my pack and no GPS. You would think the unit would be secured to the GPS not the battery.
I would not consider this unit again without a resolution to this problem its to expensive of a tool to have falling off. Garmin should have the unit attach to the GPS not the detachable battery.
Was the battery cover not secured? This appears to be similar to the cover on the 62s, which I haven’t heard of anyone having problems with. Did you get it back? If so, I’m curious how tight it feels when you latch the cover.
The battery cover was on correctly and tight, it also feels tight when attached, it was on for 2 1/2 days while backpacking in and spotting from ridges. However the first time I went through heavy cover the battery detached from the unit. The locking pin only requires a short turn to lock the battery in and evidently does not require much to undo if caught on brush. After trying to retrace my path through thick brush for 1/2 a day I had to give up and did not recover the gps. Attaching the clip to the gps unit would make much more sense as the cost of replacing a battery is much more palatable than the cost of replacing the Rhino 655t if they become separated.
That is terrible! Have you contacted Garmin and if so, I’d love to hear what they said.
Yes, I did contact Garmin to let them know that the method of securing the gps by the battery did not hold up well when going through brush. Their comment was that its what they use on other units and they feel it is a good option to secure the unit by the battery and they where sorry it had been lost. I would not recommend this unit for any one who would be using it in the field unless is is secured in a pack, which is counter productive if you have to pull it from a pack every time you need to use the radio or gps.
David, Good to know about the lanyard issue with the 600s. I have had many things stripped from my body crawling through underbrush, usually Manzanita is the problem. Once I lost a Rino that was just clipped to my pack, but my buddies were able to talk me to it eventually. Now I tie everything to my pack as I haven’t had it pulled off me yet. The Rino 500 series has a sturdy lanyard attachment on the GPS itself that has not failed me. Garmin should replace your unit and fix this issue.
Marc
will my spare battery pack from my 530 fit the 655
Looking at the accessories tab on the Garmin pages for both models, it doesn’t look like it will.
Hi Mark,
The battery pack from the 500 series will not fit the new 600 series. Bummer since I have three.
Whitesheep
I just did a 5 day deer hunt with the Garmin 655T. I did not have time for downloading or reading the user manual. While in the National forest areas of Washington State and after downloading TOPO 24K West this unit performed w/o fail. I took many pictures and when downloaded to my lap top they look as good as my Canon camera shots.
Hi!
Does anyone know if the Rino will be able to be used with dog-collars as used by the Astro-series of Garmin GPS?
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=209&pID=89564
In my opinion, knowing you hunting dogs position is just as vital as your hunting partner.
Thanks!
No, they are not compatible.
We bought several of these units 655t and several have had power issues with the Litium Ion Rechargeable Battery Pack… Need to get with Garmin and have them fix the problem.
Are they shutting down? That’s been a problem with some Montana batteries…
http://gpstracklog.com/2012/04/garmin-montana-shutdown-issue.html
Trying to find an ipad app that works with the Rino 650. Looking to use this with our SWAT team and need to be able to track our guys when they are out in the woods. What app would you recommend?
Hey Dave, Why not just use the Rino? ipads don’t have GMRS radios so I don’t think there is “an app for that”. Why are your SWAT guys in the woods anyway?
Dave, Don’t know of any iPad app but if a laptop could be used the new Basestation feature in Basecamp would give you that exact feature.
I just purchased a rino 650 and would like to offer my initial thoughts after one week’s use.
First off, it is a solid feeling unit with no creaks and groans like the 62s exhibits. That may be important to some folks. Secondly, i am not a fan of the touchscreens that come with the Oregon series units and was concerned about this before i purchased it. However, the screen is great and every bit the equal of the map 62s with regards to brightness and resolution during daytime (with no backlight). Thirdly, the battery life seems to be enormous with the supplied lithium ion battery. I have not used the radio much but after three days of 4-5 hours GPS use each day, the battery still shows 63% available life left. This is big for me because i hate changing the batteries nearly every day in my 62s. The radio seems to offer very good clarity albeit that is after short duration/distance use. With an aftermarket gizzmovest case, downloaded gpsfiledepot.com maps, I think i have my ultimate (to me) GPS. For now anyway. PS, the unit does have one bug that needs to be fixed with a software upgrade. Whenever you go to track manager and try to access or view your current track, the unit turns off immediately. This has happened every time i have tried it. I have heard of one other user with this experience. Otherwise, i am very pleased.
Rick,
Did you have the track manager problem before the firmware update? I installed the update as soon as first used the unit so I don’t know if the big is only in the latest release. I am exchanging my device and will see if the replacement suffers from the same issue when it comes in (assuming it will arrive with older firmware). My problem is the Basestation feature, which is why I wanted the Rino, is not available on the old firmware.
-Mike
Mike,
To be honest, I didn’t try the old software. As soon as i bought it, i used web updater to install version 3.00 on it. I assume (dirty word) that Garmin will take care of this snafu in short order as well as install support for the new tempe sensor that i just purchased. I haven’t tried the basestation feature other than to update my Basecamp program with it. I try to stay away from basecamp as much as possible. Every time i use it, something bad happens to either my computer or to my GPS. Plant me in the field of folks who found Mapsource much more intuitive and useful. Please update this thread on what you find out. Other than this issue, i really like my rino.
Rick,
I just spoke to Garmin and they seem to be aware of the issue but he wasn’t able to replicate the problem on the device he had in hand. The support person asked that I send a system file to them so they can forward to engineering and help get this resolved. Unfortunately, I am waiting for my replacement device to come in so I can’t do it. Maybe you could take a little time to send it to them. It requires plugging the device into your computer then pulling a file out of the Garmin folder on the drive that shows up when you connect your gps to the computer. if you would like to do this email me at fmplastics at gmail dot com and I will give you the garmin email address to send to
I just remembered one other significant thing i noticed about the rino 650. First of all let me say that i have always been amazed by the map 62s ability to lock on to a signal in the most difficult situations and then to fine tune its position to minimal error (according to its GPS accuracy field). I really did not think this could be improved upon. Well, the rino 650 consistently beats the map 62s in my head to head comparisons. I live in a brick house. Both units have zero problems locking on to position indoors. But the rino is faster and will consistently fine tune position down to 8 feet whereas the map62s will be around 15-25 feet. I know this information has to be taken with a grain of salt. But if they are to be believed, the rino is faster and more accurate. I will have to compare tracks to find to verify this of course. The rino also grabs the WAAS signal incredibly fast. Take that for what it is worth.
Thanks Rick! I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience.
I just got the Rino 655t for hunting purposes but I have not yet came close to mastering it or for that matter I have no idea how to use it and the manual I followed but it still I can’t figure it out is there a easy to follow guide or something besides the manual from garmin?
I just want to track my location to return to that same location if need be and I really don’t understand what a waypoint is because it keeps giving me tons of options and then doesn’t show anything.
To understand waypoints: http://gpstracklog.com/2010/02/handheld-gps-101-waypoints.html
Better yet, read the whole Handheld GPS 101 series (links at the end of that page).
Basically, mark a waypoint and then you can navigate back to it by choosing Where To > Waypoints and then selecting the waypoint you marked.
Or to navigate back to where you turned the unit on, choose Where To > Tracks > Current Track > Tracback.
I just need some down to earth easy to understand for garmin 655t. I have read some of the manual. I got this for my boyfriend because we love to hunt, in MO and thought it could be useful but would like to get another with 2 way not another 655t per say but just a way to track one another and 2 way radio. So if anyone has suggestions that would be wonderful. Or do they make a instructional, walk you throug type video besides the tutorials on garmin.
I really don’t need tons of features but would like to track the route Ive been take photos (which I did figure this out) but the topographic is hard to read and I thought you could get true detail topo of the specific area? Please help or refer me to how to get step by step instructions to get me going before bow season which is only 2 days away.. THANKS
You can’t see each other’s location without another Rino. You can get more detailed topos for free at http://gpsfiledepot.com.
Just wanted to confirm to everyone that it does seem that many of the Rinos that update to firmware 3.0 will suffer from a bug in the track manager. Garmin confirmed this for me although they weren’t able to duplicate while on the phone with me. I received a replacement, updated the firmware, and found the same problem. A shut down occurs if going to Track Manager, Current Track, View Track OR Where to, Tracks, current track. That is kind of a big problem if you are using this for navigation…
Good news is that Garmin has a fix that is in testing. Hope to see another firmware update soon.
Wanted to give the heads up that firmware 3.2 is available for the Rhino 655T. fixes the shut down issue when going into tracklog. Not sure if this firmware applies to the other versions.
I have noticed that the 120s do not recognize the 650 series’ location transmission. Radio communication works, but locations don’t update on the 120’s. I have no problem with my 520hx. What’s up?
No idea. I think you’ll need to ask Garmin about that one… http://www.garmin.com/us/support/contact