questions for Garmin Rino Users

[dapper]

My son and I are debating getting the Garmin Rino for keeping track/in touch with each other as we hunt seperately. I posted a thread about keeping in touch with your partner and have read the posts, as well as those slim9300 put on from the bowsite forum. I have a few other questions.

Since we backpack in, we are concerned about weight, which battery life and use becomes an issue. We would probably get a battery pack to take AA Lith. batteries. Since we won't be able to recharge and will be in for 14 days.


1) I read that battery life is about 18 hours. Also about turning the unit off to conserve the batteries. Can one unit be off when the partner sends a text message? (like a cell phone in the aspect the message would then appear when the second unit is powered up)

2) I imagine your partners unit needs to be powered up for you to track him?


Thanks in advance for any input!

[bnsafe]

i believe your partner does need to be powered up to track him. im not positive but we were always powered up. what we did was agreed on times to power up and we never had an issue. the battery life lasts longer than you would think that way. be aware tho that the 610 only has the 4 aa battery and does not have a smaller lighter lithium option. i was pretty bummed about this as it does add some extra wt to the gps, but after we were out for a few days and i just changed batteries as my partner worried if he was gonna make it i felt alot better. i think the 650 655 both come with the lithium battery so you would have to buy the aa seperate. its not like a phone when you text as its slower and you only have so many letters you can use so your not gonna send big messages. with that said my partner sending me his location was awesome an just short texts were all that was needed. all in all you wont be disappointed. if i didnt answer all your questions ask again or pm me.

[pointysticks]

running all the features, the battery will go down about 50% with a lot of talking.

long drawn out stalking sessions with my brother chatting in my ear with updates will eat up a battery. you cannot track a partner unless he hits the talk button i think. for sure he needs to be powered up.

if you conserve, and shut off the GPS feature when you are not needing it, the battery can go a long time.

i love the things.

[ElkNut1]

Yes, both GPS units must be on to receive info from one another. The batteries last a long time. I've never used up a set of batteries in 25 days of hunting. I do not leave the unit on when not needed. The radios are for transmitting needed info, they are not cell phones so turn off when not in use. I replace my lithium batteries once a year.

ElkNut1

[BobcatJerry]

I leave mine on all day as I enjoy seeing my tracks when I get home. Very little radio talk, and most of the time set on 2 watts to conserve batteries. I get about 18 hours out of the rechargeable batteries that it comes with. They also have a battery pack accessory you can buy that uses AA alkaline or lithium batteries. You get about 18 hours on a fresh set of lithium AA's. Problem is that the battery level icon give you a false reading with lithium AA's. Mine said I had half a charge left and 1 hour later it unexpectedly went dead at the end of the day. I dropped my pack to chase a bull up a steep hill just before sunset, marked my pack's location, and headed up hill. Heard the warning beep during the stalk about 5 minutes later, and in another five minutes later it went dead. Of course my spare batteries were in the pack. Took about 20 minutes to locate my pack as I went up the hill a lot further than I thought. I have a Goal solar charger, but was unable to get it to recharge the rechargeable batteries. The AA's saved the day.

[kevin_t]

I have an old Rhino, and most of my buddies have them when we hunt. Typically, we turn them off, and then turn them on a regular intervals to check in and then make a decision to turn leave on if need be. The last thing I want is to be trying to stalk timber and have someone page me or other chatter going on. We hunt rifle, and if we hear a shot we turn them on for a few minutes as well.