Product Description

No matter where your outdoor activities take you, the Rino 520 keeps you on track and in touch. This rugged, two-way radio with GPS packs a bold color display, 14-mile communication range, and turn-by-turn directions - giving you peace of mind in the great outdoors. Taking it a step further, the Rino 530 adds an electronic compass, barometric altimeter, and NOAA weather receiver, making it a favorite with hikers and climbers.Exclusive position-reporting capability and a host of other unique features, make the 520 one of the best all-in-one two-way radio and GPS receivers around. As with other members of the Rino family, the 520's patented location-reporting feature allows you to send and receive GPS positions with other Rino users in your group. One call to your partner's Rino, and your location shows up on the map page. You can even poll another Rino user's location in emergency situations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29915 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Garmin
• Model: 010-00392-00
• Dimensions: 8.00" h x 2.00" w x 2.00" l, 4.30 pounds

Features

• 5W (GMRS) Rugged, Two-Way Radio with GPS
• 12-Mile Communication Range with Mini USB
• Automatic Route Generation/Off-route Recalculation
• 2.2 In Color Display and 56 MB of Internal Memory
• .65lbs (LxWxH) 2.30"x 1.80"x 7.50"

Customer Reviews

Love it! / hate it!
My Rino 520 is almost the most awesome electronic gadget I've ever purchased. The 2-way radio works great - better speaker sound and range than any other radio I've owned. Almost great GPS with the color screen and optional topo mapping. User friendly interface. Above all the location feature of a fellow user is the killer asset. If the unit worked perfectly I would highly recommend anyone to buy it. But I must add my agreement to previously mentioned issues:

My screen goes blank occasionaly. Comes back on after a power off-on cycle then sometimes will stay on long term, sometimes requires another off-on cycle.

The optional topo map usually shows some incredible detail about very obscure roads, but yet hasn't been updated to a major highway rerouting in my state which was completed 30 years ago.

Overall I would definitely buy another of these after knowing the bugs have been worked out. For now I'm glad I own it even with the bugs.
Looking forward to when Garmin corrects the quality issues.

Still buggy after firmware upgrade
I purchased a Rino520 to use with a Rino530. Several times, the screen would blank out after pushing the "push to talk" (PTT) button when using the radio. The screen would recover after turning off the unit, however, it would blank out again after pushing the PTT button. In order to temporarily provide a more "long-term" solution, I had to disconnect the battery to power down the unit. After doing that, the screen would still blank out intermittently, but not with almost every push of the PTT button. Even with the screen blank out, the radio would still function, but then one is left with an expensive two-way radio.

I'm much happier using a GPS60CSx and a pair of Motorola Talkabouts. My Rino's have been such a headache. The convenience of being able to communicate location to another Rino user while out in the wilderness is a great idea. I still anticipate owning a pair of Rino's in the future. However, I'm waiting until Garmin improves their quality control.

Nice Unit, Optional AA Battery Function would be nice
I recently purchased the 520 for backpacking and canoeing. I found it very easy to use, with screen navigation, track information and user interfaces being surprisingly intuitive. It took me about 10 hours of drive time, primarily to and from work, to master most of the features. The color map, while not a necessity in any manner, is also a nice feature, although I don't know if it is worth the money. I would imagine that the grayscale display would be more than adequate. The batter life is absolutely, positively phenomenal. I got close to 90 hours out of mine without a recharge. I don't know if this was typical, but it far exceeded my expectations. Although I have not used the 2-way feature on it, I expect it to be quite useful when canoeing and backpacking with multiple parties, and is one of the primary reasons I purchased the unit.

Contrary to the above poor review, the FCC and the Canadian government have granted Garmin a waiver so a license is not necessary to use it.