garmin 120 or 130?

[roddy]

Hello everyone, looks like a great forum ya's have here. I am kind of noobish when it comes to GPS so i would like to ask some advice. i want to purchase a garmin GPS for my outdoor adventures. I am not exacly rich, but at the same time dont want to waste money on something that won't do the job.

what program can i download to a garmin for better detail maps?

how much map can i download into a garmin 120?
(our journey's are sometimes 100 miles or more as the crow fly's)

roddy

[Wildernessphoto]

Hello everyone, looks like a great forum ya's have here. I am kind of noobish when it comes to GPS so i would like to ask some advice. i want to purchase a garmin GPS for my outdoor adventures. I am not exacly rich, but at the same time dont want to waste money on something that won't do the job.

what program can i download to a garmin for better detail maps?

how much map can i download into a garmin 120?
(our journey's are sometimes 100 miles or more as the crow fly's)

roddy

Hi Roddy!
I've got a Garmin Rino 120 with 8mb of memory. I'm using Garmin's topo software and I can get the maps of the whole Adirondack park, some of Central NY and 3 or 4 counties in western NY where my Dad lives. If I want others, I have to unload what I've got, and reload the maps I want. The 130's get most of the NE states with it's 24mb of memory. the 130 also has a built in weather radio, and real-time compass. it just depends on what features you want. If you can afford the 130, I'd do that. Hope that helps!
-Gary-

[Kevin]

The Rino 130 is worth the dough if you're looking for a catch-all GPS. I have one and love it (the 2way radio was defective and it's being fixed by Garmin as I type this, but otherwise it worked fine). I fit most of the northeast in 22MB of the 24MB. The maps are detailed enough to follow on the trail, showing just enough terrain to orientate yourself but not so much it crowds the small display either. And if the map doesn't orientate you, the built in electronic compass will.

I'm a fan of the GPS, and would have given it 4 stars in this review had mine not been defective.

http://www.adkforum.com/showthread.php?t=1864

[redhawk]

The 120 has more then enough memory for whatever maps you need for any given trip.

The 130 wil download three times the maps (but I can put the whole park in less then 8 megs). It also has the electronic compass, altimeter and the weather radio.

So if you want the extra features (I have the 130) then go the extra $$$.

However plan on another $80+ for Garmins Mapsource Topo which is the only program that the Garmin GPS's can doenload maps from. You can dload co-ordinates and routes from any topo software or databases, but not the maps.

If you look back through the forums you will find a lot of posts on the Garmin RINOs.

If I had done a review, i would have given my 130 five stars! I upgraded from the 110.

[Kevin]

If I had done a review, i would have given my 130 five stars! I upgraded from the 110.

You can! Just "reply" to mine in the gear review area. Take the average of the reviews for the star rating on the thread.

[redhawk]

You can! Just "reply" to mine in the gear review area. Take the average of the reviews for the star rating on the thread.

Then others may want to add on to reviews of other things and the threads are closed. Don't think it would be right for a moderator or admin to add posts when registered members can't.

[roddy]

Great info guys, thanks alot! It looks like the 120 will probably do the job, but those extra features sure sound awesome. For the extra $$ i think i will purchase the 130. Oh, btw doeas anyone know if the weather stations will work Canada wide?

roddy

[redhawk]

Great info guys, thanks alot! It looks like the 120 will probably do the job, but those extra features sure sound awesome. For the extra $$ i think i will purchase the 130. Oh, btw doeas anyone know if the weather stations will work Canada wide?

roddy

I don't know. You can download the owners manuals as a .pdf file from the Garmin Website and it should list the weather stations.

Rino 130 manuals

I get three different stations here in the Adirondack Park depending on where I am.

I think the 130 is the way to go. When it really gets useful is when there are several of you and each has a RINO.

I think they've become optional here with the "dack pack" which means we throw Sacco out cause he's too cheap to buy one. Course he just sets Chrissy out front and tries to keep up with her.

[sacco]

Then others may want to add on to reviews of other things and the threads are closed. Don't think it would be right for a moderator or admin to add posts when registered members can't.

hawk, i think the idea is that we want multiple reviews when possible, to give different perspectives on equipment.

when a mod. reads and locks a gear review they can move it under the the original review as a reply.

when a member opens a gear review thread they'll get a short list of all reviews of that piece of equip, in chrono order.

that's what you meant, kev?

[Kevin]

that's what you meant, kev?

No, but I think it's necessary to have multiple reviews on popular gear, so maybe Redhawk could do a separate review (since he's 100% correct that members can't post replies to a closed thread so neither should we).

Roddy, today was the first time in a month owning the Rino 130 that I depended on it, and the electronic compass passed with flying colors. Using that in conjunction with the built in maps saved the day! [okay, maybe not 'saved', but did make it a lot easier on me]

[roddy]

I've been doing quite a bit of reaserch on the garmins and decided that my purchase will definetly be the rino130. From what i understand the GMRS channels on the Canadian units are now open, but the two repeater channels are still locked out.

Is it possible to flash a Canadian rino130 with the USA software or has there been some kind of modification done to prevent this?

Also, are these the same type of repeaters the garmin is capable of using?

http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/

[redhawk]

I've been doing quite a bit of reaserch on the garmins and decided that my purchase will definetly be the rino130. From what i understand the GMRS channels on the Canadian units are now open, but the two repeater channels are still locked out.

Is it possible to flash a Canadian rino130 with the USA software or has there been some kind of modification done to prevent this?

Also, are these the same type of repeaters the garmin is capable of using?
http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/

I have no idea. Why not just buy the RINO in the states or if by mail order, get it shipped to someone in the states where you can pick it up. The last firmware update for the 130 said it opened up the GMRS channels for the Canadian Radios, as well as allow contact polling on the GMRS radios. It didn't mention anything about the repeater channels

As far as the repeaters go, there are 8 gmrs Repeater channels not 2, in the range from:

467.5500 - 467.7250 Transmit frequencies
462.5500 - 462.7250 Receive frequencies.

[roddy]

I missread some outdated material. Thanks for helping to clear that up.