EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I know the title of this forum is "EQUIPMENT THAT WORKS", but there wasn't one titled "EQUIPMENT THAT SUCKS" so I'll just post here.

Anyone else own a Garmin Rino?  It's the Radio/GPS built together.  I've had two, and had the same problem with both.  I love the concept...carry one device that performs the function of two but here's my problem.

This unit seems to MAJORLY eat batteries.  For some reason, it drains them even when powered off.  I can place in three new AA's and use the unit for a hunt (maybe 3-4 hours), power it off and a few days later when I use it again, I will immediately be greeted by the low battery indicator followed shortly by the unit powering off.

Knowing the service (or lack thereof) that I have received from Garmin in the past, I'm reluctant to even bother with calling them.

Anyone else use one of these?

I have a 120 that I used in Iraq. It ate batteries too. Anytime the unit is searching for sattelites it will drain power. I switched to using lithium batteries and they lasted a LOT longer.

Sean

Thanks, Sean.  Your not stationed at Ft. Hood are you?

Maybe I will try a set of lithiums before I throw in the towel on this unit.  I did some searching on Garmins website yesterday evening and the specs say this should last appx. 14 hours on a set.  Thats a little light in my opinion for a set of batteries, but I don't think I'm getting near even that.

One of my hunting partners who also has a rino called me asking about the same problem this afternoon.  We hadn't even discussed the battery issue before, but it's funny because after our trek last Saturday we're all tweaking our GPS systems.

Nah, I've been a civilian for about a year now. The lithiuns should give you longer use time. I haven't used that Garmin in a while, but I remember there was feature I turned off that conserved the batteries as well. I can't for the life of me remember what it was though. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Bryant, can you turn the radio off on the 110? If you can and don't need it, turning off the radio will give you longer battery life. Also, if you are in dense cover, you can turn off the WAAS function and get more life. From what i read, you should be able to get 28 hrs of use working on GPS only. That is going to drop if the unit is constantly searching for sattelites. Remember, all GPS units require LOS to sattelites in order to function. The more sattelites they can pick up, the more accurate they'll be. If you're in really dense overhead cover or narrow canyons, you're GPS won't be too helpful.