Garmin Rino 600 series

[Clearcut]

Maybe this has been gone over but just curious what everyone's opinion or overall experience has been with the 600 series of garmin rino radios . Me an my buddies all have them. I can say that we are all less then impressed with radio quality an durability for the price tag attached.. curious what everyone else has to say .

[outdooraddict]

i agree, i was standing next to my dad, and a buddy was talking to us through the radios, i didnt have one word come through my radio, my dad has the green 120 and he got every word clear as a bell. i was really disapointed in the radio, the only thing i like so far is the gps landowner map.  i wish i wouldnt have lost my rhino 120

[Clearcut]

Ya radio quality has been extremely poor. The gps function an mapping is good but radio quality has a long ways to come.

[trophyhunt]

Well this isn't good to hear, just bought a 650t a while ago and haven't used the radio yet.  My hunting partner just bought the brand new 700 series model, we will see this weekend how they work in the hills.

[lamrith]

How is the partner mapping feature set, does it work?  Did I hear right that some of them will do txt type messaging as well, does that function well?

I am considering a gps, and was thinking Rhino, I really like the concept of being able to see my hunting partners if we all decide to split and run different sides of drainages, or one person sit static.

[Clearcut]

Ya I would be curious to see if the 700 series is better... the 600 series is water proof but the speaker can still fill up with water and makes things very muffled like your talking in a fish tank in my expierence .. that's in heavy rain. The hunting partner updating an mapping does work good an is very handy .

[Pinetar]

I just sat down to order two of these radios, now I'm going to have to wait and see how this plays out. A buddy of mine said you can text with them? I couldn't find this in the write up I read about them, is it true?

[Clearcut]

Yes you can send an recieve text. Haven't used that function much. Kind of a slow process but maybe someone else who has more time with it will chime
In

[Mudman]

They have been good for us.  Little complicated.  Menu could be simpler.  Screen wears and can be hard to see.  Radio has been way better than any walkie could hope for.  Room for improvement but I love it.  610 is inferior.

[pianoman9701]

I have the 655T and absolutely love it with the OnX download. The radio works fine. The touch screen is fine but could be bigger is all.

[trophyhunt]

I have the 655T and absolutely love it with the OnX download. The radio works fine. The touch screen is fine but could be bigger is all.

That's good to hear about the radio, I have the same model.  I agree the screen could be a bit bigger.

[haugenna]

The text feature on mine is pretty much useless. The texts are not stored and cannot be read unless the other person is looking at the screen at that very second. If you have polling on, anyone with a radio like that can see where you are.

[jtw]

I have a 655t with onx for washington installed. The user interface is clunky, I rarely use the radio, but when I do it's adequate. The gps is the best part.
If this one breaks, I'll be getting just a gps. The radio has rarely been useful for me.

[Drewski]

I picked up a 650T and it works great. Radio is fine, although when hunting i put it on mute as to not make noise. The partner info is great as it helps us maintain spacing when pushing through timber to meet up at a predetermined spot.

[Labs07]

I have a 655t and love it.  Don't use the radio much but it is nice to have if stuff goes wrong or you get something down and need help.  I have the map chips for WA and WY and have used these extensively and not had any issues at all. 

[birddogdad]

don't get less than a 650 model, wattage will impact radio distance (others below 650 are not 5W transmit)

[Rick]

A few of my buddies have 650T Rinos. The radio function seems great. Enough so that I bought one after last elk season.

[Rainier10]

Radio is okay but the push to talk buttons are sometimes hard to push and get clear communication.  Texting is pointless as others have said, you have to be looking when it comes in.  OnXmap is great but screen seems to be getting smaller.  Or my eyes are getting worse. 

[HighCountryHunter88]

they are also discontinued now, garmin has come out with the 750 and 755T

[croix]

Radio performance changes based on selection of FMRS and GMRS. Best performance is with GMRS and using the GMRS specific channels. The ability to send/poll locations is where the money's at. When your buddy has one down and you can walk right to him without a lot of chatter it's pretty priceless. If you get the one with a camera you can also take pictures of things (tracks, rubs, wallows, etc) and they are geo-tagged so that later you can select the picture and "navigate to". If you are patient you can find them on sale and they are worth every penny IMHO.

-Croix

[dscubame]

Hate it.  I'll sell mine after this season with extra battery.

[Chesapeake]

Our group all owned 530 hcx's for the last 8+ years and over the last 3 or 4 have migrated to the 650's as our older units have failed.
The 650's pale in comparison to the 530's as far as polling, sending waypoints, ect... The radio reception seems almost comparable, but the data sending capability is poor on the 650's.  The GPS reception seems about the same and the screen is a little better.
We all wish the 530's were still available. I currently own a 650 and a working 530. We're waiting to see how the 700 series works out before we spend the coin to get out of the 650's.
Paid around $500 for the 530's and maybe $350 for the 650's. I'm guessing the drop in price wasn't because they figured out how to produce a better product at a lower price point.

If you get or have a 650 and you haven't updated the software you should. They constantly release updates that fix little quirky things, and unfortunately tend to cause other little quirky things.

[sirmissalot]

I have a couple 655t's I'd glady sell to anyone interested

[brianb231]

We just used the 650 T's for elk season and the texting was the best part. You can predefine your text responses in a response library so you don't have to actually text it out when you are in the field. We actually enjoyed using them. My biggest complaint is the PTT head sets. Wish someone would come out with a really good one.