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Recent reviews for this item: Jeff Mendonca, November 2, 2007 The Garmin 530HCX (brand new) cannot get the Radio/Walkie talkie to work. It stopped working half way into my trip. The GPS coordinates are off by 5-20 feet. A little annoying. When you mark a waypoint make sure your zoomed all the way in because you'll notice that your waypoint is way off. Pete, December 31, 1969 I've only had it one day, but so far so good. I had a Rino 120 for some time, and this unit is an excellent evolution in the series.
My one caution is that it is quite a bit taller and heavier, more like a 60C size. The battery pack is the same depth, but broader, not a triangle shape as with the 120. I'll need a new bike mount because of this.
In all, seems worth the upgrade. Darryl Wattenberg, December 31, 1969 We spent an hour or so on Saturday, then eight-and-a-half hours on Sunday geocaching our way to and from Cedar Point. It gave us a chance to spend some time with the new Rino 520 and 530 we picked up. Each of these units is running the first release of the software -- version 2.00. I've organized my Pros and Cons into the list below which might help others in their decision to buy a new receiver.
Overall: Unless you're looking for the FRS/GMRS functions (which are very nice) I would not suggest the Rino series. Perhaps when the new software is released the performance will improve and make the unit more appealing.
Pros:
Battery Life: The supplied 2400mAh NIHM battery packs a punch. Over the more than 8 hours we used the units on Sunday we only used 15-16% of the battery.
Radio: The ability to send locations through the radio is very helpful. When searching for more elusive caches, Firefly03 and I would stand still and send our locations (or poll the other person). In this manner we could get a better image of the cache location through the two known points -- us. We also ended up sending missing waypoints through the radios saving entry effort in the field.
USB Communication: The USB connectivity to the computer makes downloading information very fast. Sending more than 40MB of the Topo maps into the unit took under a minute. When downloading the 25 locations from Geocaching.com the transfer was completed before I knew it had begun.
Cons:
Inaccurate: The location information provided by the Rinos was far less accurate or stabile than either of the Magellan units we had been using. We brought the Sportrak Pro along for back-up this weekend, but found that we had developed a strong enough geosense that we really didn't need to use it. The worst aspect of the location inaccuracies was the bouncing effect. For example, while standing still in a clearing with the 530 (electronic comprass on), the cardinal would spin from left to right indicating the cache was moving from one side to another (when in fact I was starring directly at the cache 3 feet in front of me) on an accuracy rating of 15 feet. Not once during our searching was the cache at the location published on Geocaching.com. I have contacted Garmin Technical Support about these problems.
Slow Updates: Both units were frequently slow to update the location. Walking at about 3MPH as indicated by the GPSR, we'd have to slow or stop for about the last 30 feet allowing the location on the GPS to catch-up.
Buggy: Both units had their issues in the field. The 530 decided after about 7 hours of usage that it didn't need the LCD display anymore. No button pushes would restore the display, but a full power cycle did. The 520 early on decided that it would lock up at "Arriving at X" and not permit any input. A couple of power cycles and marking the cache as found before the satelites acquired fixed that problem. I have not yet contacted Garmin about these problems but will be later today.
Interference: The radio would receive information at random. Without anything coming from the other radio, the radios would randomly receive a transmission. We ended up with the squelch controll all the way up to minimize the trouble. No matter what the units would still spit out noise at random.
Talk Button: There appears to be an issue with the placement of the talk button switch under the rubber talk button cover. I had little trouble with the button pressing at the lower end of the button. Firefly03 had trouble keeping the button depressed though no matter where she pressed. The culprit seems to have been a lack of rigidity in the talk button cover since changing the finger position would change the results.
Hopefully this has been helpful. Enjoy the caching!
