Koda,
Can you elaborate on which model you DO recommend and why? thanks.
I recommend the Rino 130 and Rino 530 models because they have a built in electronic compass, and the other models do not. Without the built in electronic compass, you have to be physically moving for the bearing to point in the correct direction....
I have no experience with the 600 series Rino because these are new for 2011
At this point, maybe its a personal preference, my limited understanding, or something but in my experience with the Rino 520 you had to either be moving pretty fast, or have gone a good distance to get the bearing to point the right direction. This is impractical on snow, especially on skis... breaking trail, only to find your going the wrong way. Keep in mind your hands are occupied with poles, its not practical to tour with Garmin in hand... we tested that in order to get the bearing to point correct, you need to be holding the unit level while moving because once you stop the bearing screen soon freezes. So if you stop, get your Rino out and look it might be on, might not. And then... this problem is greatly magnified in areas of poor satellite reception... (which in general the Rinos excel at reception IMO).
in regards to the sharing of waypoints and track logs.... all the Rinos excel with this feature and its really cool. The default setting is to transmit everything, your current position and all your track log with every radio transmission. This data shows up on your screen for all Rino users in the area and quickly adds up to a pile of confusing tracks and waypoints cluttering up your already small screen. I turned off my sharing feature... but it took me a year to convince my Rino friends to do the same. There is a way to share your track or waypoint (or txt message) at anytime, there is even a short cut for that feature.
the 530 rechargeable battery easily lasts 3/4 days in the field. The 130 model uses 3x AA batteries last the same with Lithium, but just a mere few hours with Alkaline....
hope this helps
