GARMIN 010-00270-02 Rino Series 120 GPS with 2-Way Radio

I purchased the Rino 120 about a year ago. It has been on many trips with me. I have had it attached to my camel pack while mountain biking and hiking. It has been through several crashes on the bike with me. While Geocaching, I dropped it into a stream. I snatched it back up, and found it to be operating perfectly. I have had this on the outside of my pack during light to heavy rain, with no problems. I can do many trips on a set of batteries. I use it often when 4X4'ing with my Jeep. I'll preset coordinates for intersections or points of interest, and it keeps me right on. When Geocaching, it has always led me within a few feet of cache.

My only "gripe" would be that there is no connection for an external antenna. My screen has a "dark" patch on it...kind of like when you press on an LCD screen. It does not interfer with the view on the screen though.

The Rino 120 is VERY easy to use. It has many user-friendly options, and it does not require vast knowledge of global positioning. I did not give this product 5 stars because of the need to purchase additional detailed maps, and the only choice of them being US and Canadian maps (I live overseas and travel world-wide). I really enjoy the integrated 2-way communications capabilities -- it has enhanced the scope of my own employment performance.

The Rino 120 manual says this: "The Rino 120 is waterproof to IEC 60529 IPX7 standards [30 minutes at 1 meter depth] and is rugged enough to endure the most trying use." My experience was otherwise, and the Garmin response was troubling.

After about 8 hours of paddling a sea kayak with the Rino 120 on my foredeck (light-moderate splash for 4 of those hours, no splash for the other 4 hours), it stopped working. I found a small amount of water and corrosion in the battery compartment, so I conclude that water got further into the unit and killed it. But what bothered me the most was the Garmin reaction: water damage is not covered by the warranty!

The following exchange may tell volumes about their product support philosophy:

My Question: "Can you please explain why a product whose own manual describes it as '... waterproof to IEC 60529 IPX7 standards [30 minute submersion to 1 meter] and is rugged enough to endure the most trying use' would be out of warranty for water damage incurred from splashes of water?"

Their Answer: "Because that standard (is) for motionless water. When you add motion to water it introduces a new dynamic to the being waterproof. Water in motion can get into alot of places that motionless water cannot."

Draw your own conclusions.

The unit has some great features, I love the tracback and goto. I am new to using a GPS and find these very valuable. The problem is the batteries now do not last more than 1-2 hours. The first set I put in the unit lasted substantially longer, at least 10 hours. I quite literally went through two sets of batteries (first set I thought were duds)in 4 hours this weekend, without even using heavily. I searched around and looked through the manual, but there is no documentation to this problem.

I have a rino 110 also but wanted the 120 for the mapping capabilities. It is worth the extra money because the rino 120 comes with the pc interface cable and a basemap of highways and routes. I bought the metroguide software and was able to install 4 area maps onto the 8 megs of memory. The unit works well when navigating around town. Radio range is expected with the 1/2 watt frs radio. When I received the unit, it had a minor defect. I returned the unit to garmin tech support and I had a replacement within 8 days. The 120 does have some features that the 110 does not have like vibrate, voice scramble and the ability to send a text message. It works well with my other rino 110's and I am happy with my rino 120.