[Fly2Fish]

Recalling that the last time we were up in the Grand Teton/Yellowstone area cellphone connections were hard to come by, got to thinking that a couple of small hand-held two-way radios might be handy on a trip up there with my wife this September for when she was hiking around while I was fly-fishing, etc. I don't know much about them, but I understand that some have built-in GPS, which obviously would be helpful, as would being waterproof (preferably) or at least water-resistant.

Would be very appreciative of any advice anyone might have on these devices.

[Brunner]

I have the Garmin Rino Series 120 which has GPS and is waterproof. It was a birthday gift and although I enjoyed the initial novelty, I would prefer having separate devices.

Much like when I'm C/C skiing, its a safety device. The last thing that I would want is for both tools to die when one set of batteries die. You will find that a great majority of the devices will take AA batteries. Whenever possible, try to have your devices use the same battery type that way if you need to swap or carry batteries you can.

Regarding radios, I have heard nothing but incredible things about the Standard HX350S. But at $250 for one, it will get a little costly. But if your wife won't need the waterproof function, you could just get her the standard radio.

Before the radios were waterproof, I used to store the radio in a ZipLoc bag with the ear piece coming out of one of the "faces" of the bag. Then I would take electrical or duct tape and seal the hole in the bag. It worked perfectly for over 9 years for me and I will probably use it whenever needed. For those budget minded, this may be a better solution and may actually be more functionally waterproof that many of those that claim to be.

I can email you a drawing I made for you, I just don't have a way to host the image.

Hope this helps.

Brunner

[Frank Whiton]

Hi Fly2Fish,

The Garmin Rino would be a good choice. A couple of points about using the 2-radio. This are line of site radios and if your wife drops down behind a ridge or into a canyon you may not be able to talk to her. They are very handy but they do have there limitation. The higher your power, some are 5 watts, the better the communications. Sometimes you can talk with a reflected signal and more power helps that.

You can also have a problem with the GPS in a deep canyon. If you can't see the satellites it won't know where you are. If you get lost you can always climb to high ground and then find your position.

Frank

[Fly2Fish]

Brunner & Frank, thanks for the advice. I was thinking the Garmin Rino also, since it appears to be the only device that combines both a GPS and a radio, which would save on what I have to carry on the water. Good point, Brunner, about making sure all electronic devices use the same batteries. If I got these, would probably carry an extra set of batteries just in case; that would still be lighter and more compact than two separate devices.

What worries me is the very short range. While the upper two Garmin Rino models claim up to a 14 mile range, they're also a lot more expensive.

At the end of the day, it may save a lot to just go with separate GPS and radio devices. That way I could spend a little on the radios with 1-2 mile realistic max range to see if that short a range works for us at all, before dropping a bundle only to find out that they are too short a range to be helpful.

Neil