( 3 reviews )
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Posted: Feb 8 2008
The original batter pack died after 2 years. It could not even get off 0%. Of course, out of warranty. This OEM Battery pack, is a factory replacement. This got me able to keep track of the gang all day long and talk to them on the slopes. Hope I get better life out of this one for the price, that is why this don't get a 5 star. Just make sure you dispose of the old one properly. These things burt into flames and polute the landfills.
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( 17 of 17 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 11 2007
Rhino's use alot of power. The 530 has extra sensors to plot the atmospheric pressure so you know if a storm is headed your way. Both the 520 and 530/hcx transmit with a whopping 5.0 watts (as opposed to 0.5 watts in FRS with alkaline batteries in the disposable radios) - with 5.0 watts you can go a long way. You can turn down the power if you want to save it. You can adjust screen backlighting, but inevitably you will drain your battery in a half a day of talking on the high power radio with your group (I use a headset for convenience). When your power drops automatically from 5 to 2 watts you KNOW its time to change batteries. Having this in your pocket is like gold. In fact, the contacts are gold plated - haven't seen that kind of quality since the HP calculators. A 270 degree turn of the bail that holds it in place releases the battery - and the new one goes on just as the old did. As the previous person mentioned, they do have a temperature sensor (not sure if it is a thermocouple or thermistor) but it has 2 uses - tell the radio if the battery is too hot to charge or to tell you the temperature. This is why while charging you won't get a filled in temperature display until it cools down. Of course, having a second battey solves this problem -- I'm happy with mine and keep it on charge, while the rino's is on the radio without the clipon charger, which could stand alot of improvement in mechanical design. If you talk alot - you need this - if you don't transmit your rino may run for 18 hours. It's how often you hit the push to talk button that drains the battery and if you use all the accessories. You can conserve power by turning off stuff you don't need (if you are in poor gps coverage, turn off gps - it drains alot of power - if you are not needing a weather forcast, turn off the weather sensor - it usese a little power - turn of the thermometer if not needed. This is why the specs on the 530 give you one less hour of runtime. But you have the ability to cripple your 530 into a 520 and gain back your hour - even more if you shutdown gps when not needed and squelch the radio into powersave plus turn off the backlight. I can get 24 hours easily if I do this and still have a functional radio.
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( 5 of 16 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jan 18 2007
This item is identical to the battery that comes on the Garmin Rino 530. You will need this battery if you want the temperature read out to work on the 530 unit. The battery has a device which I believe is a thermocouple that provides the temperature reading. I wanted a spare battery for my 530 and got this as backup for when I'm camping.
