I need to get a weather radio, especially since I am pretty new at this and could easily miss the little signs of changing weather that someone more experienced could pick up. I need something to tell me "hey dummy, get out of the water."

I also want to get a marine handheld gps. Would be nice to have all the info that they offer.

I did a search on the forum here but get any hits on the garmin rino 530 HCx, a gps/2-way radio/noaa weather radio in one.

has anyone tried it?

Do you think it's a good idea to have both radios in one?

On the one hand its more compact, less stuff to take out on the boat.

On the other, if it breaks or it gets lost in the drink you're down a gps and a radio...

thoughts?

I team uses several of the combo GPS/two-way radios. I don't remember the model, but when I'm using them again in a few weeks, I'll make note.
What I can tell you is that both the GPS and radio functions seem to work okay, but we don't use them in any long range distances.
Each radio uses 3 AA batteries and if we don't shut off the GPS, the radios drain fresh alksline Duracell and Energizer batteries fairly quick.
Also, I cannot confirm that the radios are water tight. I cannot recall if there is a weather radio feature.

Thanks Marshall

Do you guys post your tracks anywhere? Is there a Photobucket like place where you can upload your GPS tracks and share them with people, or just document your trips for posterity?

I stumbled across this place
http://www.everytrail.com/index.php
but didn't know if there was maybe a more popular or sailor friendly place.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. The team I'm a part of, that gets these issued, is Military related. The next time I'll likely have these radios will be in August.

Honestly, we primarily use these radios for comm, the GPS feature burns up the batteries much faster, so we only switch on the GPS when needed.
Have never saved or downloaded any maps, but our uses are all on land.

Marshall

that's interesting, so your in the military? Those Rino's would have been an interesting piece of gear...I could see where something like that would come in handy but if you say the battery goes dead fast when the GPS is on then we would have probably switched back to the icom.