Garmin Rino 700 vs 750 – Which One Is Better?

Garmin Rino 700 GPS Release

It was around this time last year that Garmin started releasing the Rino 750 which represented a much more refined version of the previous iteration the 650. Garmin's 750 came with a slightly larger display, more waypoints, routes and track logs available. The Rino 750 also introduced Map segments to the Rino units, along with live Geocaching support, active weather and many extra features. The Rino 700 has refined the product again but through a different approach; instead of adding on extra features while trying to balance battery consumption Garmin has decided to strip back the unit focusing on a minimalistic approach.

What’s Changed

I’ll make it clear at this point the new Rino 700 has not been designed to outperform the Rino 750. The Rino 700 is a niche product designed to maintain the core features of the Rino series while offering a more affordable entry point for some consumers. In the following sections, I’ll talk about what’s changed and what that means for you. At this moment the unit is priced at $499 Australian and is set to arrive on the 25th August - Available for Pre-order here.

Physical Dimensions

First up we’ll look at what’s changed on the visual and exterior side of things. Garmin has shaved down the unit, going from just under 8” tall unit (750) to just over 7” (700). In Australian:

• Rino 700 (60W x 178H x 44D) *mm
• Rino 750 (66W x 201H x 41D) *mm

This size difference does a couple of things. Firstly it results in an immediate and significant weight reduction on the unit. Going from 348g (Rino 750 *with battery pack) to 268g (Rino 700 *with battery pack). This is useful for those of you trying to minimise your carry weight. Which if you already own a Rino you’ve already swapped out a couple of other devices for just this one which should have already reduced your carry weight.

Battery

Moving onto the battery life of the device, the Rino 700 has moved away from using spare AA battery packs. It will only use an internal lithium-ion battery pack. The Rino 750 used a removable lithium-ion battery pack; you could also carry a spare Garmin AA battery pack to extend the life.

• Rino 700 Battery life (Up to 13 hours)
• Rino 750 Battery life (Up to 14 hours *18 hours with Battery pack)

To clarify here in an earlier section, I mentioned that the Rino 700 had a focus on prolonging the battery life the results listed above show that at a straight comparison of the units the Rino 750 has higher capacity. The Rino 750 will not always outperform the 700 as the extra features that come with the Rino 750 (and if you’re buying the 750 then you will be using these additional features) can influence how long the battery lasts on the unit. This as opposed to the 700 which will only allow for basic functionality and therefore give you a consistent result on battery life.

Transmitter and Receiver

The Rino 700 uses the UHF band the same as the 750. Both the 700 and 750 also have high-sensitivity receivers. The Rino series is a two-way communication radio first and foremost so Garmin would be hesitant to reduce the quality of any of its products in that regard. You can rest assured the 700 will perform just as well as the 750 in this area.

Interface

The Rino 700 features high-speed USB while the Rino 750 has high-speed USB and is NMEA 0183 compatible. The major difference here is the NMEA 0183 compatibility that Rino 750 can use with other units.

Maps & Memory

The 700 has taken away the ability to add TOPO maps relying only on using the Basemap. I should note that this also means you cannot add any microSD card for extra storage. The other differences of note are that the 700 will only allow 1000 points for waypoints, favourites and locations (Rino 750 has 10,000). Also, the Track log is also smaller with 10,000 points and 100 saved tracks (Rino 750 has 20,000 points and 200 saved tracks). The Rino 700 allows for 50 routes while the Rino 750 provides 250. This is where the devices diverge on what could be considered ‘extra’ features. The 700 still allows for a fair amount of these additional functions but is quite limited when directly compared to the 750. Whether this sways you, will be largely dependent on how often you like to save your routes and how many you want to keep.

Sensors

The Rino 700 doesn’t have any built-in sensors unlike that Rino 750 which came with a Barometric altimeter and Compass (tilt compensated 3-axis). Not including the sensors is another decision by Garmin to lower the cost of the unit while still retaining the core functionality and purpose of the Rino unit.

Outdoor Recreation Features

The Rino 700 is still Geocache friendly has the hunt/fish calendar along with Sun and moon information. It does not have the ability to calculate Area like the 750 was able to do with perimeter mapping. The 700 can still do area mapping using the feature through Garmin Basecamp on the computer. The 750 also utilised Automatic Routing (turn by turn routing on roads).

Two-way Radio

Both units will operate on the UHF band with the same number of channels and squelch codes. They both have the same range and feature Voice activation along with location reporting via GPS. The Rino 750 also features vibration alerts.

Additional Features

Both units can hold the same number of contacts however the Rino 750 features up to 15,000  Map Segments along with Geocaching Live support, active weather support, Bluetooth ANT+ capable and custom maps compatibility.

Summary and Comparison

I’ll start by saying that both are good units, but the Rino 750 is more powerful than the Rino 700. Garmin has done this by design. Despite the Garmin Rino 700 despite coming out more recently it aims to use only the core functionality of the Rino Series. The Rino 700 represents a new entry point for consumers looking to have a powerful two-way communication radio and basic GPS navigating at a more affordable price point. One example of where the Rino 700 might shine is in any team scenario where you have the main unit using a 750 for full map support and the other users on the 700. This will allow all users to keep in contact and maintain their relative positions.