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Garmin Rhino 650 alkaline vs. Li-ion battery pack

bholmlate

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Cabela's is once again selling the rhino 650 for $329. I have a question for those who have the rhino and use them for cold weather sports. I searched but did not find anything on the benefits drawbacks of using the Li-ion battery pack over the Alkaline battery pack in the cold. It is well known that Li-ion are effected by cold weather. I also realize that most carry the units in their coats or somewhere they are kept warm as well but some use them on the ram mounts and handle bar bags that are exposed to cold temps. Just curious what most people are using.
 
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FatDogX

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I use to run mine in my coat pocket, but it was to big of a pain in the butt to get in and out. Now I just put it in my Skinz NXT LVL handlebar bag and it works just fine. I can get to it pretty easy, and I have not seen an issue with the battery life. I also have buddy that runs his on a ram mount on his dash and he hasn't mentioned an issues with battery life either.

having it on the dash is nice, but I'm just a little nervous about that. Half the time, my sled is up side down more then right side up??? I guess I should mention that he also runs a tether, in case it does come out of the mount.
 

christopher

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Cabela's is once again selling the rhino 650 for $329. I have a question for those who have the rhino and use them for cold weather sports. I searched but did not find anything on the benefits drawbacks of using the Li-ion battery pack over the Alkaline battery pack in the cold. It is well known that Li-ion are effected by cold weather. I also realize that most carry the units in their coats or somewhere they are kept warm as well but some use them on the ram mounts and handle bar bags that are exposed to cold temps. Just curious what most people are using.
Have been running mine for 3 years now with the rechargeable power pack.
More often than not I keep it in the handlebar bag as I wear the BCA Link and use the Rhino when I need a higher power transmission.
 

Chadx

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My wife and i run our lithium rhinos on a ram mount on the bars with no issues in the cold; her on a sled and me on a me on a snowbike. Battery life is great and touchscreen works great in the cold. I see no reason for alkaline. Lithium all the way. One charge lasts for days.

But the alkaline pack is less than $20 so if you want one as a backup or to give you the option just in case you don't have access to recharge your lithium or have trouble with one on vacation, it's cheap to have the alkaline option.
 
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giddyup

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I have been using a rhino on my slut since the 120 came out The lithium batteries on the 500 series and the 600 series are excellent We run two of the 650 on the sweats always good for one full day thought of the day I always end with 60 or 70% left.
 
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xc6rider

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As said, the rechargeable pack has great battery life, multiple days use I find. I have the 4 AA pack stored away for backup, if needed. And in that, i use lithium AA batteries.

Ive found the lithium batteries take the cold quite well, in fact, MUCH better than alkaline. I run them in all my hunting trail cams as well, lithiums have zero cold concerns for me!

Edit: my 650 rides in a ram mount, bolted to the hood, and tethered to my gauge lifter.
 
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bholmlate

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Thanks for the information guys I was curious to hear if there was any problems since you hear all about how bad the LI-ion sled batteries are in the cold. Little different application i realize but still cold temps do effect the chemical reaction in this type of battery. looking forward to getting out there and using mine. i always ride with other people who have them but this year i will have my own.
 

line8

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I've had nothing but problems with my 650. I also have the 610 that take AA, which I use rechargeable. In the last 3 years, I've now replaced 3 li on batteries snd they are not cheap. Yes, I'm aware that you cannot let them run too low. I learned that the 1st time. They just do not last. Additionally, I just bought a new battery tonight and installed it. No deal! Dead!
Have you tried the garmin website? Wow!!!!!
Cool little units though. I've got 110, 120, 610, 650. 650 has nice features when they work.


Sent from my telephone
 

Chadx

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I've had nothing but problems with my 650. ... They just do not last. Additionally, I just bought a new battery tonight and installed it. No deal! Dead!...

Interesting. Sounds like perhaps there is a defect with your 650 that is destroying your battery maybe? Does that happen on only one of your units? Ours are two or three years old and we run them for a day and they are still at 70+% charge and that is in the winter. We use them in the summer as well so are cycling them so they are getting used (which degrades the battery over time yet we are still having great battery life).

Did all of your other units have good battery life? Does it have good battery life if you used the AA adapter or does it suck those dry, too? I'd test with a AA pack on your 650 to see and if it sucks those dry fast, it would show it's an issue with the 650 unit and not the lithium battery packs. I'm sure there are bad lithium packs around but for you to happen to get three of them would be odd. Sounds like the unit might be destroying them for some reason or, there is some other issue such as a defective charger is frying them, they are getting exposed to some condition that is destroying them (such as being left in a hot environment like a car in the summer), or something. Will be interested in hearing how things turn out after a bit more troubleshooting.

As a side note for others, one thing I do with all my lithium battery devices (laptop, tablets, phone, garmin, etc) is I do NOT store them on the charger all the time nor store them at 100% charge. That is bad for lithium. Store them down around 60 or 70% charge and you will get longer battery life. So on the garmin, I charge them to 100% overnight right before the trip, use them (which typically runs them down to 70 - 80%, then do not charge them back up. They sit for a week at that % and then I recharge them right before a trip again. It improves life. Even most modern laptops have the feature to only charge your computer battery up to 60% if you have it plugged in all the time. Sitting at 100% charge all the time reduces the longevity of the battery so they finally came up with the option to control charge via software rather than manually plugging and unplugging. Nice.

That won't compensate for getting a bad lithium, of course, so sounds like some troubleshooting is in order. What says Garmin? Is there some test they can do on the unit, on your charging cord or on the defective lithium packs? Only getting 1 year service life out of these lithium packs is out of the ordinary and much different than typical, so I would think that they would be interested in helping you figure out what is going on.
 
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line8

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Good points made ^^.
Yeah the 610 holds a charge well. I have tried the AA battery pack on the 650 and it won't work. I thought maybe it only used the lithium battery. I believe there is something wrong with my device and not the batteries. Planning to call Garmin Monday to see what can be done.


Sent from my telephone
 
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xc6rider

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Good points made ^^.
Yeah the 610 holds a charge well. I have tried the AA battery pack on the 650 and it won't work. I thought maybe it only used the lithium battery. I believe there is something wrong with my device and not the batteries. Planning to call Garmin Monday to see what can be done.


Sent from my telephone

I could be thinking of a different device, but, i think it has settings to change, depending on which batteries are used.
 

line8

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I could be thinking of a different device, but, i think it has settings to change, depending on which batteries are used.


Yeah, it might have those settings. I can't get to those settings right now though. Hopefully Garmin has some resolve tomorrow. I will replace it either way with another though.


Sent from my telephone
 

line8

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Thought I would add some info to my 650 battery issue. Garmin is making it right. It's believed the device is corrupt form either an old update or something causing it not being able to update. Regardless, a new refurbished one is being sent for about $75. They were very helpful.


Sent from my telephone
 

Chadx

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Glad to hear! And thanks for coming back and updating us (nothing worse than looking at threads that fall off and leave everyone hanging with no outcome. Happens too often. Ha).
 
U
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I use a Garmin GPSMap 62st on a RAM mount on the "dashboard" next to my speedo. When I first started using this setup a few seasons ago I tried using just battery power, but on very cold days the gps would die in less than an hour. After doing a bit of online research and poking around with a multimeter I figured out where I could splice into 12 DC (fuel pump power on my M7). I spliced in a cheap cigarette lighter plug which I then used to power the car charger for my gps and ran the wire up to the RAM mount. Now, anytime my sled is running my gps has direct power. Also, if I would ever want the option to power other accessories(cell phone charger) I can unplug the gps car charger and plug it in to the cigarette plug.
 
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