Call me a worrywart, but when my daughter and her roommate decided to hike the Vermont Trail, I insisted they take along the Garmin Rino GPS FRS/GMRS 2-way radio. They were planning a rugged week backpacking in the mountains of Vermont where the weather can change in an instant. It’s not unusual for afternoons to turn stormy and nights to drop to 40 degrees even in the dog days of August. But I was more concerned about the rugged terrain and my daughter’s relative lack of primitive camping experience. With a Garmin Rino GPS 2-way radio along, I figured they’d have a better chance of calling for help in an emergency.

The Vermont Trail is an ongoing volunteer project to build a multi-purpose four-season trail across Vermont. When completed it will make for comfortable hiking in the Vermont mountains. But it’s still a work in progress and, like the Appalachian Trail, in many places is no more than a deer path through the wild brush. My daughter had done some wilderness camping back in her college days and her roomie, a Vermont native, had hiked the Trail with friends as a teen; but that was years ago. Despite their assurances that they had everything under control, mom that I am, I envisioned crumbling rock ledges and vicious bear attacks. I felt much happier when they agreed to take the Rino along for the trip.

Weight is a big issue when you’re carrying all your supplies on your back, but at just 10.3 ounces, the Garmin Rino 520 HCx GPS 2-way radio didn’t weigh them down. They were able to add topographic and trail maps and plot their route to leave with friends. With the capacity to store 500 waypoints it was easy to mark overnight shelters, dangerous water areas and paths to nearby towns. With conservative use, the 14-hour battery life would see them through the mountains and safely home. The highly sensitive GPS receiver on the Rino 520 provides a whopping 5 watts of transmitting power, enough to locate your position even in heavy cover or deep canyons — and provide a 14-mile line-of-sight contact capability. In an emergency situation, I felt confident they’d be able to pinpoint their location and contact rescue teams.

Today is day 2 of their trek in the mountains and knowing they have the Garmin Rino GPS 2-way radio with them, I’m not really worried. (Well, not much anyway.)