Anyone have any input on GPS systems? I don't need anything too fancy, doesn't need to speak to me just something I can take in my car/truck or with me on the ATV that's easy to use.

 

Try Ebay....I have a Garmin GPS12 and it has gotten me back to the trail head many times. Waterproof and compact

 

I have a Garmin Etrex (the basic yellow one that sells for $100+-). It works great for getting you where you want to go and back (I use it at Glamis), but the screen is just too small for the mapping functions to be very useful. It also has MPH, max speed, average speed, an odometer, and other things I can't think of. It is simple to use, and has large buttons that you can press even with gloves on. I was leery about spending bigger bucks on a GPS, because the vibration on an ATV is not good for them, not to mention possible crashes.

Whatever unit you end up getting, I would suggest getting a "Ram Mount" for it. This allows the unit to be mounted on the handle bars and away from vibration. That way, you can read the screen while you are in motion without having to stop and take it out of your pocket or bag. Makes it more useful and convenient, I think

Then there is the issue of powering it. The Extrex takes two AA batteries, but the vibration, even with the "Ram-Mount", can jiggle the batteries and cause it to turn off by itself, which is a real nuisance. I have hard-wired in a 12-volt cigarette lighter adapter and ran it to my DS's battery, so that I can use a cigarette lighter adapter to power the GPS. This way, you can run it without worrying about the batteries going dead (which makes it real nice riding at night because you can just leave GPS's back-light on). But a regular cigarette lighter power cord won't last long, again because of the vibration. There is a place called "Cycoactive.com" that sells 12v power cords that are "hardened" (they supposedly take them apart and fill them with some sort of material that protects from vibration). I haven't had much luck with these either, as two of them (@ $30 a pop) have just stopped working after a day of two of hard riding in the dunes. So personally, I am back to just using batteries even though I have a 12 volt plug wired into my bike.