GPS mount and install suggestions for a Polaris Ranger UTV

Curious if anyone else has mounted a larger GPS/Fishfinder in their UTV? I caved and bought a Garmin Echomap 53dv from Cabelas since they had them reduced to $299 and I had a bunch of coupons I could stack. What sold me was that it comes with Lakevu HD installed so the plan is to mount it in my Polaris Ranger and make that my new ice cruisin’ machine this winter.

Typically I’m a RAM mount guy but the Echomap 53 has a funky base on it. Also looking to keep it low and stable so that it’s not bouncing around. Also important, I want something pretty easily removable so I can remove it before trailering or when I stop somewhere along the way and don’t want it pilfered.

Any suggestions from someone who’s mounted a similarly large 5″-7″ GPS in their Ranger? Also, how well do the batteries in the machines hold up to running these things for long periods? I’d hate to end up out on the ice with a dead battery at the day, or inconvenienced by turning the GPS on and off 30 times a day.

We used a Ram Cupholder mount in our Kawasaki Teryx for a helix 5. Handled a week of lake Winnipeg travel with no issues. All depends where your cup holders are I guess.

Hey, that’s a good idea. Unfortunately, the Ranger’s cup holders are in crap locations on the outer sides of the dash. Did the system you used have the 1″ balls or the 1.5″? Not sure what size people use for rough/bouncy applications.

I was under the impression that the maps were good, they are NOT! Some spots on some lakes are decent but I wouldn’t trust them.

Get the “upgraded” maps if you can afford them.

Well I know it was not your intention, but you just pissed in my cheerios.

I’m going to have to look into that. I was under the impression the Lakevu HD maps were supposed to be pretty good. I was hoping they be at least as good if not better than Navionics on my phone. I hate marking, tracking, and exporting/importing coordinates from that app.

So you’re saying I need the “ULTRA” maps to get an acceptable experience? I see those are $200. I wonder if Garmin offers an “upgrade” option at a discounted price. I guess more research is in order before I open the packaging.

It’s been pissin in my Cheerios since I bought it.

Ice fishing I use my navionics app on phone. The unit is great otherwise but they won’t see more $$ from me for mapping.

I wonder if the display units at Cabela’s, FF, etc. have the standard LakeVu HD maps on them or if Garmin ships those with the “ULTRA” maps to entice buyers? Maybe I need to make the drive over to my local retailer tomorrow and see what these maps look like for the lakes I like to fish locally.

I don’t want to open the packaging and not be able to return it and then regret my investment. As relatively minimal as it is. Looks like I’ll be shelling out another $55-60 for all the RAM mount components I’m going to need.

Thinking I plunk it right on top center of the dash.

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Haven’t mounted mine yet but if you don’t want to make holes in your plastic they do have a rail mount…planning on zip tieing the cable to the roll bar so it is out of the way and when ice is over roll it up and stash it in the glove box

Circling back just in case others want to do this. Here are some photos of how the install turned out today.

And parts list:
Qty 2
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-202U
Qty 1
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-201U

And I was going to use this, but I didn’t care for the added height, but it could be a nice option depending on your install.
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAP-403U

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doing a similar setup on my xp 1000. How did you power the unit?

Jared Pokrzywinski wrote:

doing a similar setup on my xp 1000. How did you power the unit?

Tapped into the constant hot and ground on my winch relay that’s up under the “hood”. This way it’s not powering off and rebooting every time I shut off the Ranger. Once I pop my hub or flip over and am staying for a bit, I power it off.

Haven’t forgotten yet…knock on wood.

I run my HDS-9 Touch in my ranger, I wound up buying a lowrance gimbal bracket and bolted it to the roof to allow the lowrance to hang down. I cut 2 slits in the fabric roof to allow the HDS screws to screw into the HDS. I have tried the dash and the cupholder mounts and it seems to vibrate too much for my liking.

The best way I have found to power these units is to hardwire the power cable into the machine. There is a wire block underneath the front hood, there is both keyed power and constant power in that block. We run all the machines off the keyed power, just leave the machine running until you need to shut the graph off. Running the cigarette lighter plugs are fine, but the fuses tend to fall out or the plug breaks in the winter. Always had to keep 2-3 cables in the cab before I hardwired the unit.