I hear ya Dan, I resemble your remarks regarding the GPS...but I am a man, and I can change, sort of, if I have too!
I actually like looking at maps and I think its fun. I also feel like I can read a map and get anywhere I really need to go without a gps and haven't been lost...on the motorcycle. Hiking may be a different story, but I don't do much of that anymore. I do use a gps for geocaching and it was an older model that did not have a map capability, so I didn't use it for navigation and what not.
However, for Christmas I received a new Garmin etrex vista H. My main purpose for it will still be for geocaching. But I have been playing around with it, setting up routes, tracks, and way-points, but using it to navigate by is still untested due to the winter riding hiatus.
Some of the drawbacks for using this model to navigate by are: small screen, bad eyes (me), and it's not a color version. With lots of research, I have been able to download topo maps, (the free kind), but with the gray-scale display, it's too hard to pick out the route/track from the contour lines. But works great with the Garmin Basecamp and mapsource for viewing and setting up way points, routes, and tracks on the computer.
Some of the of the things I do like about it, it's small, and should I use it much for navigation, I also received a mount that loops around the handlebar with a changeable back plate for the gps that snaps into the mount. Similar to a RAM mount. So, it is possible to navigate with, but I will still rely on the maps to use with the gps...cause I like maps.
As far as maps go, I was pointed to the USGS website, where one can download free PDF topo maps of area's you are going. Pretty good detail too. Pro's: good close up detail. Printable in color should you have a color printer. Con's: you may have to download several "quadrangles" to get the entire area you want. Also, if you have a small home CPU/printer like I do, when printing, it prints in several sheets to get one quadrangle (to get the close-up map), and you'll have to cut and tape the map together. If you print the map as a single sheet map, it's way to small to be usable, in my opinion.