Pulled the trigger on a Raymarine Dragonfly 7 inch model . . .

[Expidia]

Rational . . . after doing some research on various units last week I've been drooling for a Dragonfly . . . I stilll have a Humminbird 797 C2 (sidescan) GPS/fisfinder with a Navionics Hotmaps Premium SD card and has the barometric pressure weather module plus NMEA 2000 GPS to VHF connectivity.

Also, the reason I went with the Humminbird units is their "no wires" on and off. I trailer and I like to pop it off and keep it in my car while say in a restaurant or overnight at a hotel. But I found the Raymarine DF is also a one bundled wire that pops off with the twist of the collar.
When I'm not using my rig I leave no electronics onboard. Even when docking at a restaurant I pop all off and stow in lockers or carry into restaurant in a Pelican case.

I mention the Humminbird because what was holding up my decision was I'd lose the NMEA and the weather module plus have to uninstall and then re-install yet another GPS. But the "chirp" technology blew me away as its way ahead of side scan for structure and targeting fish.

I also bought a few months ago an emergency personal locator for my rig, so that is better than having the NMEA feature IMO.
Works on hiking trails too or walking around a city

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Once I install the new Raymarine Dragonfly, I'll list my Humminbird unit on Craigs List.

I keep a close eye on the weather radar on my smartphone and my VHF radio gives me weather alerts so the loss of the barometric pressure Humminbird module was no longer a loss.

Tried calling Navionics customer support as I wanted to see if my old SD card would work saving me $132 for a new Hot Maps Premium card. They are as confused as I was. Bottom line is their new units (post 2010) use a "Micro" SD card (like a smart phone) so your choice is buy a blank card and go to the Navionics site and for $96 download new maps for a 1 year subscription. Or if your newer Raymarine unit is bundled with Navionics maps you can download new maps for $96 to that same card.

But after doing research like calling raymarine or navionics . . . its a joke trying to get correct info out of them. These companies don't want to pay for qualified customer service anymore, so you are stuck on your own piecing together all the various models, reviews, prices, accessories etc and trying to understand it all. Try going into west marine and talking with their uninformed staff on GPS etc.

With the Navionics map cards Its pretty much a scam on those bundled packages becasue they are "stripped down" versions of a regular card as they are made special for Raymarine and raymarine probably wants to put as little as possible on the cards yet still call it a bundle.

The 7 inch screen I bought is like an LED TV. Paid $649 plus tax or around $700 for the E70231-GLD. GLD stands for Gold version which is a stripped down mostly costal maps and some inland lakes.

They have a new model E70231-NAG which is the exact same unit inside and out but without any maps for $849. It comes with a 1 year subscription that you download which ever lakes you want. But thats $200 more for the same unit!

I don't want to deal with buying a blank card and another 1 year $96 map download, so for now I just bought the $132 Hotmaps premium card and will review stuff again before I open the card package. If the lakes I go on like lake george, champlain and the hudson river are on the Gold card I might send the $132 card back. But from what I remember the Gold is mostly coastal and the hudson river shows no contours which is useless to me.
I think I still have a gold card that came with my Hummingbird . . . which was useless.

The new Raymarine will be at my door in two days and once I get it installed and use it on the water, I'll report back.

I have a friend that just bought the Raymarine e7D unit for around $1100 but the transducer is another $300 and it does not have "chirp" technology which is another add on module for $519.

The Dragonfly already includes a dual frequency transducer which allows for the duel scanning picture of the bottom structure and from the reviews I've read it may not be true chirp system like a $1500 to 2000 Simrad unit, but for the price and the average angler's needs and smaller boat sizes it really blows away the older technology.

Check out this Youtube vid on the Dragonfly. The vid is the 5.5 inch screen, but I got the 7 as its an easier view for split screen viewing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFKxbQereJE

 

[Expidia]

Dragonfly unit came yesterday. Got it installed in a few hours. Takes a little longer because I had to first uninstall my former humminbird unit, so its like twice the work.

Will test it out in a few days on a river or a lake.

I spoke to raymarine again today regarding the two micro SD cards it comes with. I already purchase the navionics hotmaps premium micro SD card but will be returning it.
For $16 I ordered from amazon a 32 gb micro sd card. I can use this card to update the dragonfly's software that came out on 4/15/2015.
Then I can use the new amazon blank 32GB card to plug it into its sd adapter holder into my laptop and pay $96 for a one year subscription to navionics freshest unlimited data. I'd have to update the one I just paid $132 for anyway on the same site for free, but that's going back with a $38 savings. The card thats going back is only 2 GB. My $16 32 GB will hold a lot more maps and I save $38 (minus the $16 new blank card from amazon).

One does not need to re-subscribe each year because lake bottoms and where the fish are doesn't change much, so its like a one-time $96. Usually navionics pre-loaded $149 hotmaps premium etc data is already a few years old, but now they let you download and update it for free for 12 months.

Only thing I was a little taken aback by is the size of the included CPT-60 Dragonfly down scanning chirp transducer. This mother is 8 inches and juts out from the transom a good 8.5 inches (admittedly I "am" a little envious, but I'll stay on topic ).
I guess its this long as its puts out many frequencies which throws a wide swath to achieve the "chirp" picture like image of whats below your rig.

Below are some pics of the mounted transducer. Raymarine recommends the middle section of the transducer looking at it length wise be somewhat inline with the bottom of the transom and then have the tail (part farthest from the transom kicked up 5 degrees so the tail is slightly higher than front of the transducer. This angle probably reduces the spray off the transducer. I'll probably have to tweak it a little after lake trials. It does have a kick up feature if you hit something.

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[Expidia]

Correction: I had the above position of the transducer reversed. The trailing back edge of the transducer should be set 5 degrees lower than the front. From what I read thats so when the boat is planing the tail is still low below the waterline. Corrected pictures below:
​​

 

[dingbat]

Only thing I was a little taken aback by is the size of the included CPT-60 Dragonfly down scanning chirp transducer. This mother is 8 inches and juts out from the transom a good 8.5 inches (admittedly I "am" a little envious, but I'll stay on topic ).
I guess its this long as its puts out many frequencies which throws a wide swath to achieve the "chirp" picture like image of whats below your rig.

The size has nothing to do with CHIRP. It is larger to accommodate the "array" of transducers (left, right and center) required to construct the downscan image.

 

[Expidia]

I opened the Navionics Hotmaps Premium charts which come on a micro SD card with a SD holder and a USB holder so you are able to plug this tiny card into your laptop by SD or USB.

SD cards before 2010 can't be used for the Navionics update service.
And neither can some cards that come bundled with the units (they are stripped down verisons).

MY unit came with a bundled Navionics maps in the form of 2 SD card adapters each containing a micro SD card inside.
One was U.S. lakes maps and the other was Gold U.S waterways (mostly coastal maps). Both are stripped down versions.

My Dragonfly came to $649 with both these cards included (bundled) but they are not down loadable with Navionics current freshest info.

If I paid $849 for their other package its the same unit, but with 12 months of free updates. Difference is $200 more.

The other choice is to get the $649 unit and buy a Navionics blank card which accepts the down load of fresh data but that card is like $94.
But if you don't have another card like from another uniit like lowrance, humminbird, raymarine you might need to pay another $96 for their down load service for a one year subscription to update the blank card.

http://www.amazon.com/NAVIONICS-Navi...rhf_se_p_img_3

Or . . . I found it easier to just buy the current Navionics Hotmaps Premium card for $132 and when you open the package and plug the SD adapter (also comes with a USB adapter) it gives you 12 months of free updates. Press start and It took about 30 minutes for the card to update and now I'm ready to go with much finer lake detail, fishing hotspots and edits that the community updates from time to time.