Experience with the Raymarine Dragonfly fish finders?

[addicted2fishin]

Has anyone on here had experience with the Raymarine Dragonfly fish finders?
I've read a LOT of reviews and I'm thinking of getting the Dragonfly 5 PRO. There are several things I like and I'm intrigued by. I'll be adding it to my 24' Pontoon. I would go with the 7 PRO, but cost is an issue.
Most of the real-world reviews seem quite positive, reviews of the set-up are good, reviews of the images are amazing, and appears to be very durable with many using it on kayaks.
Most of the negative reviews aren't from any real-world experience. Just comments about the look and feel or the simple interface from the "unboxing" (not actually using it). There is one hilarious review from some redneck that seems dead-set on tearing it down. Complaints about plastic, complaints about 'made in China', and complaints that it isn't "commercial quality" (how can you expect "commercial quality from a sub- $500 sonar?). Kind of an entertaining video to watch, and I could pick it apart all day.
I really like the reviews of how accurate the imaging is, especially in CHIRP. I also like the idea that I can wi-fi the screen info to my phone or tablet to see it on another part of my boat, which can be an issue if I'm drifting or anchored and have someone fishing from both the front and back of a 24' boat.
I would love to find someone that has actually used this in Utah waters. I did try the search function and only found a couple of posts from someone using an older model a couple years ago. They were very positive, though.

Any input is helpful.
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[wiperhunter2]

I could be wrong but I think kentofnsl has one of those, I'm pretty sure he at least had a Raymarine at one time.
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[Kent]

[quote wiperhunter2]

I could be wrong but I think kentofnsl has one of those, I'm pretty sure he at least had a Raymarine at one time.

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I had a Raymarine fish finder at least 20 years ago. Not recent enough to be of any assistance. Curtis, I'm impressed with your memory though.
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[wiperhunter2]

LOL, I knew it was a while back, not sure about 20 yrs but the reason I remembered was that I have never heard of anyone using one here on the site and I thought it was not a commonly used brand at the time. I've heard of them more since then but did no remember of anyone else owning one. Thanks for the reply Kent.
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[Kent]

I may have stretched the truth, a little, it may have only been 19 1/2 years ago.[]
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[N.E.T.O.]

We just put a Dragonfly 7 Pro on my cousins boat and took it out Saturday for the first time to try it.

Initial impressions are good. We had to play around with the settings to make it look like my Lowrance that I am used to [] but once we got the display adjusted it worked great.

We had two issues:
1. The temperature is not working.
2. It take a long time to boot up. And we had it hooked into the ignition where it reboots each time the boat is started, which we did not like. Also, every now and then the sonar screen would divide into 4 vertical unreadable zones and then after a few minutes would just start magically working again normally.

We are going to do the software update (recommended in the install instructions) before we call RayMarine to see what's up with that. Hopefully the software update fixes it.

GPS, fishfinder, etc. It's all pretty easy to use and does work well.Speeds over 35 we couldn't hold bottom, but that normal from what I understand.
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[addicted2fishin]

Thanks for the info! Let me know what you find. I hope to be buying a new fishfinder soon as I really want something with GPS, but also really like the down-imaging and CHIRP. I have an older humminbird color machine that works ok, but no GPS, and it can be difficult to tell when the fish are hugging the bottom.
I also like the wi-fi option on these. I have a 25' pontoon and love the idea of using a tablet to see the screen from the front of the boat.
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[Bduck]

I have the 7 Pro, I like this unit with its ease to operate. Most new sonar units take a computer whiz to figure them out, but not this one which is simple. When turning it on it does take its time booting but I'm able to deal with that especially while going thru warm up period. I'll even turn it on while prepping boat on trailer. Losing bottom at high speed seems to be norm with most sonar units, maybe an upgrade with a transducer can fix that, not a problem with me since trolling it's doing what I want it to do. When first purchased I had 2 software updates to install with no issues. A third update came and I wasn't able to get it to take so after talking with a FLIR technician going thru step by step procedures it still wouldn't take. It was suggested to send unit to FLIR since it was still in warranty. Once they received it they did a quickturn by installing software with no problem and had the unit back to me in 3 days. I was very impressed with their customer service and return. I have another Raymarine combo unit the A57D. Bought this one new about 8yrs ago. I like it but it's a little more difficult to figure out but once getting it set I left it to do its thing. With 2 combo units onboard I'll never get lost. I'm already looking into the Axiom unit but back to being a little more complex again. I got away from Lowrance as I lost my like with them, the HDS5 gen 1 was not impressive enough for. The boat I have now came with this unit and after using it it confirmed my feelings about it. It now sits in my locker in storage.
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[addicted2fishin]

Thanks for the info. Very helpful. I would love to get the 7 pro, but budget wise I'll be lucky to get the 5 pro.
Have you used the wifi Orion yet? If so, how was it?
Why do you now keep it in a storage locker?
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[Bduck]

All the gimmicks such as the WiFish I didn't have interest in getting. My goal was to get a simple sonar unit with ease of operation. I never got around to listing the Lowrance HDS5 for sale.
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