Raymarine A50D vs. Dragonfly

[Mr.Petersen]

So the dragonfly is out and I was wondering if it is worth getting over the raymarine A50D. I'm a little cautious about not having the power to see fish when in deeper water with the dragonfly but I love the idea of having the downvision. Also the dragonfly transducer is huge, does anyone have one of these on an arima that has trim tabs? Where would I place the transducer? Im planning on putting trim tabs on my boat at the same time, hopefully before lingcod opens up out here in Neah Bay.

[amazing grace]

I cannot really help you persae. I did buy a A50D ff/gps but don't have it installed and in service yet.

Here are my thoughts though. The dragonfly is very new. Built by Flir with new technology. Touch screen too I believe. No doubt it will be good.

The A50d built by the previous Raymarine. Older technology, proven though. Supposedly excellent digial ff and a  not so intuitive gps.

I do not think either is a bad choice. At the price point of each I think they are at or near the top in terms of what is available.

I am always a bit leary of new stuff. I just a soon let some one else try it. So I saved about three hundred dollars and think I still have a rock solid unit with a Airmar transducer and silver software.

I want to try it for a while and then purchase another unit for my other 19SR. It maybe another A50D or it might be a newer Raymarine unit. Have you looked at the other unit? I believe it is either an A65 or A67?

[Threeweight]

The Dragonfly is so new no one has a much experience with it.  As AG said, it is a generation or two newer sonar technology than the A50 (technically, I think it is the first time ever its type of "chirp" sonar has ever been offered in something at that price point, even though it is a pretty stripped down form of it).  Ray claims it will do well in saltwater, but it remains to be seen how well.  My guess is it will be fine in the 100' or less range, but probably won't have the wattage for really deepwater stuff.  The A50 has a bit more punch, but it is a 600 watt unit (sort of intermediate strength).  To get really powerful saltwater sonars, you'd be looking at much more expensive Ray, Furuno, etc... units.

One thing to remember about the Dragonfly is that to keep the price down, Ray did not build any networking into it.  So while it has a gps/chart plotter function, you cannot use it to network your radio in for it's emergency DSC function.  That is one area where the older A50 has a clear advantage.

I think the Dragonfly shines if you have a decent functional chart plotter and want to upgrade your sonar abilities.  It doesn't appeal to me as much for a stand-alone unit.

[Mr.Petersen]

Does anyone have a pic of a boat with trim tabs and a transom mounted depth finder? Is there a good spot to mount them?

[Threeweight]

Here's where I have my Raymarine A57 transducer mounted (it's an Airmar brand P58):



And here is where my backup Lowrance unit is installed (it's generally turned off, I use the HDS 5 mainly as a chartplotter and backup sonar):

[Mr.Petersen]

Thank you threeweight.

[Mr.Petersen]

UGH, priorities. So I decided that I'm going to install insta trim hydrolic trim tabs and a Raymarine 49 D fixed marine radio before I can tackle a new fish finder. I will post a new thread and take pictures of both installs as I do them. Should be getting my new parts in the middle of next week.