Thoughts on ray marine fishfinder

Thinking about buying a fishfinder for my Jackson Cuda I really like the Raymarine fishfinder and the big displays they have. My budget is $300 maybe $350 should I get GPS? Down imaging? Side imaging so many options my brain hurts. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Definitely get one with GPS. Fog can roll in unexpectedly and if you're in the middle of the ocean without one, you're screwed.

Yes get the gps, the Sonoma coast and a good deal of the north coast is exposed cliffs the gps helps you to return to your launch point when wind, fog, and seasickness are working against you.

If you're looking at the Dragonfly, I love its simplicity and how well it works. I've got the D7 and I had owned the Lowrance Elite5 HDI before.

You just missed a great deal on the D7 last month. It was going for around $350.

Do a search on dragonfly and there are a lot pics and reviews on the board.

I just purchased the Dragonfly 5 Pro with Nav+ from "TheGPSstore" yesterday for $479.95 with free ground shipping. 

You can get the Dragonfly 4 Pro with Nav+ for $259.95 from them, and I would assume free ground shipping as well.   

Learning curve is pretty easy, figuring out a new cell phone is harder.  Get the 7 even if you have to hold off and save more.

This unit comes with C-MAP, I don't know much about C-MAP since mine has Navionics.  But researching it, it looks just as good.

http://www.hodgesmarine.com/Raymarine-Dragonfly-7-Gps-Fishfinder-Combo-W-Tra-p/raye70231-us.htm?

Learning curve is pretty easy, figuring out a new cell phone is harder.  Get the 7 even if you have to hold off and save more.

This unit comes with C-MAP, I don't know much about C-MAP since mine has Navionics.  But researching it, it looks just as good.

http://www.hodgesmarine.com/Raymarine-Dragonfly-7-Gps-Fishfinder-Combo-W-Tra-p/raye70231-us.htm?

I almost purchased from Hodge Marine, until I got to the checkout page and they wanted me to sign off on their really long "Terms and Conditions" page.  Read through it and it basically relieves them of all issues you may have with the product shipped to you, including but not limited to the buyer covers all shipping both ways for any reason.  They are not held responsible.  Googled them, and there were too many horror stories for me to have confidence in purchasing through them. So, I shopped elsewhere namely TheGPSstore, of which I have purchased many products over the years from them without issue.   

BTW, the Dragonfly 6 and 7 are now legacy units which are discontinued units, replaced with the NEW as of this week, the ProDragonfly 7 Pro.  The 7 Pro is right on par with the 4 Pro and 5 Pro.  All with the ball and socket base, rather than the single pivot base, as well as your choice of no chart/map software, C-Map, or the Nav Plus.

The line up:
http://www.raymarine.com/view/?id=11198

Ordering options:
http://www.raymarine.com/view/?id=11200&collectionid=155&col=11251

Pair any one of these "Pro" units with the RAM system and you have a very versatile mount system! 
http://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-B-202-379-M616

With your budget, you can pay retail for the Dragonfly 4 Pro, which has downscan, chirp and GPS. If you shop around you can probably find it for cheaper. I don't think side-scan is all that useful for saltwater, though I have heard at least one bass pro say it's pretty much mandatory for bass tournaments, fwiw.

I ordered a 4Pro from hodges marine; I'll keep you posted about my experience. I would have preferred a slightly larger screen, but I keep reminding myself that I'm getting a lot of features for the price, and that I'd rather spend more money on a new rod or reel.

If you're overwhelmed by the options and features as I was, I'll try and break it down here. Keep in mind that this is all "book lernin'" with no practical experience:

• Sonar - Your basic cone of pings under your boat; Tells you how deep things are under the boat, be they fish, rocks or the ground.
• Downscan - A wide,  short(front to back) fan of sonar that is better at giving detailed picture of structure at the cost of coverage area.
• CHIRP - An improvement on all shapes of sonar, be it downscan or normal sonar, with improved picture quality.
• Side scan - Not sure, but as far as I can tell it's like two downscan beams, one to each side of the boat.

I used to have the RAM ball mount on the Dragonfly7 but I switched to the Scotty mount because it's sturdier and installed a longer arm so I can get it closer to arm's reach.

I went with the Dragonfly 5Pro for my PA 14.  But I think with any unit these days you buy you're getting a quality product. 

Dang awesome thanks for the help fellas. Is the 5 pro and 4 pro the same just a smaller size?

Dang awesome thanks for the help fellas. Is the 5 pro and 4 pro the same just a smaller size?

The Dragonfly 4 Pro, 5 Pro, and new 7 Pro have the same features and mounting hardware.
The 4 Pro and 5 Pro look to have the same sized head unit, only the display is larger on the 5 over the 4. 
The 7 Pro has a bigger head unit and obviously bigger screen.