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 New Posts  ND Smart Bait Boat 2
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TeeCee
Posts: 2009
   Old Thread  #8 4 Feb 2022 at 7.31am    Login    Register
In reply to Post #7
Hi mate 👍

Using the Dragonfly is so easy. It's just the same as firing up any app you can think of. There's a few options for colour palettes if you don't want to use the stock ones, other than that, there's not much to it; turn it on and start using it.

There's a few options if you want to fit one. You can get one fitted by someone, or you can do it yourself. I did mine myself (bought a modded one from Fish Eye Camera for £550 which comes with a range extender which goes inside the boat, they do another version which is £750 I believe which removes the plug on the back of the sonar unit and hardwires it). Other than soldering two wires to the ND's power button and getting it to fit in, smearing some lube on the he boats water tight seal and screwing it all up, it easy.

The modded kit I bought gives a standard range of 200yds or so, I wanted it to go further and bought an Vonets VAP 11s range extender/bridge for on the bank to the boat to go past 400yds plus. There's a bit of setting up to do with the extender via there software, not super hard to do if you follow their instructions and online videos.

If you're going to use it at big ranges and don't self fit a separate on/off button for the sonar (I didn't) you should buy a good few batteries, especially so if you're going for a week somewhere. A separate on/off button gives you the option to have the sonar turned off to reduce any power drain to a minimum.

Also: if self fitting a Dragonfly is what you intend to do, you should be aware that because of the plug on the back of the sonar, you have to fit the sonar unit to the rear of the boat and at an angle as it's th only place it will fit.
wac
Posts: 526
   Old Thread  #7 3 Feb 2022 at 12.39pm    Login    Register
In reply to Post #1
Hi mate, sorry dragging up an old thread as doing some research about what to do with the ND2.

Is the Raymarine Dragonfly Pro 5 easy to use. I've looked on the RT4 sites and some of the stuff looks scary.
I'm not thick but some of the stuff blows my mind.
Singlebleep
Posts: 2049
Singlebleep
   Old Thread  #6 31 Jul 2021 at 11.38am    Login    Register
In reply to Post #5
Does it come in a protective hard case like the ND1 ?

How much was the final cost of the boat, autopilot app, speed upgrade and Raymarine sonar?

Do you know what the cost difference is with the internal Deeper Chirp fitted ?

I’ve been looking at these and I’ve seen a few negative comments on the Carpology YouTube comments but non seem to come from actual owners. This is the first independent owner review I’ve seen

I’m looking for something to replace a Microcat with echo sounder. How would this stack up against the older technology Microcat ?

Cheers
TeeCee
Posts: 2009
   Old Thread  #5 9 Jul 2021 at 7.00am    Login    Register
In reply to Post #4
Hi there 😄

It's a 14.something Li-Ion battery that's wall charged. Seems to do the job nicely. I've got 3 batteries as I'm on a 100+ acre pit. I'd say for a smallish water, say like 10 acres, you'd get a good weekend out of one battery, then again, like I was saying about weather conditions, you know?

I'd drop ND a line and ask them to see if they've got a solar charger/ inverter in the pipeline for the boat, that would be a game changer for sure 👍
Goldeneye
Posts: 1212
Goldeneye
   Old Thread  #4 8 Jul 2021 at 8.50am    Login    Register
In reply to Post #1
Great review! What is the battery charging on this? I would quite like one that I can charge with USB-c if I can as I have got various solar panels and battery packs...
TeeCee
Posts: 2009
   Old Thread  #3 7 Jul 2021 at 4.19pm    Login    Register
In reply to Post #2
From the ND Tackle site.which they look like they've sold out of. Send um a message and see when they're getting the next load in 👍
colin333
Posts: 285
colin333
   Old Thread  #2 6 Jul 2021 at 7.23pm    Login    Register
In reply to Post #1
Where did you get spare battery?
TeeCee
Posts: 2009
   Old Thread  #1 22 Jun 2021 at 9.33am    Login    Register
Maybe this review maybe of help to some who are looking to buy a reasonably priced boat with full autopilot.

When I first saw this on YouTube I was very sceptical. It looked like it had everything like higher tier boats but at a fraction of the cost. To my surprise it lives up to the billing.

The basic boat is £550, if you want to add autopilot it's £200 on top of that. The Autopilot system is surprisingly easy to use via the handset or the app that you have to download. I prefer to use the app as it has the ability whereby instead of steering your boat manually to the far distance, instead you can hold your finger on the place you want to go to, click save on the screen which then asks you which of the 4 spots A, B, C or D - I always use D doing this, click save again and then click autopilot and off it trots. You can keep sending it here and there by deleting the spot you've sent it to previously and just repeat the previous process.

The furthest I've sent it to is around 350yds or so and it still had full signal. I can't comment on the battery life for a standard boat as I've added a sonar hard wired internally, suffice to say, with the sonar I've got inside - Raymarine Dragonfly Pro 5 - I'm able to chug around merrily on a big pit and only changed the battery the following day and the battery still had enough power in it before putting a new fully charged battery back in. I know this isn't any kind of accurate measure of how long the battery will last as I've never timed it, plus conditions vary so much from flat calm to howling gale which obviously has an impact on how long any battery will last.

How fast is it?

Well, I've added the speed kit that Fish Eye Camera sell and the boat is plenty fast enough. It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison to an RT4 or similar to see how rapid this boat is. For me, it's decent speed wise if that's anything to go by.

Payload?

It's 3kg. We'd always want a bigger payload = less trips if you're heavily baiting a spot. I can live with the 3kg limit

What's it like in heavy chop:

I've not tried it with white caps, although I've had it in gusts up to 30+mph and it's been fine.

Criticisms:

The only thing I can fault is inside the app, the icons to make it do things i.e hopper release, return to home could do with rejigging, like making them part of the side of the app, bigger and more visible, buttons with sub menus would be great.

Summary:

All in all, for the money I'm very impressed by this boat, so much so I'd not hesitate recommending it to anyone. Coupled together with the autopilot feature, this really is a very good boat all in all. It's a winner winner, chicken dinner for me.
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