electric auger questions

I have an old Black mag 49cc strikmaster made in Osceola wis. 40 years old runs like a top, i keep it for just in case, if you find one ,buy it

I’m super happy with my Strikemaster 40v. The blades are getting dull and it doesn’t even seem to make a difference. It has remarkable power, far more than the Strikemaster 50v, which I sold.

I owned an Ion X, as well. Go with the Strikemaster.

Lots of guys using the drills with 6″ bits. That’s an option too. I’m not a huge fan of 6″ holes or I likely would have gone that route.

I own an ION X 8″ and it has worked great for me, overall I am pretty new to ice fishing but it really does work well. When I bought it I was determined to buy a gas auger but the guys at TB talked me into it.

With that said, when the ice starts to get thicker, like 22″ last weekend where I was, you start to see benefits of gas, especially if you are going to move a few times throughout the day. I will definitely be adding a gas auger to my equipment by next year.

If you are drilling less than 20 holes a time just about any non gas auger will work just fine for you. I have an ION and its been great. Ive never used a strikemaster electric but people do like them. I think their early electric models had some battery problems but I think that’s been sorted out. I would go with either an ION or strikemaster for ease of use. I considered going the drill conversion route too and that’s not a bad way to go either

I have an ION, It starts with the press of a button and there’s no problems at all. It’s no fun messing around with gas mixtures and constantly having problems starting the auger.

Ahren Wagner wrote:

I have an ION, It starts with the press of a button and there’s no problems at all. It’s no fun messing around with gas mixtures and constantly having problems starting the auger.

I started my auger once this winter. It was -15 and it started on first pull. 5 years old and never seen anything in the tank except Trufuel. No mixing… No problems starting.

There is no way the cost of ownership over 20 years is the same between gas and electric!!
I’m happy to say 5 years ago I bought my last auger.

biggill wrote:

Sounds like strikemaster will be discontinuing gas models in the next year or two

Of course they will. Same reason you cannot buy a fridge that lasts 30 years… There’s more money in products with shorter life span.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>
Sounds like strikemaster will be discontinuing gas models in the next year or two

Of course they will. Same reason you cannot buy a fridge that lasts 30 years… There’s more money in products with shorter life span.

Yes hit the nail on the head. It’s their form of job security. Eskimo augers are going to become a lot more popular if strikemaster does. Then it’ll be between jiffy and Eskimo. In terms of gas augers.

In the age of I want it now isn’t this kind of feeding into it? I want power now instead of having to start the auger? Just stirring the pot here…

Typ don’t go political cannot help myself on the statements but I am sure strikemaster is just getting ahead of the “GND “ of the “enlightened states delegates. The country is to go off fossil fuels by 2030 everyone will have to have electric augers. Also there will have to be shuttle systems set up for everyone wanting to go fishing let alone the batt systems any boat would have to have. Sounds like people will have more time to fish as doesn’t look like you will have to work Of course the rest of the world won’t be there only the “enlightened “ ones. I live in an “enlightened “state myself just on the ignorant western side of the state . Just saying

The Strikemaster 40v is the only legit gas auger replacement I’ve seen. Does everything any gas auger can do and more. If it were 5 lbs lighter, I’d buy one today. And I really like my gas auger!

Well to get back on topic does anyone know why I’m having a hard time drilling through the last bit of ice? I have new blades on it but the auger is getting old and I’m wondering if its a power issue? Do you electric augers have this problem as well?

catmando wrote:

I have an old Black mag 49cc strikmaster made in Osceola wis. 40 years old runs like a top, i keep it for just in case, if you find one ,buy it

Those were some of the best augers made,not very heavy but durable.Randy W has one that has been beaten severely,and would start better than the Jiffy 30 I had.

I love my ion ice auger it’s good for reopening holes the only thing you need to remember is when you are out in the cold to keep your battery warm I put mine in a soft-sided cooler with a hand warmer for when I’m out running and gunning in the cold

I think it depends what you are looking for, I run a K-drill, clam plate and a 20v DeWalt. I also have a Strikemaster Solo 2 stroke. I was looking for weight reduction, which I got. My k-drill setup weighs 13 pound the gasser weighs 25ish. They are give and take. The electric is lighter and cheaper and cuts great. Downside is I only have one 5ah battery and 2 2.5ah batteries. Once you are out of battery you are kinda done for the day. A gallon of mix is $5 bucks and cuts a lot of holes. Another 5ah battery is $60. You said you don’t drill many holes so it might be a great option for you because you won’t have the same no start issue ever again.

Another option to consider is you can take your pick of nice clean lightly used gas augers for far less than retail value right now. It seems the market is flooded right now.

First post here!

My $.02:

Gas and even propane augers are yesterday’s technology and they will most likely be going away in the near future. It’s the horse and buggy of the early 1900’s. The legitimate reasons for owning a gas are dwindling by the day and I can’t honestly think of one that can’t be easily mitigated with electric. Electric is simply far superior from nearly every standpoint…speed, no fumes, quick startup, portability, off-season use, etc, etc..
Added benefit is you can reverse your drill to blow all of the ice chunks down the hole and not mess with sifting out the slush.

My setup:

Milwaukee Fuel Hammer Drill model 2804 (updated handle design – ~$100)
2 – 6AHr H.O. batteries (~$130 for the pair)
8″ blue Nils hand auger
Ice Master drill adapter (can get it from FishUSA for ~$40)

You can drill holes until you are blue in the face with this setup. Add a 3rd extra capacity battery for fishing LOW or Canada with 4 ft + of ice. Keep the battery in your pocket to stay somewhat warm, even though Milwaukee batteries tend to do extremely well in the cold. This setup will punch multiple holes through the ice before the gas augers even get started. No more tune ups, spilled gas, Stabil, fumes in ice house, cold start issues, annoying noise, etc!!!!

Pros/Cons for your auger choice to go with a drill:
– you can either go with a chipper auger (typical Jiffy style or K-Drill style bit) or you can go with a cutting blade like my Nils
– Chipper bits like K-Drill are great for reopening holes in permanent ice houses and for drilling double holes (side by side hole with overlap to make an extra wide hole, possibly if you wanted to stay 6″ bit but fish big pike). Chipper bits also can be easily sharpened and will continue to drill when they get a bit dull (albiet slower). Chipper bits can also handle dirty ice (sand, wood chips, etc). Chipper bits can get hung up on the punch through at the bottom of the hole.
– Nils or HT mini cutter bits are far superior from a speed and effort standpoint. There is simply no faster ice drill bits on the market. You also don’t apply pressure to the top, but rather let the drill do all the work and you sit back and drink coffee while your buddies are sweating with their Jiffy or Lazer! Cutter bits can get dull in dirty ice! And speaking of getting dull, protect that blade! If it gets dull you are pretty much done drilling. When it gets dull the sharpening process can be more difficult. However, I’ve never sharpened my blade and if you keep it protected they will go a long time. Cutter bits are smooth as butter on the punch through at the bottom of the hole
– if you can stay with a 6″ auger bit you will get many more holes out of the same battery size or allow you to purchase a cheaper battery and drill same number of holes. The effective cutting surface area of a 6″ is about 1/2 that of an 8″! With that said, high end drills will have no problem turning even a 10″ bit if you prefer to keep your sonar in place while landing large fish or visually see down in shallow water. The idea that you absolutely need an 8″ or 10″ bit is B.S. Quite frankly, you will lose just as many fish at the hole using the larger bits. The benefit of a 6″ bit is that big fish can’t turn around in the hole and if it gets off they will almost surely float to the top of the hole if you let them!

Drill selection:
– most reputable drill manufacturers now have equipment that is capable of handling an 8″ auger bit these days. (Rigid, Milwaukee, DeWalt, Makita, etc, as long as you go with at least 750 in/lb torque, preferably 1000)
– Milwaukee has superior cold performance and there is a reason why K-Drill only recommends this brand with their product (steel chuck, better internals, etc)
– get the biggest battery you can reasonably afford, but keep in mind not all batteries are created equal, even at the same AHr!!
– only go with a brushless motor drill (higher efficiency and power)
– cheapie old NiMH brushed drills will burnout and you will not be satisfied with the performance. Don’t use them!!

Yeah, I’m not going to throw away a $500 gas engine… To buy short lifespan batteries.

Tell us in 40 years how much you’ve spent to keep your electric auger from 2018 working.

catmando wrote:

I have an old Black mag 49cc strikmaster made in Osceola wis. 40 years old runs like a top, i keep it for just in case, if you find one ,buy it

Sounds like you guys will spend as much on hand warmers as gas augers consume gas.

I recently went with a Strikemaster 40 volt lith ion and I can’t be happier, that being said I also have a 2003 Strikemaster Lazer and that thing cuts ice like it hates it, I’d be hard pressed to get rid of it and will take it with when I know i’ll be in serious ice, but I love my electric and it will be with me 95% of the time.

Tom

Get whatever you can afford.They will all work fine.I don’t think it matters if it’s gas,electric,or a drill setup.It comes down to what you want to spend and haul around.I personaly don’t think there’s one brand that much better than the next.You can get a lemon in anything you buy.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

biggill wrote:

Sounds like strikemaster will be discontinuing gas models in the next year or two

Of course they will. Same reason you cannot buy a fridge that lasts 30 years… There’s more money in products with shorter life span.

StrikeMaster is discontinuing gas augers because there’s little to no consumer demand for gas augers. Pretty simple, really. I get to see combined sales numbers for companies competing in this category and gas auger sales can’t even be optimistically described as dying. They’re dead.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Yeah, I’m not going to throw away a $500 gas engine… To buy short lifespan batteries.

Tell us in 40 years how much you’ve spent to keep your electric auger from 2018 working.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>catmando wrote:</div>
I have an old Black mag 49cc strikmaster made in Osceola wis. 40 years old runs like a top, i keep it for just in case, if you find one ,buy it

Sounds like you guys will spend as much on hand warmers as gas augers consume gas.

Fishblood,
Wanna buy my strikemaster 8”? 5 years old. Runs like a top.
2.5 HP, 40.7cc Solo Engine.

James Holst wrote:

StrikeMaster is discontinuing gas augers because there’s little to no consumer demand for gas augers. Pretty simple, really. I get to see combined sales numbers for companies competing in this category and gas auger sales can’t even be optimistically described as dying. They’re dead.

Well? There goes the market for used gas augers on this forum.

So when your batteries go bad on these ions and new strikemaster drills, itll hurt when a battery purchase costs as much as a nice gas auger. I guess I’ll be buying a new gas auger here soon before they are gone.

Cody Satterlee wrote:

First post here!

My $.02:

Gas and even propane augers are yesterday’s technology and they will most likely be going away in the near future. It’s the horse and buggy of the early 1900’s. The legitimate reasons for owning a gas are dwindling by the day and I can’t honestly think of one that can’t be easily mitigated with electric. Electric is simply far superior from nearly every standpoint…speed, no fumes, quick startup, portability, off-season use, etc, etc..
Added benefit is you can reverse your drill to blow all of the ice chunks down the hole and not mess with sifting out the slush.

My setup:

Milwaukee Fuel Hammer Drill model 2804 (updated handle design – ~$100)
2 – 6AHr H.O. batteries (~$130 for the pair)
8″ blue Nils hand auger
Ice Master drill adapter (can get it from FishUSA for ~$40)

You can drill holes until you are blue in the face with this setup. Add a 3rd extra capacity battery for fishing LOW or Canada with 4 ft + of ice. Keep the battery in your pocket to stay somewhat warm, even though Milwaukee batteries tend to do extremely well in the cold. This setup will punch multiple holes through the ice before the gas augers even get started. No more tune ups, spilled gas, Stabil, fumes in ice house, cold start issues, annoying noise, etc!!!!

Pros/Cons for your auger choice to go with a drill:
– you can either go with a chipper auger (typical Jiffy style or K-Drill style bit) or you can go with a cutting blade like my Nils
– Chipper bits like K-Drill are great for reopening holes in permanent ice houses and for drilling double holes (side by side hole with overlap to make an extra wide hole, possibly if you wanted to stay 6″ bit but fish big pike). Chipper bits also can be easily sharpened and will continue to drill when they get a bit dull (albiet slower). Chipper bits can also handle dirty ice (sand, wood chips, etc). Chipper bits can get hung up on the punch through at the bottom of the hole.
– Nils or HT mini cutter bits are far superior from a speed and effort standpoint. There is simply no faster ice drill bits on the market. You also don’t apply pressure to the top, but rather let the drill do all the work and you sit back and drink coffee while your buddies are sweating with their Jiffy or Lazer! Cutter bits can get dull in dirty ice! And speaking of getting dull, protect that blade! If it gets dull you are pretty much done drilling. When it gets dull the sharpening process can be more difficult. However, I’ve never sharpened my blade and if you keep it protected they will go a long time. Cutter bits are smooth as butter on the punch through at the bottom of the hole
– if you can stay with a 6″ auger bit you will get many more holes out of the same battery size or allow you to purchase a cheaper battery and drill same number of holes. The effective cutting surface area of a 6″ is about 1/2 that of an 8″! With that said, high end drills will have no problem turning even a 10″ bit if you prefer to keep your sonar in place while landing large fish or visually see down in shallow water. The idea that you absolutely need an 8″ or 10″ bit is B.S. Quite frankly, you will lose just as many fish at the hole using the larger bits. The benefit of a 6″ bit is that big fish can’t turn around in the hole and if it gets off they will almost surely float to the top of the hole if you let them!

Drill selection:
– most reputable drill manufacturers now have equipment that is capable of handling an 8″ auger bit these days. (Rigid, Milwaukee, DeWalt, Makita, etc, as long as you go with at least 750 in/lb torque, preferably 1000)
– Milwaukee has superior cold performance and there is a reason why K-Drill only recommends this brand with their product (steel chuck, better internals, etc)
– get the biggest battery you can reasonably afford, but keep in mind not all batteries are created equal, even at the same AHr!!
– only go with a brushless motor drill (higher efficiency and power)
– cheapie old NiMH brushed drills will burnout and you will not be satisfied with the performance. Don’t use them!!

Good points made here except the point about K-drill only recommending Milwaukee, that is misinformation, both Milwaukee and DeWalt Xr series are approved.

I’d like to buy a 10″ gas. Excellent condition. Dirt cheap.
PM’s welcome.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

I’d like to buy a 10″ gas. Excellent condition. Dirt cheap.
PM’s welcome.

Well, with this new revelation that gas is gone and electric is the newest spud?

I’m thinking I’ll hold on to my Mag 2000 10 1/4″ for another 5-10 years. When they make no more new gas, this long term investment I made should net me a cool grand.

Vroom…

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I gladly paid the small price premium for electric to NEVER have to deal with gas/oil/no starts EVER again…Original Ion owner here, 5 year old battery still works just fine…

Boy, perusing Craigslist, the prices of gas augers have really tanked. I will need to buy one!

James Holst wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>
Sounds like strikemaster will be discontinuing gas models in the next year or two

Of course they will. Same reason you cannot buy a fridge that lasts 30 years… There’s more money in products with shorter life span.

StrikeMaster is discontinuing gas augers because there’s little to no consumer demand for gas augers. Pretty simple, really. I get to see combined sales numbers for companies competing in this category and gas auger sales can’t even be optimistically described as dying. They’re dead.

I’d venture to say SM is going electric is cause of the $$$$! (NO brainer) It’s not because electric is better

Let’s face it, why wouldn’t they? I’ve seen so many gas augers that are over 20-30 years. Most those people also know how to replace a carb which is typically the only “in-depth” (see what i did there?) maintenance you’ll need. Electric augers will all need replacement batteries in less than 5 years…It’s a smart move!…for the company, not the buyer.

Wonder how long a guy will be able to get replacement parts for the gas motors?

My ion is great. I love it. BUT. It is not the right tool when very cold with thick ice. I consider it my first half of winter drill.