Strikemaster Lazer Hand Auger Warranty

[nightbrawler]

Does anyone have an experience with getting a warranty replacement for Strikemaster Lazer Hand Auger?

I got a 5" model recently and it worked great till one of the blades started to chip off. Now the blades don't bite on the ice very much at all. I have only had it for like 2 weeks and I am rather disappointed in the fact that the blades get chipped so quickly. I tried emailing them for warranty replacement under the 30-day "Wear & Tear" but they rejected it, ugh. I got a new pair of replacement blades anyway, but I can't just keep buying them every 2 weeks, those things are expensive. The quality of these blades is simply AMAZING.

[3300]

one year warranty.
https://www.strikemaster.com/content/rapala-brand-warranties/strikemaster-warranty.html

StrikeMaster Warranty

LIMITED WARRANTY

The warrantor’s obligation shall be limited to repairing or replacing any part, which upon examination by StrikeMaster, is determined to be defective. This obligation begins on the date of purchase (as evidenced by a product receipt) and continues for a period of ONE YEAR after purchase (“warranty period”), with the exception of engines and parts subject to wear and tear. This warranty is non-transferrable; warranty registration must be completed online or via USPS within 30 days of purchase to validate warranty. The warranty does not apply if product has been negligently used, misused, altered, damaged in an accident or if periodic maintenance has not been performed. Customer is responsible for shipping and transportation charges to the nearest warranty repair center.

[DR.SPECKLER]

probably came with the junk china blades.make sure you buy Swedish blades.my 5"lazer is 10 years old with the same blades on it.ive never even touched them up yet.

[Dave R]

probably came with the junk china blades.make sure you buy Swedish blades.my 5"lazer is 10 years old with the same blades on it.ive never even touched them up yet.

X2 mine is only a few years old but came with Swedish blades. Still sharp and cuts through ice like butter.

[nightbrawler]

How do you tell them apart? Does it actually say China or Sweden on the blades? I just bought a pair of replacement blades too and those say Sweden on the packaging, but I have not looked at the original auger blades yet. If they are China-made, can I use that as an argument to ask for a warranty replacement?

[topwaterbait]

How do you tell them apart? Does it actually say China or Sweden on the blades? I just bought a pair of replacement blades too and those say Sweden on the packaging, but I have not looked at the original auger blades yet. If they are China-made, can I use that as an argument to ask for a warranty replacement?

Yes it will say on the blades where they were made. You can give that a try but it didn't work for me. They told me to buy replacements.

[nightbrawler]

Well, just checked, my original blades are also Swedish made. Are the blades that fragile? I've been extra careful with them and now one of them is chipped after 2 weeks of use. I just got a replacement blades but those are really expensive, can't afford to keep buying those!

[DR.SPECKLER]

might be using cheaper metal now.but my  lazer has no chips and blades look new even tho they are 10 years old.im ocd about my gear tho and wipe my blades off,never chip ice off or bang it around, maybe some veg oiling down after every trip on all my augers.drilling into dirty ice maybe?

[Gills-only]

[nightbrawler]

might be using cheaper metal now.but my  lazer has no chips and blades look new even tho they are 10 years old.im ocd about my gear tho and wipe my blades off,never chip ice off or bang it around, maybe some veg oiling down after every trip on all my augers.drilling into dirty ice maybe?

I guess I will have to be extra careful with the new replacement blades then. Will see how those hold up.

[RyanW]

Replacement parts for anything usually aren’t covered in a warranty. That’s why they are replacement parts. Now if the flighting started warping you would have a warranty issue. Anything with handles or blades (replacement items) will direct you towards a purchase. The only thing that would warrant those parts would be if it came out of the box that way and I would either exchange it for a different where I purchased it or fight with StrikeMaster until they made it right.

I know it’s frustrating as all hell. A picture of the chipped blades would help the discussion. Are they too damaged to be resharpened?

I have an 8” Lazer with Swedish blades and this is the 6th season it’s seen. Still in top notch shape. When I first got my drill,  I even gouged the crap out of the blade cover buy running the auger (with blade cover on) against my floor to get a feel for the drill setup. I thought I ruined my blades but I’ve drilled 60 holes this season with those same blades.

I gotta ask....did you bang the blades against the ice or let a friend use it? Friends are the leading cause of faulty augers.

[nightbrawler]

How bad do you think those chips are? I went around asking several people who sharpen auger blades and they don't think sharpening would help. Funny though, the other blade is fine, whatever crap in the ice must have hit only one of the blades.

I have never banged this auger on any surface before, but I did go out with a few friends, some experienced, some not. I haven't seen them doing anything odd with it, but it could happen when I wasn't paying attention. But thanks, I will surely keep that in mind with these new replacement blades.

I just can't quite accept the fact that the blades are half the price of a brand new auger.

[DR.SPECKLER]

I'm thinking you hit something in the ice I see scratch marks coming up the  blade where it chipped on the right side.jmo.plain ice wont do that.those blades look bad, like it took a ride out of a back of a truck.lol

[RyanW]

How bad do you think those chips are? I went around asking several people who sharpen auger blades and they don't think sharpening would help. Funny though, the other blade is fine, whatever crap in the ice must have hit only one of the blades.

I have never banged this auger on any surface before, but I did go out with a few friends, some experienced, some not. I haven't seen them doing anything odd with it, but it could happen when I wasn't paying attention. But thanks, I will surely keep that in mind with these new replacement blades.

I just can't quite accept the fact that the blades are half the price of a brand new auger.

EEK!! I’d send that picture to strikemaster. Especially, since the other blade is fine. Looks like someone tried to drill a hole through rocks. I suppose that a manufacturing fault is possible but I’ve never seen a blade just start chipping for no reason.

Either it’s a batch of crap metal, something you drilled through, or a combination of both.

[3300]

with out trying to sound like a mean person this is what i see.
the auger head has missing paint and chips of paint gone. in between the blades mounting bolts it looks like it was sand blasted when you click on the image and blow it up.

the inside edge (leading cutting corner) is in really bad shape like it hit dirt while on a drill. or maybe hit dirt at a angle while cutting in shallow water and it stopped when it hit dirt on the one blade.
if one side is like new, maybe the head is bent and only one blade is cutting and getting the damage. it's just odd only one side got hit like that.

i don't know if any of that happened, it just looks like it could have and maybe you didn't know that happened.

you used to be able to buy resharps at a discounted price, rather than buy new.

if you buy new, and you say the other other blade is like new, then you'll have three blades you can have resharpened when the time comes. they will not sharpen blades that have been hacked by diy's or damaged like the one is.

if you want to try your hand at doing it on your own here is a link to do that, but it doesn't include lazer blades.
https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=309016.msg3699607#msg3699607
you would have to remove a lot of metal on both blades so they make contact at the same time and angle to fix this set. thinking a grinder to get it started w/o over heating them.

[nightbrawler]

with out trying to sound like a mean person this is what i see.
the auger head has missing paint and chips of paint gone. in between the blades mounting bolts it looks like it was sand blasted when you click on the image and blow it up.

the inside edge (leading cutting corner) is in really bad shape like it hit dirt while on a drill. or maybe hit dirt at a angle while cutting in shallow water and it stopped when it hit dirt on the one blade.
if one side is like new, maybe the head is bent and only one blade is cutting and getting the damage. it's just odd only one side got hit like that.

i don't know if any of that happened, it just looks like it could have and maybe you didn't know that happened.

you used to be able to buy resharps at a discounted price, rather than buy new.

if you buy new, and you say the other other blade is like new, then you'll have three blades you can have resharpened when the time comes. they will not sharpen bladed that have been hacked by diy's or damaged like the one is.

if you want to try your hand at doing it on your own here is a link to do that, but it doesn't include lazer blades.
https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=309016.msg3699607#msg3699607
you would have to remove a lot of metal on both blades so they make contact at the same time and angle to fix this set. thinking a grinder to get it started w/o over heating them.

Thanks all for the feedbacks...

Yeah I did notice the missing paint and the sand as I was switching out the blades. Very suspicious of what the heck did my friends do... 

Anyway, I overlaid the two original blades together, and they are clearly not the same size. One blade is slightly longer (or wider depending on how you look at it) than the other. You can see it in the picture here, I colored the bottom blade (the good one) with a red sharpie and aligned the chipped one right above it. It is likely different to begin with, it is unlikely that the sand could have caused the difference, because the bad one should have way more chips for it to be shorter than the good one. I kinda then wondered if I could salvage the bad blade by sending it for sharpening since they are already different in size to start with.

I kinda regret getting the 5" model, it seems less popular than the 6" ones so I probably won't have any luck finding resharpened blades. And thanks for the sharpening/repair tips.. I can't do that myself since I don't have any of those tools (apartment life, yay!).

[DR.SPECKLER]

the 5" rocks if all you do is panfishing.heck you should see my 4"mora it cuts effortless.yeah your buddies found sand out on the ice and someone found bottom with those blades.think about it why would there be sand on a ice auger.lol.good luck out there.id rather drill holes for my buds then let them touch my augers.

[3300]

having them sharpened would be worth pursuing if you let them see these pics and let them decide if they think they can do it.
maybe direct them to this page or email them the photos.
if you take the bolts that hold them together and run it thru both it will align them better for more photos of both sides to send in for having them sharpened.
maybe have your friends help out in any case. it was new when they got it from you and destroyed when you got it back. maybe they didn't know it then, but you can let them know. best to be very careful near shallow water.

some thing else i just thought of. if you sent the picture after you bolt them together and show both sides to strike master. they may not like how poor their quality control is doing and may want to send you a new set. the good blade is much longer than the bad blade and wider and the curves don't align at all.
qc looks like an after thought at best.

[nightbrawler]

Thanks for the comments, I will give another try at Strikemaster but they will probably just brush it off again. There is a local shop that sharpens blades here so I will just talk to them the next time I go there.

5" does make drilling holes easy... I caught a 37" musky on a tip up in my second trip and I had to drill an extra hole to get it out (it is a small lake, wasn't expecting anything huge).

[topwaterbait]

I'm thinking you hit something in the ice I see scratch marks coming up the  blade where it chipped on the right side.jmo.plain ice wont do that.those blades look bad, like it took a ride out of a back of a truck.lol

That or it was used as an earth auger. This is why I don't lend out my auger to anyone.

[DR.SPECKLER]

That or it was used as an earth auger. This is why I don't lend out my auger to anyone.

me neither bro last time I did that, I had my shelter closed and all of a sudden I heard the dreaded bang,bang bang. guy was trying to de ice it by banging my auger on the ice.oh no everybody in my group has their own auger now.not using my propane or gas auger either..i will drill holes for them but they are not ripping the cord out of my recoil.lol

[spoofhoundicefisher]

i would say hard lesson learned.  i would sell the 5" to your "friends" and invest in a new 6"  last time i let a buddie use my auger he used the damn thing as a walking stick on the ice as he forgot his ice cleates.  was banging the crap out of the blades on every step and by the time he got back to me and i realized what he had done the blades were shot and of no use anymore and would not drill a hole to save our life.  he no longer fishes with me as he thought this was very funny.  that is addition by subtraction in my book.