Author Topic: Electric auger? (Read 3391 times)

drillinnjiggin · « **on:** Jan 17, 2011, 09:01 PM »

Greetings from a total newbie,
Second season first on IceShanty. Was thinking about an electric auger. Usually only do between 5-15 holes. A lot closer to 5 before the elbow gives out....anyway what you guys think about the electrics Jiffy or Strikemaster? Thanks!

big jim callahan · « **Reply #1 on:** Jan 17, 2011, 09:54 PM »

I got a 18 volt L Ion this year 7" auger 1 charge 6"-8" of ice 21 holes before I lost the charge poped in a fresh bat and kept on goind not to sure how its going to do with 12" off ice

pshootr · « **Reply #2 on:** Jan 17, 2011, 11:13 PM »

LAZER ELECTRA IS THE CATS A$$!!GOT ONE IN 6 INCH!!!PURRRRRFECT!!!!

otiscolake · « **Reply #3 on:** Jan 18, 2011, 07:12 AM »

i have the strike master 8" and like it. its good for over 30 holes. only thing is it is a little heavy.

perchslayer716 · « **Reply #4 on:** Jan 18, 2011, 05:24 PM »

the jiffy ones are really nice

drillinnjiggin · « **Reply #5 on:** Jan 18, 2011, 07:05 PM »

THANKS GUYS!

ICE DOG 69 · « **Reply #6 on:** Jan 18, 2011, 07:07 PM »

I have a ICE GATOR. It rocks!!! I can drill anywhere from 40 to 70 holes with 5 inches of ice and a 6 inch hole.

Hardwaternubie53 · « **Reply #7 on:** Jan 19, 2011, 08:56 AM »

Strikemaster 8" electric. Love it! I don't drill a lot, usually. Maybe 50 to 60 in a three day weekend out. If the battery kicks, I have a back up. It also comes with an auxiliary cable to power it off of any 12 volt source (ATV, sled, even my vex powers the auger!).

Junior58 · « **Reply #8 on:** Jan 19, 2011, 06:31 PM »

Quote from: drillinnjiggin on Jan 17, 2011, 09:01 PM

Greetings from a total newbie,
Second season first on IceShanty. Was thinking about an electric auger. Usually only do between 5-15 holes. A lot closer to 5 before the elbow gives out....anyway what you guys think about the electrics Jiffy or Strikemaster? Thanks!

I sold my gas strikemaster for my new 7" Strikemaster Electra Lazer ......never looked back. I carry an extra battery too and I've drilled 40 holes and never ran the second battery out, 20 holes in 11" on the first battery. Auger is maintenace free, just charge your battery(s) when you get home and that's it. Will start everytime ........instantly. Never have to worry about carbs, gas/oil mixing, fouled plugs, fussiness, leaks, broken pull ropes, warming up, etc ......

drillinnjiggin · « **Reply #9 on:** Jan 19, 2011, 08:30 PM »

Thanks Guys! that's one thing I like about this site you get opinions from all around! Thanks Again!

Hardwaternubie53 · « **Reply #10 on:** Jan 20, 2011, 09:12 AM »

Just happened to remember: another couple of helpful tips to get the most out of an electric auger- always have sharp blades, if possible, keep the battery warm, and use the smallest auger size possible for what you are fishing for. A cold battery looses a charge quickly, dull blades drag, and a 10" auger eats up power. If a 6" will do, leave the 8" or 10" home (or on the shelf at the store, having several auger bits can be nice, but terribly expensive). New blades cost $50.00 at Fish 307. However, their blade exchange program is $12.00 and change.I do the exchange.

BIGJim223 · « **Reply #11 on:** Jan 20, 2011, 01:31 PM »

I bought the Strikemaster Electra 8" this week. Big Brown Truck is bringing it tomorrow, hope to use it this weekend if not too brutally cold. I was buying it at FishUSA, but ended up doing a price search and Kruger Farms had just marked it down to $339! Plus I had a $20 off coupon and a $25 gift card that I got at the Syracuse Ice Show. Shipping was a bit steep at $25, but it was still cheaper than anywhere else, $319 delivered! I really wanted the 7", but they were sold out, I use an 8" now anyway, so no big deal!

BIGJim223

drillinnjiggin · « **Reply #12 on:** Jan 21, 2011, 08:59 PM »

All the good things I've heard and read I ordered a StrikeMaster Lectra 7 inch. Pretty funny I asked the guy at FISHUSA if it could be delivered by today he looks it up says yeah it should make it by Friday (order it Wed.) and shipping was free. Sure enough Big Brown Truck shows up @ 5:30 today. Problem is I wasn't there and the nice man @ FISHUSA failed to mention they were going to require an In Person signature. AAAHH so now I'll get it Monday hope the elbow holds out one more weekend. Thanks again for all the input and advice. Big Jim that was a sweet deal you got.

Cold Inside · « **Reply #13 on:** Jan 22, 2011, 05:40 AM »

Sounds interesting. I'm a big fan of electric and hate gasoline. What kind of noise does it make -- any buzzing, how does it compare to hand auger?

My first thought was batteries losing their power in the cold. Do they usually come with a second battery?

BIGJim223 · « **Reply #14 on:** Jan 22, 2011, 07:59 PM »

Quote from: drillinnjiggin on Jan 21, 2011, 08:59 PM

All the good things I've heard and read I ordered a StrikeMaster Lectra 7 inch. Pretty funny I asked the guy at FISHUSA if it could be delivered by today he looks it up says yeah it should make it by Friday (order it Wed.) and shipping was free. Sure enough Big Brown Truck shows up @ 5:30 today. Problem is I wasn't there and the nice man @ FISHUSA failed to mention they were going to require an In Person signature. AAAHH so now I'll get it Monday hope the elbow holds out one more weekend. Thanks again for all the input and advice. Big Jim that was a sweet deal you got.

It was a sweet deal! And it works real good. Showed up 4pm Friday, the battery gauge said it was good to go, so went out on my pond and perforated the 1 acre surface! +12 inches of solid ice. Never did slow down, I tired of the game about the time the gauge was in the yellow. Went back to the garage, plugged it in, and then read the instructions. Stated that it needed to be fully charged before use! I used it again today on a pond with 8-9 inches, love it!
How noisy is it? All you here is the blades shaving ice. I demoed it for a buddy of mine, now he wants one just to get rid of the gas smells from his Strikemaster/gas. He was very impressed. I have been using my buddies for the past year and have been impressed since the first time I set hands on it.

drillinnjiggin · « **Reply #15 on:** Jan 22, 2011, 08:34 PM »

Ok Big Jim not fair you got a better price and it you got Friday! That's great to hear how well it worked! What I liked about the Strtikemaster was all the charging options including the gator clips. Is it Monday yet?! like a kid at Christmas. Can't Wait!!

adam2000 · « **Reply #16 on:** Jan 22, 2011, 08:37 PM »

heard the ice gator"s had a prooblem with the wires welding themselves together so it would just keep going and not stop, seen the stikemaster in action, guy said he had not charged the battery yet, hed had it for 3 weeks and done about 40 holes, nice

BIGJim223 · « **Reply #17 on:** Jan 26, 2011, 07:55 PM »

As I stated above, I bought a new Strikemaster Electra 8" last week or so. I used it the day I got it to punch around 20 holes in my pond in front of the house. 12" of ice. Worked real good right out of the box, without even charging it. The next day I punched some holes in a friends private pond, 12-16" of ice. Sunday I took it to the lake and punched 12-15 holes in 6" of ice at -1 degrees. No problem, but it did sound like it was slowing down, even though fully charged before the trip.
Today I took it to the lake again, fully charged, between 8 and 12 inches of good ice, temp was 30 degrees. It died at 11 holes

Worse thing was I didn't take the lighter charger or jumper cable with me! And it was the only auger we took, 2 miles out on the lake! I left the lake after 4 1/2 hours, drove home and called Strikemaster! Did I mention PI$$ED OFF!
A very nice woman answered the phone on 2 rings, asked what the problem was, asked for my date of purchase, serial number, and the SERIAL NUMBER on top of the battery.
She said that a small number of the batteries supplied to them with my serial/date code (my battery was made 8/7/10) are coming up defective. Not enough for a recall, but they will replace any within the serial number range without any problem. They have sourced another manufacturer. Said the new one will go out today and I should have it Friday.

Now this is GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE! Too bad so many other companies don't follow this business practice.
2 Thumbs Up to Strikemaster!

BIGJim223

drillinnjiggin · « **Reply #18 on:** Jan 28, 2011, 08:57 PM »

Things happen it's how they get handled that separate the good form the not so good glad to here it worked out

Hardwaternubie53 · « **Reply #19 on:** Jan 31, 2011, 08:44 AM »

Quote from: BIGJim223 on Jan 26, 2011, 07:55 PM

As I stated above, I bought a new Strikemaster Electra 8" last week or so. I used it the day I got it to punch around 20 holes in my pond in front of the house. 12" of ice. Worked real good right out of the box, without even charging it. The next day I punched some holes in a friends private pond, 12-16" of ice. Sunday I took it to the lake and punched 12-15 holes in 6" of ice at -1 degrees. No problem, but it did sound like it was slowing down, even though fully charged before the trip.
Today I took it to the lake again, fully charged, between 8 and 12 inches of good ice, temp was 30 degrees. It died at 11 holes
Worse thing was I didn't take the lighter charger or jumper cable with me! And it was the only auger we took, 2 miles out on the lake! I left the lake after 4 1/2 hours, drove home and called Strikemaster! Did I mention PI$$ED OFF!
A very nice woman answered the phone on 2 rings, asked what the problem was, asked for my date of purchase, serial number, and the SERIAL NUMBER on top of the battery.
She said that a small number of the batteries supplied to them with my serial/date code (my battery was made 8/7/10) are coming up defective. Not enough for a recall, but they will replace any within the serial number range without any problem. They have sourced another manufacturer. Said the new one will go out today and I should have it Friday.

Now this is GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE! Too bad so many other companies don't follow this business practice.
2 Thumbs Up to Strikemaster!

BIGJim223

And I suggest you pick up a second battery, as back up. They are cheaper through Interstate Battery (Says my auger DEALER!), and cheaper as no haz-mat shipping charges, you pick it up at any Interstate Dealer.

Trakndwg · « **Reply #20 on:** Jan 31, 2011, 04:01 PM »

Quote from: drillinnjiggin on Jan 17, 2011, 09:01 PM

Greetings from a total newbie,
Second season first on IceShanty. Was thinking about an electric auger. Usually only do between 5-15 holes. A lot closer to 5 before the elbow gives out....anyway what you guys think about the electrics Jiffy or Strikemaster? Thanks!

I bought an ICEGATOR LI Ion with an 8 inch Fin Bore III auger. There is only one word for it AWSOME! No kidding, this thing is quiet but it is a monster. It just eats ice. I've been out 17 times since 12/23. Some days I'm drilling 10 holes for 4 guys. I have not found its limit yet. It recahrges in a very short period of time. I love this thing.

mike304 · « **Reply #21 on:** Feb 02, 2011, 12:49 PM »

I think this is the first time I've seen a thread on here about a piece of equipment that didn't have one negative comment on the item. they must be pretty decent.

BIGJim223 · « **Reply #22 on:** Feb 02, 2011, 06:23 PM »

The new battery arrived as promised by Strikemaster, haven't been out with it yet due to dentistry- root canal issues, hope to get out this weekend if all this snow hasn't messed things up too much. I will run this battery until it is dead and post how many holes it did.

BIGJim223

poor man fishing · « **Reply #23 on:** Feb 02, 2011, 07:01 PM »

I made my own adapter so i can us my 1/2 corless drill on my 6" Lasar and can drill about 14 holes on one battery. Its a cheap way to do it if you have a good 1/2" drill. If you make one or by a adapter make shure it has a handle on it so if it comes out of the drill chuck you don't loss your auger.

drillinnjiggin · « **Reply #24 on:** Feb 02, 2011, 07:45 PM »

Hey Big Jim Had the same battery problem you did except I only made through about 4" of ice before it died. Called Strikemaster problem solved!!! Shame they had so many bad batteries but they made good not hassles. Electric, Hand or gas I'm fan of Strikemaster. Now all I need to do is shovel off a lake to use it on!!

roygpa · « **Reply #25 on:** Feb 09, 2011, 04:50 PM »

Over last weekend I saw a post by Strikemaster on Facebook referring to this page http://www.strikemaster.com/electra_notice.html regarding bad batteries. I just bought my Strikemaster Electric Auger about a month ago and my battery was included in the "Defective" battery lot. They suggested that I stop using the battery immediately and they are sending me a new one. I've had it out twice and drilled at least 20 holes each time (it's a 6 inch) and had plenty of power to spare.

Anybody know the best way to recycle this type of battery? I have a dead one from my Aqua Vu too.

Thanks in advance.

Roy

jmillsp · « **Reply #26 on:** Feb 09, 2011, 04:59 PM »

Have been preaching Strikemaster Electric for years! Wife got me a new one for Christmas and my son got to inherit my old one a little sooner than he might have otherwise. I use a 6 inch. No need in my area for anything bigger. Smaller hole=easier cut! I saw a guy the other day using a gas auger and I know his blades had to be very dull or he was trying to cut through the ice backwards. I could hardly believe how long he was taking to drill through 10 inches of ice. My electric goes right through with no pressure being applied other than it's own weight.
PS Thanks to whoever said something about the bad batteries in the new units. I checked the StrikeMaster site and determined they put an 08 battery in my new auger. Site says to contact them and that is exactly what I will do! Thanks again!

roygpa · « **Reply #27 on:** Feb 09, 2011, 05:32 PM »

I answered my own question on how to recycle these batteries. Radioshack store will take them.

Roy

reeleyz · « **Reply #28 on:** Feb 09, 2011, 05:44 PM »

I have the Strikemaster Electra 7" and love it!!! Last weekend I was able to get 25 holes out of 1 battery in about 12" of ice. I do carry a spare battery.

I did have a battery issue pretty much out of the box and I replaced it with a new one and it works great. After reading some of the posts here I am going to give Strikemaster a ring and see if my battery was part of the bad batch.

drillinnjiggin · « **Reply #29 on:** Feb 09, 2011, 07:51 PM »

Quote from: roygpa on Feb 09, 2011, 05:32 PM

I answered my own question on how to recycle these batteries. Radioshack store will take them.

Roy

Great info thanks for sharing it

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Author Topic: Electric auger? (Read 3391 times)

adam2000