Anyone used the New Strikemaster electric auger?

[The Wad]

Anyone used the new strikemaster electric auger? You don't have to carry a battery with you like you did the old ones, it has a battery pack built in, you recharge it like you would your flasher. Or you can also plug it into your ATV or truck battery, and use it off that, which is what I would do most of the time since I use a hand auger until the ice is thick enough to drive on anyway. It weighs about the same or a little less than most gas augers. I can't stand the exhaust from the stinky two stroke augers, and they always seem to leak.

[fishin fool]

Do you know how much they cost?

[The Wad]

The 8 inch model is $349 from Cabelas, they also sell a 6 and 7, which are slightly cheaper.

[Da_Roc]

Hi Guys!
   The electric auger takes a cars alternator to run it.  I asked around and was told they consume a ton of power.  If you just tote a marine battery  thats at least 75 pounds of weight. The average electric power auger with a marine battery will only drill about six holes iI have been told before you have to recharge the dead battery!   Kinda hard to haul 100 pounds of weight and the rest of your gear.   If you only go when you can drive on the ice your missing out on early ice. Try a hand augger they dont stink and will always drill holes.  The othere augers are for 12 inches of ice or more.  Any thinner than that and I use man power!!!

[The Wad]

Like I said earlier, this new model has a built in battery pack that you recharge just like your vexilar, so you don't have to carry a battery with you if you don't drive on the ice. Maybe I'm getting bad information, but according to a couple of people who I've talked to who use them, you can drill over 30 holes through 24 inches of ice on a fully charged car battery before it goes dead. Strikemaster's website says that it only draws 20 amps, and I have seen literature from strikemaster that says their electric model will average over 30 holes through two feet of ice on a fully charged car battery.

[Cooley]

There's nothing like the smell of my gas auger
in the morning.

[John_Boy]

oh man i'd give about anything   to smell that wonderful smell right now ...hehe...of course you could always stand upwind form the exhaust.