Eskimo vs Strikemaster

[Fishwacker1]

I am having a hard time deciding on a new 8" auger. The choice is between the pistol bit and lite flite. Both models this year have a centering point. The pistol bit is a pound lighter.  I will be running on a fuel hammer drill or the tanaka 270 gas drill when ice gets thicker.
If anyone has insight and can contribute to the discussion pros or cons of the blade designs let's hear it.
Can the pistol bit accept the Mora Sweden blades? 
Thanks for your opinions.

[PIKE FISHERMAN]

I have the Lite Flite 8". Used it for the first time yesterday. Its a beast. I like SM, glad the pistol bit went with a center point, otherwise I think they would have fell behind to the SM LF. I think both are relatively compatible. FYI. Dicks sporting good is having a 20% sale till the end of today I believe. So the SM LF would be $160. Good luck.

[mboss13]

I had the pistol and got the sm lf. I mainly did it because Eskimo really screwed those of us that bought last year's model with their "upgrade". The weight difference is unnoticeable.

[hardwater diehard]

The StrikeMaster has lazer blades will be faster and was designed to bolt on to a SM power head without any adapters . The Eskimo has Mora blades a little slower but the blades can be sharpened by hand with a little practice … not certain how or if there is an adapter to bolt onto to the auger bit and then onto a power head  it may not need any adapter at all.The SM will bolt onto a Clam Plate via the K-Drill adapter .I would think the blade on the Eskimo are pretty standard Mora bolt pattern.

[winterbuddy]

I am having a hard time deciding

Can the pistol bit accept the Mora Sweden blades? 
Thanks for your opinions.

If you see an advantage to using Mora blades, I'd base your decision off your inclination to use swedish blades.

[DTro]

I have both sitting in my garage waiting for ice so I can put them up head to head. 

Initial thoughts are that the Eskimo is lighter and will probably break through the ice a bit smoother.    The SM is ready to bolt to a powerhead if needed and might be just a tad faster.   I have a feeling you can't make a bad decision between the two. 

[hawg]

Both are great. Permanent house-Pistol. It reopens holes much better and throws less ice shavings around the house. Casual house and open ice guy-either one, unless you are dying next week and a second or two per hole are important to you. Run and gunner-Strikemaster. It’s a beast and made for that purpose. but lose the ability to dependably reopen old holes. Both are GREAT products. Customer service nod goes to Pistol, but they did screw last years buyers on the centering point screwup. I went with pistol. Like every post these are just personal opinions.

[Fishwacker1]

Good discussion from good folks.  Thanks everyone.  Leaning towards the eskimo so far. 

[Mrpike1973]

Ditto to what Mboss13 said. Ruined set of boots no faith in the pistol bit after that Ever buy a drill bit with no point? I just got the Lite Flight love it works great and smooth

[Hutchmt]

I had the Pistol Bit last year without the centering bit.  It was very fast and light, but would skip when first starting it on clear ice.  Overall it was a decent auger minus the centering bit.  Fast forward to this year, I went with the SM Lite Flite after also learning about the issues Eskimo had and the way they designed this years model not to be compatible with last years model.  It could have simply been as easy as offering a new base to incorporate the centering bit, but nope they are not compatible and you are forced to buy a new one if you wanted to upgrade.  After seeing the SM I purchased it, which is also cheaper locally than the Pistol Bit.  After using it multiple time I can say it is much faster than the Pistol Bit if that matters to you.  You also won't notice the weight difference as it is minimal.  I'm sure both are good augers, but SM is cheaper, faster, and did not stiff a bunch of customers like Eskimo did with the Pistol Bit.

[hawg]

I thought you could just buy the bottom unit to fix a last years Pistol. Around $90. It was a royal screwing, Eskimo customer service is usually great. This is a weird deal and understand why people are pissed off.

[mackdog75]

Ditto to what Mboss13 said. Ruined set of boots no faith in the pistol bit after that Ever buy a drill bit with no point? I just got the Lite Flight love it works great and smooth

Obviously you bought a drill bit with no point otherwise you wouldn’t have ruined a pair of boots.
Everybody can bash Eskimo. but hey it happens on first year everything. Doesn’t matter if it’s a truck, boat, wheeler or anything. First year everything always has its quirks. Yeah it sucks but that’s always a good reason not to buy first year models. Yeah it sucks they didn’t make the new model so it can be updated to the first year. But from a business point of view at least they fixed it for future users.

[hawg]

True, but not in this case. They did the same to Ion owners, 2 years later they put a point in after a kazillion requests. They knew better this time and should have put a point on originally.

[Mrpike1973]

Yep you got me quote from Mackdog75 : Obviously you bought a drill bit with no point otherwise you wouldn’t have ruined a pair of boots. Yep your right I did buy it also only the 8 inch pistol bit is offered with the point not the 6 inch model.
I was also fortunate enough to buy the Ford Escort the first year , The buzz stik , The Pak shack , The Escort blew a head gasket right away the buzz stick never buzzed, and the Pak shack fell apart. My life has never been the same since However I bought a Yamaha boat motor first series never had an issue, Vexilar Fl 18 and 20 that work great I noticed these companies are still in business as the Ford Escort is no longer made thank God, The other 2 disappeared as the way of the dodo bird did Maybe I'm on to something? Anyway all in fun

[mackdog75]

I agree Mrpike. I also have plenty of crap that I bought first year out to. I’m a slow learner lol .
I did not realize they only put the point on the 8 and not the 6. Yeah that’s a bad call on their part.

[DTro]

With the mass amounts of pro staff/field staff, it really sucks that the consumers are still being used as beta testers.  The short season plays a big role in that. But, that's a lot of lost revenue saying well lets wait another year...

Lots of satisfied people used the pistol bit all year without any problems but yes it was a needed improvement for sure.

[riverfisherman]

6" Pistol Bit for me, much much smoother break through at bottom of hole I think. I also have a 5" & 6" strikemaster lazer  it can catch at bottom sometimes if not careful. The only thing I see that is different on the Strikemaster Lite Flight is the centering point and weight, head design looks the same.  As far as the centering point goes NONE of the augers have had them up to this point that are being used on cordless drills and nobody seemed to complain until last year.  I just start out slow until it starts to cut then full speed . I need to do the same thing on my 5" & 6" lazer never a problem.  The other thing I like about the Eskimo Pistol Bit is the ring around the bottom of the head helps so it don't leave sharp edge at the bottom of the hole, which sometimes can happen with other augers. I guess to sum it up if you had problems/issues you didn't like about your lazer auger and cordless drill combination I don't think the lite flight is going to be any different , unless it was the weight or not enough patients to start out slow when drilling a hole (takes about 2-3 seconds to get started). To me the pistol bit is lighter,smoother, and drills just as fast. Just my opinion between the augers.  They both will cut a hole in the ice!