Bought the new 24v Lithium StrikeMaster the other day

[bushyjr]

Normal on my phone

[Skywagon]

I use a desk top computer with a large screen (prefer not using the phone for the internet if I can avoid it), that must be the difference.  Most everybody else's pictures are normal in size, easy to view, for me, Van Noord's pictures look blown up like they were under a microscope.  Anyone else having this problem on their desk top, or is it just me?  Sorry to be silly about bringing this up, I assumed it was something the poster was not aware of.  When I take a picture with my phone, there is an option to send it large, medium, or small, would something like that make a difference on how it shows up here on a bigger screen?

[Buckshots]

The extension looks nice Van Noord! Little update on my 24v that I sent into SM. Ups lost it. So SM sent me a new one. The new one definitely drills better. I still have to use a little force but not bad. It doesn’t drill as nice as the 40v though. Idk if it’s the extra weight those have or what, but those 8” steel bits require absolutely zero pressure to drill. They will start drilling on their own. You simply have to hold it straight. I haven’t done the battery/hole test yet, but I will.

[hardwater diehard]

I use a desk top computer with a large screen (prefer not using the phone for the internet if I can avoid it), that must be the difference.  Most everybody else's pictures are normal in size, easy to view, for me, Van Noord's pictures look blown up like they were under a microscope.  Anyone else having this problem on their desk top, or is it just me?  Sorry to be silly about bringing this up, I assumed it was something the poster was not aware of.  When I take a picture with my phone, there is an option to send it large, medium, or small, would something like that make a difference on how it shows up here on a bigger screen?

On my lap top his photos are like billboards ..if anyone can tell me how I can make my photos appear larger in my photo attachments to posts that would be appreciated..mine all seem not large enough to be helpful/descriptive as they tend to be quite small.

[Kevin23]

I use a desk top computer with a large screen (prefer not using the phone for the internet if I can avoid it), that must be the difference.  Most everybody else's pictures are normal in size, easy to view, for me, Van Noord's pictures look blown up like they were under a microscope.  Anyone else having this problem on their desk top, or is it just me?  Sorry to be silly about bringing this up, I assumed it was something the poster was not aware of.  When I take a picture with my phone, there is an option to send it large, medium, or small, would something like that make a difference on how it shows up here on a bigger screen?

Depends on the size you choose when you upload.

Just right click on the pic and "open in new tab" if on chrome.

[tswoboda]

The extension looks nice Van Noord! Little update on my 24v that I sent into SM. Ups lost it. So SM sent me a new one. The new one definitely drills better. I still have to use a little force but not bad. It doesn’t drill as nice as the 40v though. Idk if it’s the extra weight those have or what, but those 8” steel bits require absolutely zero pressure to drill. They will start drilling on their own. You simply have to hold it straight. I haven’t done the battery/hole test yet, but I will.

Just a like how a lighter shotgun will have more recoil, a lighter auger will have more feedback.

Van Noord, where did you find the the Aluminum extension?

[fishingeek]

On a desktop or laptop the photos will be blown up due to the high resolution of the photos.

I know on some image hosting sites, you can resize the picture or you can copy the image url in different sizes like large thumbnail, medium thumbnail, and make it desktop friendly.

[Buckshots]

Why don’t you guys start a new thread about picture posting instead of ruining this one?? The topic here is the new 24v Strikemaster. Thank you.

[hardwater diehard]

The extension looks nice Van Noord! Little update on my 24v that I sent into SM. Ups lost it. So SM sent me a new one. The new one definitely drills better. I still have to use a little force but not bad. It doesn’t drill as nice as the 40v though. Idk if it’s the extra weight those have or what, but those 8” steel bits require absolutely zero pressure to drill. They will start drilling on their own. You simply have to hold it straight. I haven’t done the battery/hole test yet, but I will.

Well that is good customer service ..good luck

[fishingeek]

Just a little review update on my 6" Strikemaster 24v since I purchased it back in the beginning of January. I've made about 15-20 trips already with it mostly run and gun type situation where I would drill 50-75 holes per outing. Now that our ice is thicker around here about 10"-12" in most places I still haven't been undergunned by the battery power. There was one trip where I drilled closed to 75 holes (my buddy was also using it too) and only used up 1 bar. I went out again the very next day on the same charge (forgot to recharge) and drilled 60 more holes. It still had 2 bars left at the end of the day.

So far I'm very impressed. Will be grabbing a SM Lite Flite 8" next year so I can swap the bit for the bigger species.

[jrjach75]

Just a little review update on my 6" Strikemaster 24v since I purchased it back in the beginning of January. I've made about 15-20 trips already with it mostly run and gun type situation where I would drill 50-75 holes per outing. Now that our ice is thicker around here about 10"-12" in most places I still haven't been undergunned by the battery power. There was one trip where I drilled closed to 75 holes (my buddy was also using it too) and only used up 1 bar. I went out again the very next day on the same charge (forgot to recharge) and drilled 60 more holes. It still had 2 bars left at the end of the day.

So far I'm very impressed. Will be grabbing a SM Lite Flite 8" next year so I can swap the bit for the bigger species.

I can echo this, been really impressed with the auger, though we are approaching 16" of ice here but it's been so cold, I haven't been drilling as many holes as I was earlier so haven't really tested it in the thicker ice. I bought mine around Black Friday, and have not used my hand auger, or any other auger this season.

Only issue I've had is the cutting head getting iced up to where it wouldn't cut, but that was my fault for putting it down into some slushy snow in below zero temps. Chipped out pretty easily, but is there a better way? Put the cover on right after drilling?

One other thing that impressed me, and I know I should be taking the battery off and putting it in my pocket. Last weekend it was cold, -10F, windy, and we had a good 4-6 of new snow on the ice. I drilled probably 10 holes that day, but on my last move, I forgot to take the battery off, and laid it down in the snow, where it sat for at least 2 hours. Still 3 bars when I got home. I still put it on the charger, and the charge light did flash on the charger, but only for about 10 minutes.

[PikeKing23]

Would just like to recommend that you guys don't recharge your batteries every trip.  Each battery only takes so many charges before it goes bad.  They also hold a charge much longer if you continually drain them down to nothing and charge them back up to full.  What you are doing is short cycling the battery.  This will shorten the lifespan.  You also should long term store them at 3/4 to 1/2 charge, not full.  Just some tips I've picked up along the way.

[jrjach75]

Would just like to recommend that you guys don't recharge your batteries every trip.  Each battery only takes so many charges before it goes bad.  They also hold a charge much longer if you continually drain them down to nothing and charge them back up to full.  What you are doing is short cycling the battery.  This will shorten the lifespan.  You also should long term store them at 3/4 to 1/2 charge, not full.  Just some tips I've picked up along the way.

That's interesting. I always heard with the Lithiums that if you drained it down say 25% and recharged, it would only "count" as .25 of a charge/discharge.

You are saying there is only a set number of recharges the battery gets, and it does not matter if it charges from 5% or 95%, but every time its connected to the charger you are losing a full charge, as far as the lifespan goes?

Tht's good info to have, I must have heard wrong. I did know about the long term storage, storing it down below a full charge, and that you don't want to "top it off" during the off season like a SLA battery either.

[aquarium234]

https://www.powerelectronics.com/markets/mobile/article/21859861/proper-care-extends-liion-battery-life

Saves he said she said if u just go to a source......

[Kevin23]

If you dont want to read the whole article, this is the important part.

Boosting Battery Life
Usually, a combination of several factors increases or decreased battery life. For increased cycle life

Use partial-discharge cycles
Using only 20% or 30% of the battery capacity before recharging will extend cycle life considerably. As a general rule, 5 to 10 shallow discharge cycles are equal to one full discharge cycle. Although partial-discharge cycles can number in the thousands, keeping the battery in a fully charged state also shortens battery life. Full discharge cycles (down to 2.5 V or 3 V, depending on chemistry) should be avoided if possible.

Avoid very deep discharges (below 2 V or 2.5 V)
Very deep discharges will quickly, permanently damage a Li-ion battery. Internal metal plating can occur causing a short circuit, making the battery unusable and unsafe. Most Li-ion batteries have protection circuitry within their battery packs that open the battery connection if the battery voltage is less than 2.5 V or exceeds 4.3 V, or if the battery current exceeds a predefined threshold level when charging or discharging.

[Kevin23]

Would just like to recommend that you guys don't recharge your batteries every trip.  Each battery only takes so many charges before it goes bad.  They also hold a charge much longer if you continually drain them down to nothing and charge them back up to full.  What you are doing is short cycling the battery.  This will shorten the lifespan.  You also should long term store them at 3/4 to 1/2 charge, not full.  Just some tips I've picked up along the way.

You mention "short cycling" this was a term used in acid flooded cell lead batteries.. Lithium technology is much, much, different. LiFePo4 batteries should not ever be completely discharged or there's about a 20% chance an individual cell will not recover. But your auger wont let you completely discharge it beyond the safe zone, it will cut it out at the cutoff voltage which will save the battery. However its still best for them to always hover in the 70-90% range for longest life.. but we are talking 500 cycles here, so if you fish every day for 3 months (90 days) you'll be good for roughly 55 years of use with your auger battery. But I would suggest replacing it after 30-40 years just to be on the safe side.

[PikeKing23]

Kevin is right.  I stand corrected.  Apparently I am getting old and confused, or my information was outdated.  This is from batteryuniversity.com:

Similar to a mechanical device that wears out faster with heavy use, the depth of discharge (DoD) determines the cycle count of the battery. The smaller the discharge (low DoD), the longer the battery will last. If at all possible, avoid full discharges and charge the battery more often between uses. Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine. There is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles to prolong life. The exception may be a periodic calibration of the fuel gauge on a smart battery or intelligent device.

I am actually glad this came up, as I learned something today that will possibly extend the life of my batteries.  Thank you for the correction.

[Buckshots]

So I charged up both batteries and hit the ice today. It definitely drills better than the previous one. I don’t have to push down anyway. First area I fished had 15” of ice and I got 31 holes with the first battery before it died. A lousy 465” of ice. I wasn’t too careful in keeping that battery warm either, but I did keep it in my truck so n the dash where the sun was shining. Second battery stayed in my pouch in my hoodie under my bibs and under my coat. This one was much warmer for sure. I switched areas and found 21” of ice. I moved around a bit and was at 230” of ice before I moved to a different lake. I kept it in my pouch on my hoody while I moved around that area too so it definitely stayed warm the whole time. So anyway, new lake had 24” of ice. I got ten holes before it was dead for a total of 470” of ice. 5” difference between the two batteries.

I’ve read from some others that they didn’t get many holes drilled with their first charge and that the second charge was much better. I’m hitting the ice again tomorrow so we will see if there’s any difference.

I don’t think it matters if these batteries are 15° or 70°. I think as long as they aren’t like 5° or colder that the battery temp doesn’t matter.  Overall, I’m not too impressed with this auger. The battery life is sad. 50 holes through 16” of ice is the claim and I got 31 through 15”...not impressed. I will see how it does tomorrow with batteries on a second charge. If it’s not better, I’m sending an email.

[Buckshots]

Van Noord, what are your overall thoughts so far? How many inches do you get on a battery? Do you see a difference between the two brands of batteries as far as how many inches it’ll drill?

[Buckshots]

Didn’t keep track of the first battery today. The second one did 25 22” holes for 550” of ice.

[Buckshots]

Here is the response I got from Strikemaster




So they were able to get 800” of ice but the countless amount of folks I’ve spoken with that have this new auger, not a single one of them has gotten 800”. My first 24v cut like crap and didn’t get crap for holes. This new replacement one cuts better but also doesn’t get crap for holes. Mine doesn’t catch on the bottom like you are describing Van Noord. It’s probably your blades even though they’re new. All this leads me to believe that these Chinese Strike flite bits have no consistency to them. They all cut different. More than likely it is the blades. They all say made in Sweden but there must be zero consistency in these blades anymore. There have been plenty of people with new 24/40v augers that don’t cut right, and blades always seem to have fixed the problem even though they were new and looked fine. The blade quality has been going down hill.

[fishsluggos]

Well our -40C cold snap finally ended here last week so I've been fishing every day since last Friday with the 24v.

I'm finding the auger definitely bucks more due to its lightweight and the lazer blades can catch at the bottom of the hole once in a while causing a bit of a rough breakthrough.

The Greenworks battery doesn't do as well in cold temperatures as the StrikeMaster battery.
Initially I wasn't counting inches or holes with the Greenworks battery because of the cold.
I drove nearly 2 hours north of here when it was -30C and the battery didn't too well in the cold weather or sitting in an insulated bag in my cold truck after cutting a handful of holes through 31" of ice.

But yesterday I did 21 holes through 26" of ice...so again right around the 545" mark. Not too happy with those numbers but with four batteries on hand and my style of fishing, it shouldn't be a problem.

I know this an old post but I have read the entire thread as I am considering purchasing the Strikemaster Lithium 24v Auger 8". 

Very good information across the board.  Especially about LIon battery technology.

Regarding your point, "the battery didn't too well in the cold weather or sitting in an insulated bag in my cold truck"/ I am wonder if storing the battery in an insulated bag with chemical hand warmers would be safe and help.

[hardwater diehard]

I know this an old post but I have read the entire thread as I am considering purchasing the Strikemaster Lithium 24v Auger 8". 

Very good information across the board.  Especially about LIon battery technology.

Regarding your point, "the battery didn't too well in the cold weather or sitting in an insulated bag in my cold truck"/ I am wonder if storing the battery in an insulated bag with chemical hand warmers would be safe and help.

Although I dont have issues with my Milwaukee Lithium battery for my auger set up  in my area ..if I were concerned I would use an insulated lunch bag/small collapsible cooler and a rechargeable hand warmer..set on low or medium. I would also not keep the battery in a  frigid truck/ATV/outside over night.

[Buckshots]

I’ve kept my battery warm and inside my hoodie pocket under my ice suit. Doesn’t matter. Still struggles to get through 500” of ice. They need to make some bigger batteries for it. The 5 amp batteries just isn’t enough.

[missoulafish]

Used to keep the Ion battery in an insulated cooler but not anymore. Never had a problem with it getting to cold to function. Has laid on the ice all day in single digits weather and colder.

[kpd145]

I have never had to keep my battery warmed up for my 40V or my Milwaukee drill batteries.

There was 1 time last season with frigid temps that I removed my milwaukee battery and kept it in my pullover, as a precaution.

[PikeKing23]

Last fall I "lost" a brand new 2ah battery at camp. Came back in spring and it had been sitting out all winter. Never took a charge again. Cold temps definitely affect the lithium batteries imo.

[Skywagon]

Last fall I "lost" a brand new 2ah battery at camp. Came back in spring and it had been sitting out all winter. Never took a charge again. Cold temps definitely affect the lithium batteries imo.

Did you try the trick of jumping it with another battery first, leaving them hooked together for a couple of hours, then try charging it?  I had luck doing that with drill batteries that would not charge.

[snipersam]

I left this reply on another thread and will also post it here as a comparison to the 24v. I forgot to mention temps were relatively mild, -10c for the ion test and -5c for the pistol bit test. batteries were outside beside the innitial batch of holes, 6 to 8, when they came out of a warm truck. Honestly these numbers seem right inline to what guys with the 24v get.

We recently did some testing with an ion g2 8 inch fight. We got 27 holes in 27 inches of ice with the 4 ah battery(this year they ship with 2 4ah instead of 1 6ah). Ion claimes 1200 inches on a battery for the g2, ive seen youtube tests over and over where all brands exaggarate. We got 730 inches. Granted the deeper the ice the less your inches will be due to carring extra chips up.  So we got 182 inches per ah at 40v.

Also did this same test with an 8 inch eskimo pistol bit and a milwaukee fuel gen 3 with a hi output 6ah battery( for a short time they made a different 6ah thats the same size as the very common 5 ah, and is not the hi outout version) There was less ice. We got 24 holes through 24 inches. So 567 inches. plus this battery put in have a dozen ice anchors. So we got 96 inches per ah at 20v. Convert that to 40v to show how it would compare and we get 192 inches per ah. very comparable. if the ice was the same thickness it would probably be identical.

Both batteries were not new and had some charges on them. They started the test full. Holes were not all drilled one after the other. We were fishing so half a dozen at a time.

[Woody61]

Late to the game here on this thread but I purchased an 8" in Jan22 and got barely 300" of ice I turned in my flight batch number and received a new set of blades and they cut no better than the first set. Also every few inches it would stop like being stuck and give out 2 quick beeps like a breaker was triggered. SM had me send the unit back and it was returned in less than a week so props for that but the only thing done was replace the battery which was "suspect". I had tried a friends battery and a greenworks and still had the same issues so I am not expecting any improvement but will be trying it out again this weekend.