Author Topic: Strikemaster 24v overviews  (Read 4228 times)

Offline Buckshots

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Strikemaster 24v overviews
« on: Mar 23, 2021, 09:52 PM »
Ok, now that the season is over, let’s hear everyone’s overall review/thoughts on their 24v SM electric auger. These things sold out everywhere, I know there’s a lot of them out there. If you have one, I want to know what you think about it. I’ll go first...

I’m a gas auger guy. I finally made the switch. I “kicked my gas” as SM wanted us to do. Their whole selling point was based on that slogan. I’m not impressed. A steel laser drills way better than the strike flite does and the battery life isnt what they claimed. Is it possible to get 800” of ice on an 8 strike-flite? Yes. But is has to be late season honeycombed ice. I’m just not impressed. Now the 40v, that thing is a beast and a hell of an auger. 24v, not so much.

Those who have used a 24v, please share your honest thoughts.

Offline jrjach75

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Re: Strikemaster 24v overviews
« Reply #1 on: Mar 24, 2021, 08:28 AM »
I bought the 6" version back in November when they were on sale for $280. I was using a Lazer Lite gas auger, and a Nero hand auger for early ice. Since I had the 24v before we had fishable ice here, I used it for 100% of my drilling this season. It's really perfect for someone like me here in my area, sometimes I have a long walk, and I'm hand pulling everywhere. This was one of our better years for ice thickness, at around 18" in some spots, a lot of years 12" is considered "thick" ice.

Pros, and this is nothing you probably haven't heard echoed from others:
Nice and light, and compact, much easier to fit into my sled than the gas auger was. I had zero problems with it all season. The one time I tried to test capacity I was up to 65 holes in 16" of ice, late season. I was down to one bar. Drills pretty smooth, no need to hold back when you break through the bottom of the hole. The flites do seem to do a decent job of not throwing chips and slush all over the place, but do still seem to clear out the hole as you drill. Drills pretty quick too, I never raced anyone, it seems like it would hang with a hand drill set up, probably not as fast as a gas auger, not enough of a difference to matter probably, not with our ice here.

As far as cons, I don't know that these are necessarily bad things, just what I've observed:
It's lightweight, but not as light as a fuel/mora set up. The reverse feature to flush out your holes only does a partial job on cleaning out the chips/slush, I don't use it. On a really cold day, say anything below zero, you do need to take the battery off and keep it in your pocket or it will drain much quicker. Later in the season, soft, slushy ice will give the auger a workout, still no problems drilling, but notice it drilling slower if you don't pull it out to clear the hole a few times. I feel like my gas auger would just power though this situation. The cover kind of sucks, it's the type they all have with the round rubber keeper, but you have to orient it a certain way, I got a cold snap cover, no problem now. There were a couple times during the season when the cutting head iced up enough that I had to chip it off around the blades before I could drill again. I never had this happen to any other auger, must be careful not to lay it in the slush or snow without a cover on very cold days.

For someone like me who isn't drilling through 3ft of ice, walking everywhere, it's prefect. I already have two drills to use around the house, neither are good enough for an auger, but I didn't need a third drill to use in the offseason. It's nice not having to worry about keeping the auger laying down a certain way and taking up as much room as the gas auger did. The other thing I noticed, is it changed the way I fished a bit. With the gas auger, it seemed like getting out, warmed up and all, it seemed like I'd drill around 10 holes or so to make it worth getting out. With the electric now, since it's as easy as pushing a button, I'll just drill 2 or 3 holes, fish those, move and drill 2 or 3 more, etc.

Offline mushroom_capd_1

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Re: Strikemaster 24v overviews
« Reply #2 on: Mar 24, 2021, 07:19 PM »

 ...There were a couple times during the season when the cutting head iced up enough that I had to chip it off around the blades before I could drill again. I never had this happen to any other auger, must be careful not to lay it in the slush or snow without a cover on very cold days.



Cooking spray on your blades might help with the ice up issue. Nice to hear some honest reviews on the Strikemaster 24v.  I know the 40v is just a monster. But I was considering  the 24v as a lighter go to auger this season. Sounds like a solid option for going lighter

Offline HWeber

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Re: Strikemaster 24v overviews
« Reply #3 on: Mar 24, 2021, 10:04 PM »
Mine didn't get much use but had zero issues. Expectations were low for number of inches of ice drilled but was surprised at how it just kept drilling. Never counted holes to see how many inches it really drilled. Will still be using the jiffy unless early ice or bringing someone that doesn't care for two stroke smoke

Offline PikeKing23

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Re: Strikemaster 24v overviews
« Reply #4 on: Mar 25, 2021, 03:58 AM »
After you finish a hole, pull the auger out and spin it in the air for a few rotations. This will throw off the excess water and keep the blades from freezing. ;)

Offline fishingeek

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Re: Strikemaster 24v overviews
« Reply #5 on: Mar 25, 2021, 09:19 AM »
I am a hole hopper where I drill about 40-50 holes each outing. I'm super impressed with mine. I have the 6" version. It's light, compact, easy to use, and I would pick this over a hand drill/auger combo any day. No need to worry about wrist twist, added weight from a clam plate, great ergonomics and definitely not cumbersome to use. I can fit this in my Jetsled jr and still have a lot of room for other stuff.

About the battery, SM claims the 6" version can drill 65 holes on a single charge based on 16" of ice. I haven't test that theory yet but came pretty close. I drilled about 55 holes on one outing on 12"-14" of ice. I had one bar left and forgot to recharge it. The next day took it out and was able to get 30 more holes. I could've gotten more holes out of the charge but didn't want to push my battery to its limit and shorten its lifespan. I think temperature, ice condition, storage of battery factor in a lot when it comes to battery life.

Next season, I will be grabbing a spare battery and the 8" lite flite bit for when I want to target bigger species.


Offline Junkie4Ice

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Re: Strikemaster 24v overviews
« Reply #6 on: Mar 25, 2021, 02:01 PM »
I am a hole hopper where I drill about 40-50 holes each outing. I'm super impressed with mine. I have the 6" version. It's light, compact, easy to use, and I would pick this over a hand drill/auger combo any day. No need to worry about wrist twist, added weight from a clam plate, great ergonomics and definitely not cumbersome to use. I can fit this in my Jetsled jr and still have a lot of room for other stuff.

About the battery, SM claims the 6" version can drill 65 holes on a single charge based on 16" of ice. I haven't test that theory yet but came pretty close. I drilled about 55 holes on one outing on 12"-14" of ice. I had one bar left and forgot to recharge it. The next day took it out and was able to get 30 more holes. I could've gotten more holes out of the charge but didn't want to push my battery to its limit and shorten its lifespan. I think temperature, ice condition, storage of battery factor in a lot when it comes to battery life.

Next season, I will be grabbing a spare battery and the 8" lite flite bit for when I want to target bigger species.

What auger were you using before the 24v?
Da Pack!

Offline jrjach75

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Re: Strikemaster 24v overviews
« Reply #7 on: Mar 25, 2021, 03:30 PM »
After you finish a hole, pull the auger out and spin it in the air for a few rotations. This will throw off the excess water and keep the blades from freezing. ;)
That was the first thing I tried, believe me. I think it was just the conditions, we had a layer of partially frozen slush, under a bunch of snow, and it was well below zero those days. Partially my fault for laying it in the snow without it's cover on too.

Offline English

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Re: Strikemaster 24v overviews
« Reply #8 on: Apr 13, 2021, 12:51 PM »
I switched from a 10 inch strike master chipper on a Mako 43 head to a 24 strike master 8 inch about a quarter of the way through the season. I opened holes in my permanent the rest of the season with it and used it to open a spear hole several times. I did not over lap the holes but drilled them side by side and then used an ice saw to finish. For my normal usage my gas auger may never be used again. I generally drill no more than 20-30 holes a trip and I had no problem doing that later in the year. I am well pleased. I think it was faster then my gas set up.

 



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