I bought one of the original ones from a few seasons ago and loved it. I just sold mine and upgraded to this year's model. Same auger, just a few upgrades.
I haven't counted how many holes for sure, but we've easily done 50+ holes in 10" of ice or so. I had no problems at all running out of power while fishing. The new augers guarantee 1000 inches of ice on 1 charge. This year I will have to keep track on one charge and report back for sure.
It is very light. 21 lbs. 22 lbs with the extenstion. This was a major plus for me too, because my wife can use it easily. The handle design makes it easy to hold and operate for her too.
No fumes, no mixing gas, no gas leaks. There was a number of times me and my buddies went out and I had holes drilled before their augers could even get started.
Problems-
I really wish the handles were made of something a little more durable than plastic. My original one I broke the handle on when I fell on the ice. Eskimo took care of the problem quickly though. Since then, I have sold 20 or so of them total and 1 other one did have a problem with the handle as well. they have a warranty though and they were very quick about fixing the problem for both me and my customer.
The battery gets sluggish when it gets really cold. DON'T let it sit on the ice. I try to keep mine in the shanty, with me, or in a case. I picked up a little cooler like bag last year to tote it in.
The new ion has a reverse feature on it. I'm curious to see how effective that is or isn't.
Do a search here on Ice Shanty. This topic's been discussed pretty extensively! My personal opinion is that yes it is a great piece of equipment and I'm very happy to have bought it.
Everyone's biggest concern seems to be battery life and longevity of its life. Like I said, I've never had a problem of it dying when I've been out fishing. I just sold mine after 2 seasons of use and a whole summer of sitting around and the battery still held a charge just fine. Replacement batteries are around $150. The way I looked at it, is that I'd probably spend just as much in gas or propane over the lifetime of the battery. Even if it died next year, it would have still only been 50 bucks a season.
Hope that helps!
