Electric vs. Gas Auger

[fishlessman]

have a jiffey 30 and a tanaka gas power head.  been using a milwaukee fuel with 5 amp batteries this year on the 8 inch blue nils. did 28 holes thru 24 inches good ice with one battery a few weeks back. about 15f degrees,  was more holes than i needed and the kit has 2 batteries. also i use a clam plate and had to make an adaptor for the blue nils. i think it would cut more holes per charge if i  didnt decide to just punch holes continuously  to see how it would do.

[Crayfish2]

I'll never buy another gas auger.  I have 2 OLD Jiffy's (late 60's "one armed bandit" and a mid-70's).  They both run fine, but they are awfully heavy.  I do use the newer one when fishing for pike / lakers.  However, i bought a 6" Nero hand auger kit and a Dewalt 20V hammer drill with 5ah batteries this year and absolutely love it!  With the 6" auger last weekend I cut over 40 holes through 2' of ice in 15deg weather ... and only used the first battery.  Actually, the 2nd battery has never been used.  I've used down to 0deg with no issues.  I do put the extra battery in a cooler with a handwarmer as a backup, but like I said, it's never been used.

I can see an 8" Ion or Strikemaster in my future and getting away from gas altogether.

[Seamonkey84]

If you really need a 10” hole, then a dedicated electric or power auger is still the easiest way since 10” hand augers are scarce. Or stick with a 8” shaver style hand auger/eskimo pistol bit and slap it on the same drill.