Before you buy a new gas auger...

[fullThrottle]

I'd still pick my gas auger over that. No battery to worry about . After a few years the batteries don't hold a charge. I keep it in the back of my truck all season always starts 1-2 pulls. Almost never have to re fuel it. Never leaks fuel and it was like 300 bucks , if your an electric chainsaw kinda guy I guess the drill set up will work fine!

[Rugburn]

I'd still pick my gas auger over that. No battery to worry about . After a few years the batteries don't hold a charge. I keep it in the back of my truck all season always starts 1-2 pulls. Almost never have to re fuel it. Never leaks fuel and it was like 300 bucks , if your an electric chainsaw kinda guy I guess the drill set up will work fine!

And there you have it! Not sure why the gas guys read the electric drill threads....

[Hardwater Problem]

I'd still pick my gas auger over that. No battery to worry about . After a few years the batteries don't hold a charge. I keep it in the back of my truck all season always starts 1-2 pulls. Almost never have to re fuel it. Never leaks fuel and it was like 300 bucks , if your an electric chainsaw kinda guy I guess the drill set up will work fine!

Wow...  I run two Stihl and one Husky chainsaw.   If they made a chainsaw that could do the work of any of my saws, wouldn't one be stupid not to run the unit that didn't require two different kinds of oils and several cans of fuel???  Not to mention that if we are running a parallel scenario the battery chainsaw would hypothetically be lighter and less expensive!!!  I guess if you are the kind of guy that likes to spend more money and get less, don't give in to innovation.

[afwrestler1986]

We've been praising these setups for years now, 4th season for me with no gas. Then a good write up appears about the excellent performance, and the haters show up boasting their Harley type rig. A doubt is then cast into the back of the shoppers mind. All I can do is laugh when I hear the rumble down the lake, as I quietly go about my business. 

Laugh all you like, for 270 shipped, I got my "Harley type rig" and I don't have to plug it in when I get home.


Nothing against the drill auger, but the gasser was more in line with my finances.

[fullThrottle]

Ha ha electric saws still Run bar oil , how many batteries =one can of fuel , How many loggers do you know who use electric chainsaws ? None because they suck.that's not the point tho. gas augers are just better hands down. I see a post every other day about guys complaining about drill set ups . It's a drill hooked to an auger big deal . It's just more things you need to worry about before you go fish .the only thing that is nice about it is the weight but I have an atv so the extra 10 pounds has no effect on me . If it was way cheaper it would be a plus but it's not. After you buy a 300$ drill , 150$ clam plate and a 100$ auger you might as well buy something that's built to cut ice . I'll keep my drills in my tool box

[fullThrottle]

Laugh all you like, for 270 shipped, I got my "Harley type rig" and I don't have to plug it in when I get home.

 Nice 😂

[Rugburn]

Don't get me wrong, I do own a jiffy gas job. Thought about selling it when I started using the drill deal. The gasser does have it's time and place, thinking about putting it up on the wall in the man cave. I do like looking at it...

[fullThrottle]

The drills suffer on thick ice and large augers. It is what it is

[SLAYERFISH]

The drills suffer on thick ice and large augers. It is what it is

Yah it all depends.  I don't do thick ice and have no need for large holes. So don't need a gas auger. i still own a 10" and a 8" gassers.  Just never use them anymore.

My M18/ clam plate/ 6" mora cuts flawlessly.

[fullThrottle]

Yah it all depends.  I don't do thick ice and have no need for large holes. So don't need a gas auger. i still own a 10" and a 8" gassers. 

So you stop fishing when the ice gets thicker ? Most people wait for thick ice to fish
I just wouldn't want to limit myself to my auger

[SLAYERFISH]

So you stop fishing when the ice gets thicker ? Most people wait for thick ice to fish
I just wouldn't want to limit myself to my auger

The local ice in Denver rarely exceeds 12". I fish the mountain lakes early season b4 it gets to much over 12".  heck by february I can fish some walleye lakes in my boat when its 75F.

[Special]

Ok; I have all three Plus a couple different items.

Gas,
Jiffy 30 old reliable. My first power auger. Took a while to realize that the mix in not 50:1 its 24:1 took 3 years. Read the instructions. LOL After figuring that out its a good runner. But got frustrated with it so I bought a
Eskimo Marco M43 50:1 and loved it until the gas tank started leaking. Go figure. Headache to buy a new tank but it was the flaw in the design, so I bought two to be safe. Hasn't leaked yet on the new tank.

Propane,
Pro 4 model Love it. Love it. Peace of crap!!!! LOL When I don't have a fuel line issue. Which this weekend I took it out and never made it onto the ice. Fuel line leaked with the regulator. Now jiffy has fix the issue with the regulator with the new Gen 3, I still have the old gen 2 so I'm up a creek. As for the vapor issue that everyone complains about. The new Gen 3 easy to unscrew and take back in hut to stay warm no more vapor issues.

Electric,
Well this year the K-drill is the way to go?? Ya you want me to spend how much for a bit??? I picked up a couple at the St Paul Icefishing show and liked it but for the money I just couldn't get my head rapped around it. So After comparing a lot of electric drills. The green one can't remember the name. Thinking Ion??, I decided to go with the clam plate. Again new design for your drill. Also I have a 20V dewalt and found out this year dewalt came out with a 6amp battery. Fiddle sticks cause I bought two 5amp for the drill just to ice fish with. LOL. I used it on boysen last weekend Love it. Now after using the K-drill the same weekend. I understand why it such a great bit. The fins( don't know what they are called) are closer together to make a easy hole. If you understand on my Eskimo 7 bit they are father apart. I figured it out. You know when you almost get close to finishing the hole? That last inch you go through the ice. The K-drill your able to clear the hole easy it doesn't stick. As for the Clam with the Eskimo very hard to get the bit back out of the hole. Also the stop is very hard on the Drill. I noticed for the K-Drill not so hard on the Dewalt. I also found out the drill was eating the new clam chuck. Gerrrr!!! But the question, I kept asking my self was 6 inch or 7 inch or stay with 8 inch bit??? What Hand drill can cut a hole to the new torque on the Dewalt push??? So Clam came out with a torque reducer for there plate. So if you want a bigger hole you can add it to the plate so the drill wont wear out on you the bigger bits/holes. Not a bad idea. That's where I decided to split the middle a get a eskimo 7 inch bit. Hoping to not use the torque inverter.  Understanding what I was trying to complete. Lets see how my Dewalt holds up. Go Dewalt!!!!

Spud bar
I have the Eskimo Two piece works great. Folds into two pieces for storage and convenience. Its heavy enough to cut though the ice. Also have a shorty/Hammer that is great to help get the frozen tipups out of the holes. Also the spud bar can save your life on soft spots or finding thin ice.

Chainsaw
My STIHL is a fine cutter. FYI if you decide to use one. Needs to be 20" plus bar, Why you ask trying to cut though 12 plus inches of ice with a 16 or 18 bar not so easy. Used it a couple times last year. Just put peanut or veggie oil in it so your not putting hydrocarbon in the water. 

Dynamite. Good luck I will just plead the 5th it was assume. 

So After using all listed above and still owning all, well more that that. I would say. Propane. I don't smell like gas trying to fill the auger. No gas in my house to fume me out. They fixed the issue with the new design. After buying mine my friend went out a purchased one the next year and never had a issue with it yet.
Second is very close call I would say the electric. Its light and easy to use. Just haven't had it long enough to give a educated opinion yet.

Hope this helps. If you see me out on the water. Just ask good chance I'll have the propane and electric on me. Gas stays at home but I'll keep for backup or big trips with lots of people so we all have a auger to fish with.

[1moslab]

 

[fishinagain]

I just got a m18 fuel drill combo kit from home depot, and a Milwaukee sawzall for $368.88 with free shipping. 3 year warranty on batteries, 5 years on drill. My old cordless wasn't lithium and finally died, so I replaced it. I now have three new tools I needed, that I will use year round. I purchased a icemaster adapter for $16, I already have a laser hand auger. Boom, new setup for ice.

I have a Jiffy model 31, runs great, cuts great, but heavy and bulky. Not everyone can run atv's and quads or drive vehicles at all on some waters, so this new technology is a great advance for those of us who wish to lighten our load. I am sure by the time I warranty my batteries in 3 years there will be a new, better technology, but the same goes with anything. I will be keeping my Jiffy hanging in the garage, maybe supe it up and make a hot drill out of it for fun. Love the smell of race fuel and klotz oil burning

[Skywagon]

I just received my new electric setup, a Milwaukee Fuel 18 volt hammer drill with 5 amp batteries, 8" K-drill auger and a Clamplate.  Even though I have a perfectly good Strikemaster 8" laser Power auger (that I love), I bought this set-up to use in my permanent ice shack to eliminate the smoke problem and to use if it will work as advertised in our cold environment, to take it in the ski-plane, in order to keep weight to a minimum, as apposed to a gas auger.

Yesterday was the maiden voyage for the new outfit, my mission was to find out how many holes the electric auger could drill on one (cold) 5 amp battery.  Five of us took off in the morning to go lake trout fishing on a remote lake, we were on snowmobiles, the outside temp at the beginning of the trip was -29 c (-20 F) looking to get up to -21 c (-5 f) later in the morning (no, we don't use portable shelters).  I was carrying the new electric auger and had my Strikemaster gas auger as backup.  Upon arrival at the lake I drilled holes for everyone with the K-drill, I drilled 14 holes in a measured 14" of ice, we caught a few fish, but all were small, so we moved to another spot an hour later, we drilled another 5 holes and then ran out of power.  I had drilled 3 holes the day before, so after 22 holes the battery was used up, the battery had been left on the drill in the cold the whole time, it was never warm.

My conclusion is that this unit with the 18 volt Milwaukee Fuel with the 5 amp battery lived up to my expectations (I am sure had I kept the battery warm it would have done even better).  I would feel comfortable taking it along with a spare battery, flying an hour away and not be concerned that it would drill more holes than two or three of us would ever need, fishing for trout or walleye. 

[MFallon]

I'm selling my Eskimo HC40 propane after picking up the Milwaukee Fuel w 8" Kdrill. I've drilled 20+ holes in 10" of ice and 5.0 battery was showing more then half full. Most of my trips have been drilling ~15 holes in ~8" of ice and it still shows full. I stopped bringing the extra battery with me as well (although I got the kit with 3). I don't have an ATV or Sled (yet) so dropping auger weight from 32lbs to 9lbs is a no brainer. It also takes up way less room in the sled! If I was fishing in an area that had 18"+ ice for most of the season, then I might stick with gas/propane but for the ice we get in New Hampshire and Mass I can't see any benefits to lugging the heavier auger around! Waiting for the ice anchor adapter to come in so I'll be able to screw in the pop up much easier as well. To each there own!

[Sharp Nils]

 OH Man,   I backed spaced a very long reply. 

 Milwaukee 2704 5ah battery a conservative estimate of 300" of ice and used one bar on the battery.
 I do have my Tanaka 270 but don't see a problem with 30" with the drill. We shall see as the plot, I mean ice thickens
I've posted this before and should track the guy down and thank him for a great video with a Nils.   
Check it out and then ask yourself could it get much better. 

 
 Now ours truly.

[RuttNutt]

I got a deal on a Milwaukee Fuel hammer drill and (3) 5.0 ah batteries at Home Depot last week. I just could NOT justify $300(OK- $325 with tax and auger adapter  ) for just an ICE auger(on my budget!) But, I could justify that for an ice-auger, hammer drill and 1200"/lb cordless drill driver that will take care of all my needs at home and on the ice! 

But I am a muti-function kind of guy................... ...................... .I use my Striker Ice Predator bibs for hunting in the blind in late season, when I blow snow and probably for those late season playoff football games! 

[DTro]

OH Man,   I backed spaced a very long reply. 

 Milwaukee 2704 5ah battery a conservative estimate of 300" of ice and used one bar on the battery.
 I do have my Tanaka 270 but don't see a problem with 30" with the drill. We shall see as the plot, I mean ice thickens
I've posted this before and should track the guy down and thank him for a great video with a Nils.   
Check it out and then ask yourself could it get much better. 

 
 Now ours truly.

Now that I've tried a KDrill, I'd love to try a Nils for comparison.  I got 23 holes in 15" of ice (345") before the 5ah battery died on me with the 8" KDrill.   Something tells me I might get a few more with the Nils.    Which Nils cutting head would you recommend? 

[Sharp Nils]

 You can any 8" Nils blade. 

[Hardwater Problem]

Yeah.. I don't get where people need a gas auger for late season.  My drill/auger combo cut 10-12 holes in 20" of ice in Northern Minnesota without coming off of full power!  That was weeks ago.  It will be thicker than that in two weeks when I go back and I have no intention of packing my gasser.  I intend to keep the batteries warm, because I will be cutting more holes.  It is a fantastic and practical option for guys and gals who can't draw money from the family account for an "ICE AUGER", but could justify power tools for home repair!!!  Bottom line is...  the set up works.  You will own a great new tool or two if you get a combo, eliminate gas cans, no leaks in the truck bed or sled, and no smoke in the shack.  It is lighter in every case and in most cases a cheaper option as MOST ice fisherman already own some version of a hand auger that will likely work.  Thanks again to everyone who posted here and assisted with my decision.  I'm glad there are forward thinkers on here willing to take the abuse for going rogue with a battery!