best electric ice auger

i recently sold my old gas powered JIFFY ice auger (was 40 years+ old and still ran great!) and bought an electric ice auger. i ended up buying an ION because i found it on sale and they seem to be the most recognizable brand. after i bought it i noticed that it says it will drill through 1000 inches of ice. many of the other brands – Trophy Strike, StrikeMaster, etc. claim up to 2000 inches of ice. my local tackle shop really likes the Trophy Strike which is a 120-volt unit where most (all?) other units are 40-volts. i did Google some reviews but they are all over the place some rating the ION #1 and some rating it #10 out of 10. the ION is still brand new in the un-opened box so i have not used/tried it. i know that the ION is a good unit but can i really expect to have 1/2 the life with the ION compared to the other ones? some of the reviews mentioned things repeatedly breaking on the Trophy Strike. just looking a good reliable auger. should be able to drill ~30 holes with the ION but i heard that the performance drops a lot when they are cold so maybe down to 15-20??? nayway, please comment with your experiences on what is the best auger. should i hang on the ION or consider another?

What model is your ion? Original, Ion X, R1, G2?

I just watched a side by side review this morning…..Is your Ion Gen2 or Gen1? The Gen2 seems to be a pretty nice unit but expensive. Best is a relative term but the better 2 seem to be the strikemaster and the Gen2 Ion.

You’ll be just fine and happy with it. Ion and Strikemaster probably together account for 80%+ of all the electric sales. More sales= more opinions, good and bad. They are both very good augers.

I have the Ion, my buddy has the Strikemaster. We fish together a lot. They both work great.

Ion has been my only experience with a electric auger for 2 years and there has been no issues. I have the the ion x and it has performed perfectly, drilling and re-drilling. Buddy has the strike master and it has performed flawlessly also …..both are great, which ever one has the better sale when you are ready to purchase will be just fine.IMO

Only Ion experience was noooot a good one. No clue which model it was but it only got abut a dozen holes on URL a few weekends ago. Buddy said he had just bought it within the last year or two.

I understand you’ve already bought the ION and it may not be worth it to you anymore, but I’d highly recommend checking out a hand drill auger set up. Absolutely love mine and I’d recommend it to everyone!

You’ll be happy with the Ion. I have a strikemaster 40V and it has been fantastic, I expect the same from the Ion from what I’ve heard. I believe trophystrike when belly up, so you’ll have much better customer service through Ion. I think you will be a happy camper!

I’ve owned Ion’s since they first came out 7+ years ago, NEVER a single issue.

I porposly left my Ion out overnight in single digit temps to see how it worked the next morning. Very little if any difference. Mines going strong after 4, going on 5 ice seasons.

I have an original Ion

My next auger will be a Strikemaster. The 40volt blows mine out of the water, even with a new battery on the Ion

I don’t have any experience with the newest G2 Ion.

How are the Strikemasters at opening old holes?

I just bought the 8” 24v strikemaster

castle-rock-clown wrote:

How are the Strikemasters at opening old holes?

they’re great till they aren’t. With lazer blades if you lose an edge on a blade, then you might as well use a butter knife. Clean, clear ice is ok but dirty ice kills them. Ions are far superior for reopening. JMHO and this will get lots of rebukes. Hole hopping they may be 1/2 second faster and they work great, if you fish out of a permanent house or reopen holes often go Ion.

I adapted an 8” KDrill to my Ion head. It’s been reopening old dirty holes going on over 4 seasons now. Still as sharp and fast as when new.

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