what is the best hand ice auger on the market

I am in the market for a hand ice auger(low budget) and I was wondering which is the best for the money. Any imput, personal experience, or other info would be great. Thanks in advance.

hands down spend the money once and get a lazer. i used to use a mora and go through 3-4 sets of blades and i bought my 7″ lazer 3 years a go and still have great sharp blades. i use mine for panfish-walleye-tipup. just don’t bang the tip on the ice. let the auger do the work. just about as quick as a power auger and quitier. good-luck, stay dry

I have a six inch mora hand auger, that seems to work pretty well. The two most popular ones that i have seen were probably the Mora and the Lazer. They are both produced by strikemaster and are very similar. The lazer has different blades and it is a little more expensive. The only thing I dont really like about them is that if you are drilling threw thick ice you have to bend down,because you can only adjust it to 57 inches max, which seems to greatly reduce your torque on the auger. I would probably look for the longest hand auger that i could find, if you are planning on going threw thick ice.

My Mora blades seemed to go dull really fast, also. I havent used the lazer, but I,m sure from what i’ve heard that the blades are definately better.

I bought an 8 inch hand auger, had I known better I would’ve bought a 6, just for the ease of cutting. 6 inches is big enough for my fishing.

Strikemaster Laser 6″. Hands down!!!

A nils master hand auger isn’t much more than a lazer. the nils master is actually faster and cuts easier because the handle is off-set making it easier to use. I have used one and they are awesome.

I have a 6″ lazer hand auger that I used for about 4 years without any problems. I don’t have a lot of consistent spots, I like to move a lot, explore new places, and if I’m not on fish I’m outta there, so last year I bought a used power auger.

After about two weeks of drilling with the 8″ chipper blade, I ran to the hardware store and bought enough piping and hardware to adapt the strikemaster lazer bit onto the power head… I can tell you that a 2hp auger with a 6″ two-blade lazer bit pretty much cuts fast enough that you think it’s freefalling through the ice.

I’d recommend the lazer. My experience with it has been nothing but good.

I would have to say the 6″ Lazer. Cuts alot faster than the Mora. Thanks, Bill

I useed to own two mora augers…they cut well but the Lazer by Strike Master works a lot better !!

Thanks for all of the replies. You have persuaded me to get a lazer. Now I am off to shop for one.
Thanks again.