Eskimo Ice Augers=Junk!

A month ago, I purchased a brand-new Eskimo M43 auger at a local sporting goods store. The first time I started the auger, it ran fine. The second time I started it, a pin in the recoil assembly broke. Obviously I wasn’t happy. I visited Ardisam’s website, the parent company of Eskimo, and sent them an e-mail requesting a new part per the warranty.

After waiting a week and hearing nothing via e-mail, I angrily called Ardisam and ordered a new recoil assembly. It took a week to arrive. I installed the new recoil assembly, and the first time I started the auger it once again ran fine. When I took it up to Minnesota last weekend with me, the pin in the recoil assembly broke again. That left me to drill through two feet of ice with a hand auger.

I called the incompetent staff at Ardisam Monday morning, and was referred to a “Tech III” who was supposed to figure out what was wrong with the complete and total lemon I foolishly bought. Instead, I got this whiz-bang “Tech III”s voice mail, and left a message telling him what the problem was, and what I thought of his company’s products.

As of Wednesday night, I have not heard back from Ardisam. Apparently, they have better things to do than make sure their products actually work. I can only conclude that Ardisam is run by incompetents and/or crooks. I will never do business with them again.

I just want to wash my hands of the whole thing, so I am going back to the store where I bought the piece of junk, and demand my money back. If the store is more honest and ethical than the bumblers at Eskimo, they had better take the product back. If not, their name will be posted here too.

Next winter, I will do what I should have done the first time and spend the extra money on a Strikemaster.

Jiffy auger owners are prone to have less stress and in turn live a happy, more meaningful life. Don’t worry it will all be OK

Why wait till next winter? If you get you money back keep your eyes open there should be some good end of the season sales coming soon

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Next winter, I will do what I should have done the first time and spend the extra money on a Strikemaster.

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Glad I bought a Jiffy from IDA, Thanks again James

I am running an older Eskimo and I wouldn’t trade it for Jiffy or a StrikeMaster No problems mechanically and with high octane gas, it really runs well There is a lemon in everything at one time or another.
Heck, I bought a brnad new Strike Master a couple years ago that has issues right out of the box. First thing it did was not start but spit fuel out of the exhaust. Took it back to Gander and got it replaced. The second new one the plastic choke broke the first day. It was corrected by Strike Master’s awesome customer service But, just showing that there are bound to be problems with anything

Your choice of words had me

But sorry to hear your frustation. I have slightly used Jiffy Stealth 8″ needing a good home and priced right. Send me a PM if interested.

Sorry to hear that..Im with Watson though…I bought a Eskimo 3 years ago and it was used at the time…ill guess its 5 years old..I fish most every weekend the ice is safe enough and have had ZERO problems with it…starts 1st or 2nd pull almost everytime..also has a complete stainless steal auger on it which I havent seen on anything else including Eskimo but it appears to be factor.(anyone ever see another of the stainless augers?). These businesses do need to understand that their finished product will only make half their sales and the customer service will sell the the other half AND make repeat customers..good luck…Rat

correct me if i am wrong but i thought that ardisam made the motor for a strikemaster too? Just wondering but i thought they were the same

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correct me if i am wrong but i thought that ardisam made the motor for a strikemaster too? Just wondering but i thought they were the same

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Tecumseh – Jiffy & Strikemaster

Tecumseh – Jiffy & Strikemaster

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My Eskimo is also Tecumseh(3hp)

I’m with Watson as well. My Eskimo is 3 years old, been very good to me. Although I did have one problem once, first trip! Recoil rope broke on me, a half hour and a loose boot later it was running like a top, that boot lace is still in it!

P.S. A little kindness when dealing with customer service will generally get the results your looking for, bad mouthing and telling them there product is junk isn’t the way to go. Don’t ask me how I came to that conclusion!

BIRDDOG

I also have an Eskimo auger and it starts and runs great. I just wish the blades bit like my neighbor’s Strikemaster. Only problem with his auger is that it seems really cold-blooded in very cold weather.

Sorry to hear your troubles.
But I’ve owned a Eskimo Barracuda w/twin turbo blades for 7yrs now. Runs prefect, starts on the 3rd pull, cuts great, faster then most augers on the market “i’ve only lost 1auger race”. No bull, It’s probably thousands of holes. I’m a run and gun type on fisherman. Buds that fish with me know I’ll swiss cheese an area before every wetting a line. Most people watch where they step. The only time I’ve had an issue was when a bud “Moby1” , somehow snapped the shaft. I’ve never seen that happen, nor did Eskimo. Called them up and they replaced the whole shaft assembly for free. I have noticed that running premium gas really helps.
BTW, my motor is a Tecumseh also.

I had this conversation earlier this year. Turns out that Eskimo no longer uses Tecumseh motors. But when they did, they were comparable to the strikemasters. Sad to see a good affordable auger take a turn like this. I used to recommend the mako as a value priced good auger when the were using tecumseh motors. Don’t they use a “Viper” motor now or something?? Whats the name of the motors now??

Eskimo is running Ardisam motors now . I fish with a dealer of Eskimos and actually didn’t find anything bad about them and the starts right out of the box have been good . There was a customer came in the other day who bought an eskimo last spring which got fired up for him before leaving the store and he tried it the other day and she was a no go . I just grabbed my plug wrench and dried the plug and away she went . Haven’t heard from him since so all must be well and should be .

I find all augers in general have a sweet spot to make them fire up and run . Some like the jiffy’s need some tweaking of the carb and mine runs like a charm as does my Nils . Use amsoil or opti 2 at between 80 to 100-1 with fresh fuel and most starting problems can be avoided . My jiffy still has the original pull cord and assembly and has been used more than most augers . If your having too yank on them too often its time to find out why .An auger down can be an embarrassing loss of money when I’m out guiding .

TD

My Eskimo has a Viper motor on it.

For the record, my first e-mail to Ardisam was courteous. My patience started to fray when Ardisam never answered it, or sent me the replacement part. My first phone call was polite, as well. When the second recoil assembly broke I started getting angry, and when the Tech III never returned my call my patience completely ran out.

I spent $270 on an Eskimo product with a written guarantee, and so far Ardisam is not living up to that guarantee. Courtesy got me nowhere, so now it is time to show Ardisam the same lack of respect they showed me.

From What I’ve heard,…its that new Viper motor thats causing the fuss. No power, won’t start, eats plugs, now the recoil. When I had an eskimo with tecumseh, it worked great. After a few years I put a Strikemaster bit on it,….guess what?…..it cut the same. Its a cryin shame

Ever thought of carring a cordless drill and adapter as a backup? Would lower your stress level….and upgrade your hand auger.

Eskimo is all I have used for both hand and power augers. I’ve never had a problem with either. I have a new Stingray and have no problems at all with it. I pulled it out of the box and put in gas/oil mix and started on second pull. This auger has drilled a couple hundred holes and hasn’t missed a beat. VERY easy starting…it is powered by the Viper motor also. I’m also supprised you had problems with their customer service…I’ve only had to replace my blade guard and had no issues…delivered 2 days after the order went out….

I took the defective Eskimo auger back to Scheel’s in Iowa City, and they refunded it with no trouble. I then bought a StrikeMaster. So far, it runs fine.

You should be happy with the Strike Master I liked the way mine ran, just didn’t like the 10″ hole as much as I thought I would, so I sold it.