Garmin or Vexilar, Strikemaster or Ion 40V Auger?

I’m currently putting together my first icehouse, and need advice on a couple things:

Ion or Strikemaster 40V auger?

Garmin or Vexilar?

Thanks in advance!

I dont think you can go wrong with either but the Ion is probably the best in the market right now. that being said if eskimo runs some more deals this year it might be worth looking into the E40. they are both owned by the same company. As for garmin vs vex If you plan to add livescope anytime soon it would be worth grabbing a garmin. Also if you need mapping. vexilar are tough to beat reliability wise and you can probably score some good deals on used ones as we are still in off season and everyone is switching to some kind of FFS.

I got a 40v strikemaster last year on sale for 330 with a spare battery and it’s a sweet auger.
As for vex over garmin, I own both and go vexilar. I have 0 intent to own livescope so the garmin is used as a back up flasher and mapping on my snowmobile or wheeler. But most the time I use my phone for mapping anyways

Similar to BC I have a strikemaster 40V and love it, have not needed the spare battery yet, but don’t drill a lot of holes like I used to. I also own both a FL28 and Garmin and added livescope last year. Still learning the LS. Would not be without my Vex, but will say if you just went livescope you could get by with just that. The cool thing about LS is you can set it up so you can see most if not all the lines down at once.

Get any electric auger but Ions are great for busting open partially frozen holes. I have an Eskimo Pistol Bit attached to a Hilti Hammer drill and it works great but struggles with busting open partially frozen holes.

If you want to spend the money go with Garmin but I think Vexilars and Hummingbirds are great. The newer Marcum’s have gone down hill from what others have said on here.

The CORRECT IDO answer is get 2 of each.

If you want a flasher, get a vexilar. If you want to go the FFS route, probably best to go the garmin route.

For the augers, I’d go with whatever you find the best deal on.

The Ion Alphas are probably the best on the market for ice augers, but I would keep an eye on Ardisam on social media to see if they have a fall warehouse sale like they did last year. Paid $550 for the 8″ Ion Alpha Plus with 2 batteries that retails for $800, which I have yet to take out of the box because I used my hand auger all last season because we didn’t get thick ice.

I would also look at the E40’s. Doesn’t have the cutting capacity of the Ion, but you shave off a bit of weight.

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I think I’m going the Vex route, as I can get some good deals on them and the opinions are right down the middle on either. Strikemaster will most likely be the auger as well.

If you live to 100 the Vex will still be working just fine,good choice.

i work in a large retail store in the upper peninsula of michigan and we have a rental section for all manner of ice fishing gear. for augers we rent strikemaster, and ion as well as the pistol bits. the ion is by far the most rented unit especially as the thickness of the ice progresses thru the winter.we aslso rent marcum (LX7), vexilar (28/30) units and hummingbird helix 7 and 9.the hummingbird units are rented far more than the other units, especially by the more experienced anglers fishing large / deep bodies of water, 100′ – 250′ of water is the norm on lake superior and most of the deeper bays. i have ice fished 50+ years on the ice, like many my first unit was a vexilar and i still carry a 30 every trip on the ice and do occasionally use it, but my go to unit is the hummingbird ice H9. took a ion alpha the first year they came out and love it, power and reliability are awesome.