Thinking of getting a power auger. Can a person just purchase the power head and adapt the auger off of lazer hand auger. If so what power head would adapt, or is the price not worth the hassle. Thanks for the help
Im not sure what heads adapt to what. i would just suggest getting the whole thing. i dont even know if the just sell heads. i would suggest an eskimo……..i thats a bit of a taboo here but, i love mine. i have the eskimo stingray and its nice its a solid auger for a lower price. plenty powerful for me and i cut alot of holes probably 75 to 100 in a day. i love the lazer pros my dad has one but for the money i am absolutely satisfied with the eskimo
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Thinking of getting a power auger. Can a person just purchase the power head and adapt the auger off of lazer hand auger. If so what power head would adapt, or is the price not worth the hassle. Thanks for the help
I know guys in Canada that built out Tanaka 350s (35cc) with 10″ Lazers and some custom connector work and loved them. I don’t know where those costs came in though. The Tanaka is a proven commercial engine but getting a stock Nils with one is limited to 8″ and 6″. If 10″ is your huckleberry, the SM Honda would seem to be the ticket. Just my two cents.
Generally you will want to buy a power auger with the bit designed specifically for it. Hand augers and power augers look and work very differently. The blade on my Jiffy is not something I would want to try and turn by hand, but with a gas head man can that sucker cut some ice.
On the flip side, my lazer hand auger cuts fairly well under my power, but would not take full advantage of the speed and torque available with a power auger. The one exception I know of is Nils, they make a bit that swings both ways. Some guys here may have more info to offer on that setup.
I’ll 2nd the Eskimo. My Mako 8″ works great. It is heavy compared to others I believe, but it works and they’re about 20% cheaper than other brands. Maybe 15%
Don’t try and use a hand auger bit on a power auger, it’s not built to take the torque that a power auger puts out.
If you are trying to save a few $$ look at Eskimo augers, their newer augers with the Viper motor are decent augers and don’t weigh a ton. Strikemaster in my opinion is still one of the best made and light weight augers for the price.
Nils and Tanka make a great light weight auger but your talking $$$$
Well after some trial and error in the off season. Here is what I came up with at work. It is possible to adapt a hand auger to a power head. I went from the 8″ that came with the auger down to the 6″. Works like a charm and cuts like a dream. Been running this unit like this for the last three weeks. What I like about it, is that it’s short. Only comes up to my belly button on the ice and it can fit inside the sled without having to detach the bit from the head. Also cuts down on weight and space.
A side note, I wasn’t looking to save any money here. Just think about fishing way to much and this project originally came about because I had a old 10″ chipper that was much to heavy to bring out early ice then that progresses to the 18v drill adapter but batteries only go so far in the extreme cold so now this is where it stands.
Abster,
stop me some time and I’ll set you up with my Strikemaster Honda Lite..
You will like it … Like it alot !! 
Look on Craigslist for a good used Strike Master power head and then you can purchase any size auger from anywhere. I personally have a 6,8,& 10 inch bits stocked up over the years. Good news for anyone is they all fit they new Honda power head. Unless you have a machine shop to make an adapter I personally would look at getting a good used SM if you are looking to cut corners financially. Yes Eskimo, and others make cheaper priced models but they also come with cheaper parts and are usually very heavy drills if your a guy who drills a lot of holes.
Bottom line is a power auger is a must for anything deeper 12″ of ice…so finding a drill that fits your budget fill it up with gas and let it rip.
with out a doubt strikemaster makes the best power augers…..however as i mentioned before i drill alot of holes with my eskimo stingray and the thing is light just as light as my dads lazer pro just a little less on the power end of things. personally i like buying new not used so if it was me i would get the best auger for the new price. used equipment often times will have some personality. just to clarify the lazer pro is 26 lbs and the stingray is 28 lbs i dont notice the 2 lb difference
I bought the Tanaka with Nils this year. It is a great option as well. It weighs 20 pounds.
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