Strikemaster and Chinese blades

$4 a hole! I figured that’s what it cost me to drill 25 holes with my new Strikemaster Lazer 7″ ice auger. The auger suddenly stopped cutting and just sits and spins on top of the ice now. Being new to ice fishing and this being my 1st ice auger, I had no idea how long the blades would last. Obviously I thought longer than 25 holes! I thought perhaps the blades were defective and contacted Stikemaster about this being a warranty issue. Yes, the blades were made in China. Here is Strikemaster’s response:

” From pictures it simply looks to be condition is from general use.
New blades will be needed, but sorry this condition is not a warranty item, unfortunately blades do not have any type of warranty or guaranteed longevity. Only against manufacture defect (material breakage, etc)
Not use.

You could send us these blades, for review, but it is rarely determined to be warranty.
One may consider going with a different style such as the StrikeMaster Mora, since these are not pure performance designed augers and don’t require pristine blades, they blades tend to last much longer, but they do not cut as smooth or fast as a lazer. It is definitely a tradeoff, the lazer is fast and smooth, with little effort, but blades need to be replaced more often to maintain this performance, as where Mora are slower, require more effort and travel slower per rotation, but blades tend to last longer.

Any new blade may last 1 hole or 5 years, simply depending on ice conditions.

StrikeMaster Customer Service”

They are right, they have no idea what you cut or how you cut holes so you can’t blame them for not covering the blades even though they know they’re junk. Get a chipper and be done with it. Who cares if its 5 seconds or 6 to cut a hole. I NEVER went out with any confidence my lasers would work and I hated that uncertainty. Now picture yourself away from home on a trip and it happens, is it worth the gamble? The answer is not 4 extra sets of blades in my book. You have a good auger just replace the drill and be done with it. See James, not everyone gets the same treatment you do. Rapala has never been an over the top service company for the regular guy. I’ll leave it at that because they do sponsor a lot of shows and print we all like to watch and read, so that’s a good thing.