What ice auger should I buy?

It is almost the end of the season and some stores have awesome deals on augers right now. It is time that I stop borrowing and buy one. I thought about waiting for next years new stuff, but I work at a sporting goods store right now and I can get things for cost. I am pretty set on an 8″ model. What auger do you suggest? Strikemaster, Eskimo, Jiffy?

I,ve had a stikemaster fo 9 yrs and its been great and I have not been kind to it

I will second the Strikemaster’s. Great customer service, great working machines, and they do not sound like a B-52 taking off when you are drilling

I will put a third on Strikemaster!!!

I’ll vote for the StrikeMaster too. I have an 8 inch Laser and it punches a hole very fast. It also starts and runs with no issues.

And a funny story: I had finally saved up enough money for a power auger. I went to the local Gander Mountain with my wife, and we were asking the salesman about the different models. He asked me “What do you use now?”. I told him the sme ^%$%^$^ Mora hand auger for 20 years. He looked at my wife and said “He’s EARNED a power auger”. That closed the sale!

Rootksi

Its unanimous! Get a strikemaster
Hollywood

love my Laser

Eskimo Shark!! Hands down faster than any other and it doesn’t have a techuseh motor. Well worth the money!

I like my Jiffy.
Sorry, I can be such a turd can’t I?

I had a laser for 6 years loved it,couple of days ago someone wanted it more then i did i guess,so i bought a used one lm 8″ would’nt drill worth darn,put new blades on still would’t,so i got mad and bought a 3hp 10″ jiffy stealth should get it tommorrow i’ll let you now how it drills.But i would highly recommend a strikemaster,mine always started no matter how cold it was..

Strikemaster

Ditto, Strikemaster.

Thanks a lot guys. What models do you all have? It seems like the Lazer is the most popular.

Jiffy.

Jiffy

Jiffy……… 10″

StrikeMaster 224
224

Jiffy 2hp Legend……..

I just got my Jiffy 3hp 10″ stealth to day , I would compare her to a harley. I love it.. i only drilled four holes so far though..

I bought a brand new Strikemaster Lazer Mag Express. It worked great when I fired it up in the garage, idled real smooth. Brought it ot Vermilion, and the choke lever snapped off. Then on the first pull, after pushing the decomression button, the recoil snapped; leaving the entire length of cord hanging down. I never made a hole with this auger.

Gander Mountain exchanged it for another boxed auger. Works great! idles a bit more rougher than the first one did, but it drills holes. SO far I like it.

Gander was great about making the exchange, and Strikemaster in Big Lake is more than willing to make things right. Costomer service was one of my reasons for my choice.

That rough idle will go away pretty quick. Just needs a little breaking in. Sounds like your first one was a lemon.

jiffy 30 is the best i have a 10 inch in the 30 it cuts like butter and is very smooth

Strikemaster Mag 2000 with a 8″ lazer bit

I only wish I had more time to break it in.

Yeah, it was dissapointing driving all the way up to Vermilion only to have that “lemon” break down on the fisrt pull.

Thanks a lot for all the input guys. This weekend finally sealed the deal. I went fishing with my girlfriend’s dad. We get to the ice and he pulls his Strikemaster auger out of the trunk. The thing is full of dust, hasn’t been used for atleast five years. He dumps out the old tank of gas and pours in some new stuff. Three pulls and she was running like a champ. I wasn’t sold yet because the blades looked very dull and I figured we’d be cutting holes for an hour. The dull and rusty blades cut right through the ice. The Strikemaster will be on order tomorrow.