Love you Dtro..in a manly kind of way. 
The truth is for any one brand of auger that someone has a problem with, there are hundreds more that have very good experiences.
Light weight, reliability, customer service are important to ME. Other peoples priority may vary.
What every you do…don’t get a white auger! 
Got an old 3 hp jiffy and ya its heavy but the works great yet.
SO many Power Augers??? There is just one right……Strike Master!!!!
To show you how little I know about augers, never heard of a Nils. Research time 
Nils for 500 smackers…ouch!
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SO many Power Augers??? There is just one right……Strike Master!!!!
Word from yet another sponsored member of StrikeMaster Inc. 
I advocate Jiffy. In 18 years they have never let me down.
I’ve owned two Jiffys and two Strikemasters, and countless hand augers (including a Nils). I’ve used a Nils and an eskimo power auger from friends also. I’m a firm believer that anyone can get a lemon, sometimes even more than one, with the manufacturer not necessarily being directly at fault. In today’s market, so much is farmed out to ancillary companies, it’s difficult to say SM/Jiffy is responsible for the performance of the powerhead for example. However, it’s always the parent company’s responsibility to stand behind the total package, and typically to cover their customers. That said, I think you need to compare overall performance/features over several or more augers, and many points of view.
Strikemaster offers just about any auger a person could want, chipper or shaver, in extremely lightweight offerings, that are durable over the long haul, with easy to find replacement blades/parts, from a local (MN) company, with excellent customer service. In a nutshell, that’s why I run them. Is it the fastest on the ice? My lazer mag with sharp blades is darned fast I’ll tell you that. Will I win speed competitions? Maybe. I don’t know? But that doesn’t matter to me.
For long, my opinions regarding Nils have been censored, and I truly wish not to bash or offend those that like them. However, I cannot recommend this product. I was present when a group of Nils users were installing a larger injection port (aftermarket) to increase gas flow and improve idling/auger speed. This was because of the break-in period issues, as well as problems that required idling up to a minute before usage (those times weren’t figured into the auger races).
While I’m uncertain as to the status of this problem, I do know that with a Nils I’d need to spend more money than about any other auger on the market, and would have to buy/carry a replacement cutting head at about $70. You’d be silly not to, as on more than one occasion, I’ve dulled blades beyond usage with sand, rock, or dinging them. To get these blades fixed/resharpened then, you have to send them away and wait for their return rather than purchase them off of any bait shop shelf.
If I break a recoil, needed a tune-up, or had issues with the powerhead, I’d have to go to a Tanaka dealer or small-engine repair shop. Instead, I go to Strikemaster HQ in Big Lake and they take care of me while I wait, for half the price of a small engine repair shop.
I’ll tell you right now, front and center that I work with Strikemaster, and there’s a good reason that I do. It’s because I’ve owned and ran their augers long before I ever made their pro-staff; for all the reasons listed above and then some.
Joel
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One thing is for sure, what ever brand people have is the best to them! With the exception of one.
That’s just being honest. Just because I own a product doesn’t mean I think it’s the best. I’ll use a product and give honest feedback. If I use a product and it’s good, I’ll say so…if it’s not, I’ll say so. All I can do is give a honest review.
BIRDDOG
If you ever make it over my way- you sure can pop a few holes with my strike lite!
Gotta love not mixing gas!! 
I was in the market last year for a new power auger as well. I ended up with a Strike Lite.
I was not very happy with it at first, I couldn’t get it to start worth a darn. After a phone call to strikemaster, they told me the secret of holding the throttle open when you first start it, and it starts in two pulls now.
I have used an older eskimo in the past, and it worked good to, besides being heavy.
I think the quality of strikemasters have gone down in the last few years, but I would purchase a strike lite again. Besides the price tag, I think its the best auger on the market.
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One thing is for sure, what ever brand people have is the best to them! With the exception of one.
That’s just being honest. Just because I own a product doesn’t mean I think it’s the best. I’ll use a product and give honest feedback. If I use a product and it’s good, I’ll say so…if it’s not, I’ll say so. All I can do is give a honest review.
BIRDDOG
Atleast we have one person giving honest reviews on this site. 
I think everyone preferring what they own is a testament to the quality of augers that are out there.
In fact I wouldn’t have a problem purchasing for myself ANY power auger currently on the market. They will get the job done, no doubt.
As far as being honest, it has to pass the friends and family test. If I cannot recommend it to a friend or family member, I sure won’t recommend it to total strangers.
And also as far as being honest, the Nils does have a couple of hangups. One is the blade cover, probably one of the worst designs I’ve seen. Sometimes I wish I could throw it at the design engineer. The other deal is that there was a batch of blades at one time that were out of pitch or something and made them not cut very well. I’ve heard of a few floating around.
….and honestly. I really don’t care what kind of auger people choose, I just like sharing with others what I think would make their experience on the ice even better.
I’m confident that the Nils will do that.
I’ll mix this up a little more, lol!
I have the Strikemaster Electric with the lazer blades and love it! I’m not sponsored, paid for it.
No gas, no oil, always drills. No problems. It wont’t drill 100 holes but a dozen no problem on a 3 year old internal battery. This time of year hook it up to a car battery and drill all day. Not hard on the back either. Got to come in under 20 lbs.
-J.
Is there much difference between a chipper and a shaver? Does one last longer then the other?
It is my experience that the chipper blade will outlast the shaver blades. Also it is cheaper to replace the chipper blade.
When getting an auger with chipper blades though you will be giving up speed and also smooth cutting. The chipper blades tend to bind now and then where the shaver blades feel more like they are melting there way through the ice.
With that said…..the blades on the StikeMaster Lazer Mag I am running now have been outstanding. They are on there second year and I drill a ton of holes. They are not as sharp as when they were new but that is my own fault, I drilled a lot of hole in an area where the ice was covered with a sand grit to get on perch. I knew what I was doing was not good for the blades but the bite was worth it I have not changed them out yet because they still are drilling with ease…..I just lost some of speed getting to the bottom from the top.
I will be at the PD GTG and I can bring the auger along if anyone would like to try an 8inch Lazer Mag to compare with the 4 stroke James is bringing.
I agree that chipper blades are a great choice and have worked extremely well on my Jiffy 8″ Stealth.
I can’t disagree on the SM Strikelite – sounds like a good match for you.
I’m partial to the Nils. A pound or two heavier than the Strikelite – but cuts faster. It is a two stroke tho – which is good and bad, depending on how you look at it.
I have a Jiffy model 31, 8″ auger. Had it for 3 years now and I couldn’t be happier. When it came to me buying an auger, I looked at all of the manufacturers and Jiffy looked like it was the best made. Other manufacturers used too much plastic in my opinion, where the jiffy has metal handles, metal throttle, so on……. I know the metal makes it heavier but when plastic gets cold or a little wet and freezes, it brakes. Example is all of my Frabill minnow buckets, the lids don’t hold up……plastic. The only thing that I wish I would have done is bought a 2 HP auger instead of the 3 HP one that I currently have. It would have been a little lighter and the 3 HP really doesnt get you through the ice any faster.
Now on a side note. When I first bought my auger I ran regular Jiffy 2 cycle oil in the gas mixture. The auger smoked a ton, started hard, and didnt seem to have all of the power it should have. A year ago I switched to the Amsoil 2 cycle “Saber” oil. What huge difference it made. The auger starts great (mostly one pull), hardly any smoke, and the auger isn’t doggy, good power. I am a huge fan of Amsoil synthetic oil, I run it in my truck, atv, chainsaw, auger….. I ice fish with tons of guys, and after they saw how well my auger runs they have all converted to Amsoil 2 cycle oil.
Just wanted to let you know that I’m a owner of a 8 inch Lazer Mag Exp. Plan on putting this girl to work tomorrow. 
No hiding from me now.
Congratulations on an awesome auger
First thing you need to do is make sure the blades are tight but do not over tighten as to strip out the bolts Trust me, this will save you a hassle just in case they loosened up during shipping.
You will be melting ice now
Smackem,
Just curious on where you will be putting this new ice auger to use tomorrow? There’s not a lot of lakes in Marshall County…Green Castle is the only one I’m aware of (If you can even call 16 acres a lake…I know, I know the DNR does)..and I don’t think there’s many fish in there…but maybe that won’t matter if you’re just trying out the new auger….well I guess you could be going to a farm pond too…really just curious on what your plans were starting out in Marshalltown.
~Jay
Fishing got pushed off til Thursday but I plan on hitting the ponds around town first. If fishing is poor then maybe Holiday Lake in the evening.
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