Power Auger

Hello all! I am new to the group, and fairly new to the sport. This is my second full year and looking forward to many more.

Last year and the few times I’ve been out this year, I have used a hand auger. The time has come to step up and get a power auger. I’m having trouble deciding between electric and gas.

I’ve seen two threads here already about the Strikemaster electric but can’t find much more about it. Does anyone here use a Strikemaster Mag 2000? Is it sufficient? (I hit the ice maybe once or twice per week).

Thanks in advance to all those who reply

Welcome to the site! I don’t know that much about Electric Augers ,do you need to hook them up to the truck for power or have to carry a battery? I have a laser mag and I love it. The only bad thing is if you do have trouble your hands could smell like gas. I think if I had to carry a battery around you may as well get the gas auger. My 2 cents worth.

The electrics seem to be popular with the permanent shack crowd as they don’t fill your house up with NASTY fumes and smoke when new holes are punched or old ones re-opened and most houses run their lights off of a 12 volt power supply… usually a monster-sized deep cycle. Since the battery is already in the house its a smart way to go when portability and max hole punching power is not an issue.

I’m with chappy in that I couldn’t imagine an advantage to lugging around a deep cycle on the ice as well as the electric auger and have an advantage in weight and convenience over the standard gas units.

Strikemaster, Jiffy and Eskimo all make quality augers with some variation in quality and performance between them. I own a Jiffy and have been satisfied but the strikemasters seemed to cut through the ice a bit nicer.

Welcome to the site and the sport!

I have a Strikemaster 1200DP Electric Auger that I bought this year, and so far, I love it. It has a built in rechargeable battery pack (same battery as your vexilar, marcum, or aquavu), and weighs about the same as a power auger. You can also switch it to external power, and hook it up to the battery in your truck, atv, or snowmobile. I have only been using it on about 6 inches of ice so far, but it drills like crazy. I have probably drilled about 40 holes with it so far, and haven’t needed to recharge it yet(I have the 8 inch model). It has the same drill and blades as the gas powered laser mag (2 serrated blades with a chipper). Ice team did a test where they drilled through 3 feet of ice, they were able to easily drill 15 holes before the battery went dead. Consider that the ice in our area never gets three feet thick during most winters, even very cold ones. The biggest advantage I have found yet is that all you have to do is flip a swith and push a button down to drill your hole, I had 5 holes drilled yesterday by the time the guys fishing next to us got through their first ones, after letting their auger warm up, setting the choke etc. I have yet to use it on thick ice, but so far, I love it, and I expect I will still love it when the ice is two feet thick, because when the battery runs, out I’ll switch it over to external power and connect it to my ATV or truck. If you have any questions about it, or if anybody wants to give it a try, let me know, I fish almost every day, I would be glad to meet up with me and let you try it out.

Wad

Very interesting! I’m not familiar with the electric you’re speaking of… the one’s I’ve seen in use did not have their own battery pack and certainly would not keep up with a gas in any way. Sounds like your auger would be quite capable in all but the most extreme situations. I know some of the more gung-ho guys that punch dozens of holes in a day might deplete the power in that battery, I know I was one to turn the ice into swiss cheese when I was still an ice-nut, but the average guy would never run out of go-juice.

Thanks for the head’s up.

I have the Mag 2000 and feel it is a good auger. It is plenty fast for drilling 2-3 feet of ice. The only drawback is it can get heavy. I am always on the move and punch quite a few holes. It has held up so far for me. I have also used an electric auger. The one we used, we had to carry a small battery with us. The battery does not last very long. My opinion is go with a gas auger. One thing on the Mags, do not use the vent while drilling. Instead just unscrew the gas cap a 1/4 turn. The gasket on the vent does not last very long and then it leaks gas all over.

I also have the Strikemaster Mag 2000, and agree with what AmWatson had to say. The Mag 2000 is definately an “adequate” auger. It has performed real well so far, no complaints here.

Check out the Eskimo line of power augers. The big two companies get a lot of press and “air time”. I was on the Jiffy side until two weeks ago. I just bought an Eskimo “Shark” and beat the 2 HP Strikemasters by a couple of seconds drilling 11 inches of ice.

Strikemaster laser mag express cuts ice like nothing. I’ve tried a lot of different ones but this one I love. My 2 cents

The Mag 2000 will be quite sufficient. I have been using mine for 8 years with no complaints. The Lazers are faster, but if you aren’t trying to set a record for hole drilling, you will be impressed. Mine functions better with high octane gas, and leaning out the Oil:Gas mixture a bit from what the owner’s manual states.

Running your augers or ATV’s in the winter for that matter on high octane is a super tip nubbin. Also gapping your plugs works wonders too. And keep your blade sharp.

It should be pointed out that all of the augers that are on the market are good and will cut ice. All of the companies have several models and market them accordingly. They all work and most problems encountered with them are operator error.

They will all last many seasons with reasonable care. Severe useage by guides and icefishing wackos will tend to seperate the good product from the very good product. The margin seperating the two is not that large. What makes one NASCAR car better than another? Hell their all fast!!! Who amongst us knows that taking 2 pounds of air out of the left rear tire would have given us 2 MPH more coming out of the corners? A 1% advantage!!!

I’ve got an old(er) mag III, and it still starts on the 4th pull, cuts through 2 feet of ice w/o too much trouble, but smokes up the place pretty good doin’ it. I am considering getting maybe a Jiffy 2hp legend lightning to keep ol’ faithful company, no particular reason, they all have the same motor, they all drill through the ice, and they all do it a lot faster than the mag III. The main reason is because I happen to like yellow

I have a Model 30 Jiffy and love it.

I had thought about selling it and getting a lazer for the lighter weight and faster cutting.

But then I found out that the Jiffy blades are easily modified to make a mean cutting machine.

All I did was take the convex angle out of the teeth and straighten the edge on the V. WOW!

This year I plan to add the ripper blade to see how that works.

Since getting an ATV I can deal with a heavier auger.

If I get back into walking back into backwaters I will have to take a serious look at that electric unit with the power supply onboard!

Hears a good tip for you guys that end up lugging around your augers by hand. Throw a strap on it and fling it across your back or shoulder. Even a heavy 3hp auger becomes alot simpler to carry around this way.
Riverat. Your coment about walking into the back waters got me thinking about this.
My strap so far has been a rubber bungie cord. Just bend the hook out a little to get it around the handle of the auger. Hook the other end of it near the blade. Been using this for about 6 years and have never had one break on me yet but I would recomend using a fresh bungie cord. The spring of the bungie cord seems to take alot of the shock from the auger bouncing up and down.
Havent tryed any other type of straps yet but I’m sure many different styles would work.
Oh yea. Dont forget to take it off before you start drilling holes.

Thanks for the post Flounder I had a lot of my questions answered..
Hey Flounder I noticed your from Watertown, S.D.
Not many S.D. guys around here.
I spent some time in Brookings, and I loved S.D. (best job I ever had or will ever have)
Glad your here,
Xpd-39 (a.k.a. Bowfinhunter)

Here’s a pic of the electric model from Strikemaster.
I took a good look at them at the ice show. They look nice and would come in handy for use in the permanent shack. I read you shouldn’t drill hole after hole but let the battery come back up after a few minutes before drilling more holes.

Ferny.