I picked up an eskimo Z51 10″ on clearance a couple yrs ago and couldn’t be happier. Very solid dependable auger – and no composite handles. The nils is smoother and lighter, but at a price. Cast aluminum handles on the eskimo were the selling point for me. I have seen WAY TOO MANY composite handles break. In fact, about 3-4 yrs ago on lake Winnipeg, in our group of 5, my old school strikemaster with steel handles was the only auger that was usable by the third day. The other 4 SM’s were all out of commission due to busted handles. No thanks on that. They are fine if you baby your stuff, but IMO, for hard core traveling, they are not reliable.
T