I haven’t kept up with the new augers for the last couple years, been too happy with my pistol bit. Is there any difference between the Eskimo E-40 and the Ion Alpha Plus besides one is Ion and one is Eskimo, which is basically the same company?
The Ion will get a lot more holes per battery is the main difference. I think its about 1300” per charge for the e40 and 2000” of ice for the Ion. Both in 8”.
Can’t go wrong with the deal that was posted earlier on the SM40
I have the Ion alpha plus, absolutely love it. this auger will rip 30″ of ice faster than my buddy’s strike master solo gas auger even with him running new blades, I haven’t ran against a Eskimo e E40, but have yet to hear a bad thing about them either. the composite flight in my opinion is the way to go. no ice buildup on it ever.
In addition to the greater capacity of the amount of ice the Alpha can drill on one battery the specs state the the Ion Alpha drills a tiny bit faster and it weighs a bit more than the E-40.
The E40 is just a slightly stripped down version of the Alpha as far as I can tell. I’ve only drilled a few holes with the E40, but it handles similar to my alpha. So the E40 is lighter at the cost of a small fraction of power and a bit worse battery utilization.
Can’t go wrong with the deal that was posted earlier on the SM40
when you say SM40 i’m assuming the SM stands for strike master right?No more strikemasters in my future, I’ve spent way too much on those stupid laser blades in my past when they were the darling of this site.
I love my Ion Alpha and am going on year 3. I want to try sharpening the blades but they are still so sharp there is no need. My sharpener is professional grade and with it can get a knife blade razor sharp and polished like a mirror if I want. It just involves more work using glass and .3 micron Lapping Micro finishing Film.
I bought the Alpha Plus in January and it’s insane. So light and fast. The battery capacity is crazy. I punched 40 holes yesterday and it only took 1 bar off the battery life. My buddy has the E40 and he really likes it. He fishes differently and probably only punches 5-10 holes each time out. I don’t think you can go wrong on either. Had a SM 40v before and was sick of replacing the blades.
Good info in this thread, especially since my sm 40v decided to give up yesterday.
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