Any big differences in the cutting between the kdrill and the strikemaster lite flight. Been using a kdrill the last 2 years and it’s taken the clutch out on my milwaukee m18 fuel hammer drill by the end of the season each year. Thought maybe a fluke the first year but 2 in a row. Looking to change it up or go to an electric auger.
I have a buddy with a Kdrill, and one with a Lite Flight, I lucked out and bought a Pistol Bit last year after not able to find a lite flight. I am very impressed with the performance on it with a dewaldt drill attached. I have ran all 3 and will buy the pistol bit again if mine comes up missing.
K-Drill requires more actual drill power because it uses chipper blades. Lite flite is nice from what I’ve heard, and you don’t need a really beefy drill, but i’ve heard that blades dull very quickly. If you have a drill with more than 1000 in-lbs of torque, I’d personally go with the K-Drill. If not, I’d go with the lite flite.
I used an 8” lite flight on an M18 fuel all last year. I liked it so much I bought the 6” too. I didn’t even fire up my gas augers last winter
K-Drill requires more actual drill power because it uses chipper blades. Lite flite is nice from what I’ve heard, and you don’t need a really beefy drill, but i’ve heard that blades dull very quickly. If you have a drill with more than 1000 in-lbs of torque, I’d personally go with the K-Drill. If not, I’d go with the lite flite.
They are different tools for different jobs (or users).
K-Drills seem to be the most durable, but are also the most wearing on your drill and require the most torque. I’m going on year 4 on one set of blades without them being sharpened. They still cut the way they did day 1 and they’ve made thousands of holes, hit logs and muck bottom, drilled through dirty ice, etc. If you dull these blades, you just mail them in for sharpening free of charge. If you are more likely to be hard on your stuff, fish shallow river water, or really want to open old holes…the K Drill is your best bet.
The Lite Flite uses a shaver blade that’s more efficient. They likely are a couple seconds faster, use a little less battery, and can be run by less of a drill. The downfall is that the blades are easier to dull and can be knocked out of alignment fairly easily. If you want to maximize battery life, don’t fish shallow backwater areas with dirty ice or near the bottom on breakthrough, and aren’t as keen to reopening old holes…the Lite Flite or Pistol Bit are your best bets.
FWIW I run a K-Drill on the Brushless Milwaukee. I might give the Pistol Bit a shot this season to try something new and pass the K-Drill off to my brother who is just getting into ice fishing. Both of these and the Lite Flite will drill you thousands of holes without issues if used properly.
Also, I’m not sure how guys are burning out drill clutches or damaging drills in general. Mine has been dropped off roofs, left laying on the ice, dropped on cement, and drilled thousands of holes and just keeps ripping. I’ve been told (but cannot verify) that running the drill in the air with the auger on and abruptly releasing the trigger is hard on drills? I’m not sure why someone would do this in the first place.
Interesting. I have been using the KDrill and the brushless Milwaukee also. I too have run the same drill and blades for going on 4 years now and still have the same drill as when I started. I drill a lot of holes so I am not sure what I am doing right. Since I am from Iowa, maybe the ice is not as thick, but I know a few years about I was going through 3 feet and everything went fine. I love the KDrill but I am sure the Lite Flight works also. I agree with what BB says above.
can be knocked out of alignment fairly easily.
On the lite flite the mounting pads are one solid piece. They can’t be knocked out of alignment like older designs. Essentially if your blade bolts are tight you’re good to go. No shimming or tweaking is needed, ever.
^Good to know. If I do a swap in the future that’s one less “con” of the shaver style blades to factor.
Get the HT Nero and never look back. My buddies who have KDrills are always blown away by the speed of the Nero. It’s cheap and awesome.
When you are drilling your holes are you using drill mode ? I would not use hammer or any of the clutch settings because of problems like you are having.
Got the 6 inch lite flite 6 inch best auger ever, had a K drill if you were on wind swept ice constantly maybe that thing was hard on my Milwaukee drill. I do have it on a Clam plate so much easier on the wrist.
i have not had the lite flite but ran a season of the pistol bit and needed sharpening half way through the season. the 6″ kdrill lasted 3 or 4 seasons before i sent the blades in and fishing the shallow river backwaters really take its toll.
I run it on a 2704m18 w/12AH set up. have for 4 years. probably 5000 holes a season. I also put a ton of time on the drill as a utility during the off season. it is finally showing its age and will be relegated as a around the house drill this fall as I upgrade it.
I have 8 inch Lite Flite and a dewalt brushless 996 20 Max. Have been using the Lite Flite I think two years and am blown away how fast it cuts. I don’t run into ice much more than 20 inches thick so I use mine almost every time out… Never had issues with blades but of course you have to take care of things.
Might be worth trying to find a buddy or two or someone from this site that lives near you and get your hands on each to see what you think.
“probably 5000 holes a season.” Ya right🤔
Yeah something seams off. I have been running a KDrill on the same drill for 6 years. I think they all make a good product but I don’t think swapping brands has anything to do with burning your drill up.
Get the HT Nero and never look back. My buddies who have KDrills are always blown away by the speed of the Nero. It’s cheap and awesome.
This is a heck of a sleeper auger if you ask me. Buddy also owns one and it absolutely rips through the ice.
Do they keep the hole clean? Biggest reason I went from nils back to strikemaster
“probably 5000 holes a season.” Ya right🤔
i will admit that last year that # went down greatly due to panoptics.
I just run 7inch strike master laser with my drill Ridgid octane
I have both (KDrill and Lite Flite) and they each have their place. made it almost 4 years on the 1st set of blades for the KDrill before they were noticeably dull. I have had the Lite Flite for 1.5 seasons now and no issues there either.
I dont think you can go wrong with either for the large majority of people
Sold my Kdrill bit after using my Lite Flite there’s no comparison IMO that Kdrill eats up batteries fast.
I can’t comment on the k drill. But I bought the 8″ lite-flite last year and really like it. This is replacing my 7″ HT arctic Express steel auger. I have it paired up with an Ice Gator Attacker power head. I like having the drill point to keep the drill from walking. I was worried about possibly breaking the plastic flites when breaking through the bottom of the hole. But after using it for a season I’m no longer worried. I just don’t push through the bottom and let the blades keep cutting through.
I know I’m late to the party here, but another benefit of the Lite Flight is its ability for Overlapping Holes. I’ve used my lite flight for “MickyMouse” holes for sturgeon on the St Croix. The 3rd hole the auger does kick out every once in awhile at the bottom, but I think thats more my fault than the auger.
My 6″ K-drill is slow, but it works well and I beat the heck out of it. Finally swapped the blades after 4 years and it didn’t get any faster. The Pistol and Nero I’ve tried is significantly faster. I imagine the Lite Flite is just as fast as those.
If/when my K-drill dies, I’ll most likely go to a lite flite.
As someone who had drilled a ton of holes with my and a buddies K-drill over the last 3 years and now have a Lite flight I can tell you the lite flight does cut more smooth and faster. The two downsides to the lite flight I see are the issue of being able to reopen old holes, and how long the blades will stay sharp, and the cost of replacement blades. My fishing partner and I have the best of both worlds. He has the new light flight and I have my old K-drill. If we fish a area with old holes I go around and open them up with the kdrill and he checks them for fish with the flasher. If we need to cut new holes he cuts and I check.
The one thing I’m interested in seeing on the lite flight is how well the flights hold up over time. My guess by looking at them is they will hold up as good or better than the K-drill. But only time will tell.
I reopen holes with my light flight all the time. I dont get what the issues are with that?
I reopen holes with my light flight all the time. I dont get what the issues are with that?
We tried to use my buddies to reopen a few old holes and it did not work real well. Maybe it was just a one off issue. It keep hanging up. I’ve also read that opening old holes will really dull the blades fast. Not sure if true or not. If using a 6″ lite flight and reopening a old 8″ hole probably not a issue. The ones we tried to reopen were older 6 ” holes with a 6″ lite flight.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>WinonaFishery wrote:</div>
Get the HT Nero and never look back. My buddies who have KDrills are always blown away by the speed of the Nero. It’s cheap and awesome.This is a heck of a sleeper auger if you ask me. Buddy also owns one and it absolutely rips through the ice.
Last year I got the Nero and it was great at first. It ripped through the ice with my Dewalt and it was sweet could not believe I got it for only 80 bucks. All my friends were very impressed, super light and faster than other options for only half the price. Only lasted about 3-4 weeks of hard use. I discovered after 2 weeks that the metal shaft was not even painted but covered in some cheap plastic material that began to chip off very easily and tons of rust formed on the auger shaft. After four weeks and fishing hard 4 days a week those once super sharp blades became worthless and dull. About the same time that happened the stabilizer handle locked up on me. I was able to return it to Cabelas somehow after all of that.
I would strongly avoid buying HT products for ice fishing they seem very low quality and break easily. All the videos on youtube of the Nero are impressive and they are very nice at first but they do not last at all. If you are in the market for a bit I would definitely recommend going with one of the three main options.
I ran the Kdrill for a few seasons but switched to LiteFlite and never looked back. They are a lot faster, less battery/ wera n tear on your drill.
I require a blade change usually about 3/4 way through, but i do drill a lot of holes every time out. Cool, part is they use the standard Lazer blades and you can pretty much find them anywhere.
Any big differences in the cutting between the kdrill and the strikemaster lite flight. Been using a kdrill the last 2 years and it’s taken the clutch out on my milwaukee m18 fuel hammer drill by the end of the season each year. Thought maybe a fluke the first year but 2 in a row. Looking to change it up or go to an electric auger.
I switched from a k-drill to a 24v Strikemaster this season. I figured the same thing that it was a matter of time before I smoked a drill. The light flite cuts nice but the blades seem to dull quicker. I will say that I got more holes out of my drill setup. The strikemaster claims 50 holes but I haven’t seen that yet.
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