If you can watch In-depth outdoors which is on Sundays Fox sports north 8 am.
You will learn different ideas and techniques every week and also see the latest and best equipment used in the industry. James and his crew do this better than anyone in my opinion on TV. But if you can hire a good guide like Roach guide service to start out, nothing beats live-action with an experienced guide, or ask your experienced buddy that understands the awesome game of ice fishing focusing on safety, good equipment and ideas.

Reply to supercat in regard to life of Li-ion packs versus gas.
If the Li-ion battery pack is well designed using quality cells and proper charging techniques you should expect to see around 450-600 full charge and discharge cycles and very nice consistent performance during the life of the battery pack.
So let’s say you fish 50 days per year and use 1 full discharge cycle(100 holes in 16-18″ of ice)then you will get around 10 years of nice performance right up until the battery pack end of life. Most packs if designed correctly run consistently until the very end of life.
Then during off-season fully charge the battery pack and store at comfortable room temperature around 50-80f if you can.
Battery power is so much cleaner, less messy, no carbs or pull cords to break.
Anyway that is my feedback to you from a designer point. thanks

The suggestion of replacing individual cells inside a Multi-cell Li-ion battery pack should never be done. Been involved in battery pack and charger design for over 25 years for many large OEM customers in many fields.
Well designed Multi cell Li-ion battery packs that are used on ice augers have Battery Management Systems (BMS) that help with many functions within the battery pack. If you change out an individual cell or multiple cells you will run into problems with imbalanced cells and this can easily lead to voltage reversal thus causing issues with the battery pack.
The voltage profile and internal impedance of the battery pack change over time which BMS can handle if programmed and designed correctly, but not if you swap cells and cell manufacturers.
Rather than write a book on battery and charger design, just do not do what was suggested. Many safety issues as well.

DO NOT replace individual cells within a complete Li-ion battery pack as mentioned above. You will simply be wasting your money. You will end up with a voltage balance problem within the battery pack in a very short period. I could list more reasons but no need to. Just don’t do it.
Many years of battery and charger design experience, all chemistries.

Hello Mr. Walldog, did you try to make sure that when drilling to maintain pressure on the switch. If this does not work then call Rapala HQ in tonka and ask for Culp. If the auger is cutting properly during the first half then it is not the blades. The beeps are for reference in the event that you have a problem. You can keep track of the beeps by maintaining pressure on the switch, there will be a pause between each set of beeps. Then if you do have problems you can let the repair center know the number of beeps and it will aid in repair.))
Again I really suspect it is switch pressure while drilling or maybe the switch
is screwed up.

Only problem with this test is the thin ice conditions. Try the 3 different units side by side in 16 plus inches of ice and you will see real results. Then make your decision on the best value and performance machine. And please do the same test with a 10″ auger instead of 8″ to see the real difference, oh and don’t forget actual hole count as well from full battery to fully discharged. Have fun….

Make sure that you are not letting up on the switch pressure while drilling the hole. It is easy to do if you are wearing thick gloves.

What I really enjoy about the 40V weight and balance is how it drills holes with minimal physical effort. Pick the spot to drill and the auger cuts really fast with minimal effort on the operators part, just hang on firmly, steer and watch it eat. No need to push or lean on it unless your blades get damaged.

Strikemaster 40V is a faster auger than the 40V ion offering, the Ion G2 is much more expensive than the 40V.
If you looking for an awesome light weight option look at the new Strikemaster 24 volt. With the new 24 Volt Strikemaster you will be able to drill 50 holes in 16 inches of ice on a single charge. The 24 volt SM weight is approximately 13 pounds, the lightest auger on the market. The 24 Volt SM drills holes at approximately the same speed as the 40v SM but half the hole count. 40v SM drills 100 holes in 16 inches on a full charge.
Both the 40 volt Strikemaster and 24 Volt Strikemaster are excellent choices especially for the overall performance and value.

Typical cycle life of a good quality designed Li-Ion battery pack like a 40V or 24V Strikemaster product is around 500 FULL charge and DISCHARGE cycles. I would not be surprised to see packs run 10 years depending on usage.
How the battery pack is designed for protection, safety and cell manufacturer used is very important to achieve good cycle life.
There is no memory effect like nickel based chemistries so you don’t have to worry about full discharging your Li-ion pack.
During fishing season, try your best to keep your pack warm prior to use especially if temps are below 4 degrees F.
At the end of season fully charge your Li-ion battery pack, store it somewhere around 50-80F and you will be good to go for next season.
Also once you start to notice your Li-ion battery starting to lose significant run time you will not have much time left before it needs to be replaced.

Actually based on thick ice (at least 16″)testing the new 24 Volt Strikemaster will perform(speed) almost identical to the 40V Strikemaster with the exception of the hole count.
(40V SM 8″ will cut 100 holes in 16 inches of different ice types). (24 Volt SM with 8″ 50 holes in 16 inches of ice). (24 volt with 6″ 100 holes in 16 inches).
40v Strikemaster fastest auger on the market running a 8″ or 10″ especially in thicker ice running a 10″.
24 volt operates on 6″ or 8″ auger at a price point of 399 retail and lightest on the market. G2 is over $700, Jiffy right at $600. Strikemaster 40V $549.
SM best value in my opinion considering price, speed, warranty and battery protection if dropped on hard surface.
BTW the 24 Volt SM is not just an early ice auger, it will work wonderful in most any conditions with 6″ or 8″ as does the 40V SM.

Hello John, you will need an extension for that depth of ice if there is actually 5 feet.

Hello Rich the battery pack will NOT fall off of the auger on a snowmobile, atv or back of truck bouncing around. The interconnect system is really a nice design.
Your comment about the contacts and keeping the battery free of snow/ice and water is a very good practice to follow.
We simply carry the battery pack or packs inside of our sled or somewhere to protect the battery pack the best we can.
It is also a good practice to keep the 40V battery pack warm prior to use once the temp is around or below 0 degrees F.

Jason the Strikemaster 40v is an excellent choice. Specifically designed for ice fishing with the auger/blade system Strikemaster designed. Awesome performance and reliability. About 1600″-1800″ (100+ holes in 16″) inches of ice using an 8″ with one battery pack.
You will not get even close to that performance with a hand drill. Around 40-60 holes in 12 inches of ice depending on which drill, auger and pack you use, but that’s pretty close.
As a suggestion maybe buy the Strikemaster 40V with the 10″ standard and add the lite flight 8″. The 40V with the 10″ steel is an absolute ice ripping machine.(awesome man)

For proper charging and maintaining lead acid based batteries you really need to pay close attention and read how the charger actually operates. Be sure to check if the charger first goes to a fast charge and then to a much much slower maintenance charge to keep battery full/topped off. Not all chargers operate the same same. It is a good practice even though it may cost a bit more to stick with OEM equipment. Now that does not mean that there is not good stuff out there but if your knowledge is limited not a bad idea..

Hello Mr. Big Crappie, is there any way I could email or contact you directly to have a friendly chat. Plus I love catching Crappies))

Ok, a couple of comments from this post.
1. Li-ion battery packs are not all designed the same. The (Cell) manufacturer and the control portion of the pack design and how the pack interacts with the charger make up the longevity, safety and quality of the product.
2. One of the comments above mentions most of the time a cell is bad. Swapping out a cell in a li-ion battery pack is bad practice, I would never do this process you will be throwing away your money. The individual cells within the pack will be unbalanced and the pack will fail in time, especially in higher voltage packs. Not trying to be offensive here, this is based upon experience.
3. Companies like Strikemaster/Rapala have skilled design personnel and work with skilled engineers to ensure proper battery and charger design.
4. I figured I would make a comment on using a maintenance charger designed for lead acid on a li-ion pack. It is CRITICAL that when a li-ion pack is fully charged that no more current is applied. Using a maintenance charger designed for lead acid on a lithium pack is a bad idea and in some cases could be a safety issue depending on how the lithium pack is designed.

I would make more comments but as I mentioned above not every design using lithium is the same. In most cases if you follow the manufacturers instruction for care and storage of your battery pack you will be in pretty good shape. I’m sure Marcum would be happy to help with any issues, I love their product with the shuttle. Hope these comments help some..

No need to top off Li-ion if you fully charge for storage as per instructions above.
There is some slow self discharge on Li-ion, but not nearly as quick as Lead. Most important do not fully discharge battery pack and then store for extended period of time.

Follow instructions I mentioned above and you will have excellent performance and cycle life on 40V Strikemaster product.

Hope this helps.

Joe, I believe it is a good idea to purchase a product that is designed for the application. Strikemaster, Ion and Jiffy are examples of ice augers designed for ice fishing and have been in the market for many years.

Joe wrote:If you get a new brushless drill it won’t get remotely warm and the new drills cut out if you draw too many amps. It kind of sounds like you are talking about the drills from 5 yrs ago. Technology has advanced…
I do agree that a Strikmaster will cut circles around a KDrill though. No comparison.
Joe, I can assure you that all brushed and brushless drills develop significant heat under load while cutting ice, especially the hand drills not designed to cut ice…… Many factors involved in regard to cutouts and I understand them quite well. I try to tactfully make comments to help provide a good choice for the actual user based upon real testing.
Good luck

MMM trying to say this tactfully, I wonder if the hand drills that are used with the k-drill or similar are designed to withstand the (I) current loads that the system will draw especially in thick ice. That funny smell that you notice in the air while drilling in thick ice is the motor getting hot. Curious, for you guys that use hand drills and have burned them up, do you tell the retailer that you used it for ice fishing? and if so do they honor the warranty? And man does that hurt when the auger gets stuck and the drill smacks you in the hand or wrist, it screwed up a night of bowling for me.
And if you like for fun compare the performance of the 40v Strikemaster to the Kdrill/Hand Drill combo, no comparison 40V Strikemaster hands down.
If your wondering what to expect for battery life on the Strikemaster 40V, with an 8″ auger you can drill approximately 80 holes per day in 20″ of ice with a single charge, under this scenario I would say around 500 ice fishing days. So lets say you actually fish 60 days per season that is right at 8 years of use. Next scenario lets say you ice fish 30 days per season like many, well then the life cycle could be doubled. All this assumes you take care of your battery pack as per easy to follow instructions provided by Strikemaster. In regards to electric versus gas please take a look at all gas trimmers, chain saws, blowers etc etc. The trend is clear. And lets be honest messing with carbs all the time, mixing gas and carrying gas is a pain. The 40v Strikemaster is a great buy for the money, get one enjoy it, and the lights are cool.

I live in Iowa, our fleet farm ad from Sunday had the Strikemaster 40v with 8″ reg price $549 marked down to $449. Cabela’s recently had a good sale as well.
Great choice..

There is only one 40V charger designed for the product.

Yes they are the same. Here is the good news, using the 40V platform the 8″ and 10″ cutting speed/performance is almost exactly the same. Keep your 8″ and get the new 40V with a 10″ then your covered.

Hello Cole, I would say 90% just let the 40v do the work via gravity and the weight of the unit, the other 10% you can apply a little pressure but not much is necessary at all if you take good care of the auger blades. Another tip try not to leave your battery pack out in the real cold overnight. When in use it is always a good idea to keep the powerhead and battery pack out of free standing water. At the end of the year a good idea would be to take the auger off of the power head and apply some grease to the shaft and store your auger somewhere where it won’t get damaged. Then fully charge the battery pack and store it away until next season in a decent place. The 40V will last many years if a bit of care is taken…

Check out Cabela’s online price with the EXTRA battery pack as part of the price. It is a very good buy for what you get. If you choose the 10″ you will run about 20-25% less holes than the 8. Either way 8 or 10 you will really like the machine. The cutting speed is almost identical between the 8 and the 10, i know this as we raced them many times at different ice thickness.

I found a great deal on a new Otter X over cabin from Reeds. I purchased at the show and picked it up in Onamia on Wednesday. The store employee Michelle in Onamia treated us great during pick up. And of course we spent another couple hundred while we were in the store.
Also at the show got a great deal on a Tuned up Custom Rod as well as a St. Croix rod.
Now if only all this great stuff would help me catch more fish)) There were a couple of places that had nice deals on the Strikemaster 40V, but I already have one and its awesome.

Hello everyone, I thought I would make a comment on this question. Rather than dive in to all the technical details on Lithium battery design. I will simply and respectfully say at the end of the fishing season fully charge your 40V battery pack and then store it away until next year in a room temp environment. Using this method will ensure many years of usage far beyond 3-5 years.
In regard to using two battery packs random, sure this will work great, but again at the end of the year fully charge and store them away. This method will ensure many years of use until the battery pack has reached it normal life expectancy.
I hope this helps out.

Tyler, I can tell you from experience that the 10″ choice will perform very well with the 40v powerhead, the actual 10″ hole cutting time is very similar to a gas running with a 10″ auger in 16-24 inches of ice. There was a comment here that mentioned the 10″ is hard on the electrics. I can tell you from testing that the 10″ will meet and exceed your expectations with many years of run time before you need a new battery pack. On a side note: The 40V will cut 10″ holes in 20 inches of ice twice as fast as the ION 10″. I do agree that a person should stick with an 8″ if they are doing normal fishing versus big lunkers. If the big pike or muskies are your priority than go with the 40v with 10″.
Also in regard to hand drill and auger combinations. I have concerns with safety for your hands and wrists as well as actually damaging the power drill. We experienced this first hand.

Kevin here is a little help, based upon many hours and countless holes cut all over the Midwest and Canada. A very nice product that performs very well is the Strikemaster 40V. Strikemaster’s 40V simply cuts holes in shallow and thick ice faster than the 8″ Ion and much faster than the 10″ Ion. No offense to the ION it does cut fine it is just slower. In addition the 40V will perform/cut ice as well and in some cases faster than gas or propane ice augers without the hassle of gas and oil, propane or any other fuel.
In regard to overall life of the battery packs: Let us assume you fish 50 days per year and cut 50 holes per day in 20″ of ice. Your battery pack will last between 7-10 years if you store it properly at year end. Although extreme for a normal fishing person if you fish 100 days per year and everyday cut 50 holes in 20″ of ice your battery would last 3.5-5 years.
Hope this helps))