Best Auger for cordless drill?

Does it really matter?  I'm considering an 8 inch Pistol Bit for $159.

Let's hear it.

Here's a question for all you guys: Does the drill HAVE TO be a hammer drill?  I have the adapter and auger, just need to pick out the drill.  My son has all the Makita 18V batteries etc. for his tools so I just need the drill and have found some used ones that aren't hammer drills.  

Big question is will they work?  Keep in mind, 99% of my fishing is with tip ups so I won't be cutting 50 holes in a day.....

Thanks for the help.

This Milwaukee 2804 has been an animal cutting ice. So far I am very satisfied with how light the entire setup is. Much lighter than my 7" Strikemaster Laser power auger was.

I stuck the 6" Lazer on the bottom of the ice a couple of days ago, so I have a bit of experience using the curved blades under power. My old 7" Lazer power auger would to the same thing. I'll be working this new rig pretty slow under power. Don't need to break a wrist.

Gman, that drill set up is how I broke my wrist several years ago, b careful.  Honestly, get a Clam Plate, it will b the best money u ever spent.  

Watch out that you don't get anything snagged on or come in contact with that cross piece while drilling. 

Ended up getting a 7" auger for use with my Milwaukee 2804.  

Certainly if you already have a powerful enough drill/battery/charger just buying the auger would save money, but I was under the impression the OP was purchasing all necessary equipment. 

I bought the Jiffy Torch 8" last year and use it with my Dewalt 20V.  Cuts excellent.

8" is kind of a big auger that would be better in the stronger 40, not the 24 volt Strikemaster auger.  The savings in using a cordless drill is that it's not necessarily dedicated to ice fishing only.  When you want to use it other than ice fishing, just open the chuck and it's a power tool again.  On a Clam plate, you undo the two knobs of the U bolt also, but the adjustments are saved when putting the power tool on again.

If needing to buy an appropriate drill, battery, charger and auger, wouldn’t it be cheaper/easier to buy something like the 8” 24v StrikeMaster auger? 

After a little hunting around, the best pricing that I could find on factory Milwaukee 5.0A batteries in factory clam shell packaging was on FaceBook Marketplace. Met the man F-2-F and paid $125 for a pair. Bring on the ice.....

Gman, the aftermarket batteries are available all over and all sizes. I have run several of the 9amp hour along side of the MKE branded and they work just as hard, just not as long. They also begin to have problems with shorts from drops as such easier and also found they will take on water and corrode easier.

That being said, replacement doesn't hurt nearly as bad and they certainly serve their purpose as a cheap "disposable" alternative.

The 8 inch lite flite on a Clam Drill plate and a DeWalt DCD 991, 5 ah battery got me about 30 to 40 holes through about 15 inches of ice last winter.  I always have a second battery with me just in case and I've never needed it with the exception the one time I forgot to charge the battery.  Sat in my garage for 3 weeks and still got me 8 more holes before dying!  I like the lite flite.  I use a 6 inch Lazer as well on the Clam Plate. With that I get a few more holes, and my 5 inch that i use at last ice when I'm targetting only panfish gets me....well I don't know cause I can't drill that many holes, lol!

Being the thrifty individual that I am, I found a seller of Lithium batteries on Ebay offering what I assume are batteries from Chy-Na. Look identical (or close) to Milwaukee batteries. Did this thinking that Milwaukee gets them OEM from a vendor in Chy-Na (biggest lithium producer).

On my postal scale, these 4 Amp batteries weigh 15 ounces. Pretty light in my estimation. If they do not hold up, then I will go the 5 Amp route with batteries direct from Milwaukee, just to be sure.

"Am somewhat anxious to cut some holes with it."

You're gonna love it.  Little advice, always make sure it's locked or you pull the battery before transporting.  Got a pretty good slice in the shack one day when I forgot and something hit the trigger while banging around in the sled.