Best Brushless drill for ice augers

Looking at retiring my strikemaster gas powered auger and go with the new lite flight and a cordless drill. Any recommendations as to a brush-less drill that has worked well and reliable in cold weather?

Thanks and good fishing to all.

I was going to get a 6ah, but when I saw a 9ah FlexVolt battery new in packaging for the same price I had to pull the trigger. Can't wait to use it  and see what that does with my other tools!

bsgray83 , NW IL, do you fish Mississippi backwaters ever? I am in Rockford area and would like to try it once there is ice. 

You'll be just fine, no gear box needed as I would assume that that drill to be comparable to the MKE 2804.

The 8" Laser cuts much easier than the 7.5" Kdrill I've run for several years with the plate and MKE drill.

The Gen 2 has bearings in it, Gen 1 didn't.  You should be fine.  The new version is just a redesign of the gear box.  I haven't had any issues with the Gen 2.  My dad has a Gen 1 and the only thing he had issues with is he had to take the chuck off the drill, which is kind of a pain. I did not have to do that for the Gen. 2 and the new one you shouldn't have to either.  Hope this helps.

I just noticed something regarding the Clam plate I bought. It is the plain model (Gen 2) without the gear box. I plan to use my Dewalt 996 with the 8" strikemaster/lazer, so am I going to run into issues without it? Or since this is a really strong drill already, things should be fine? I have no plans to go bigger in hole size, so 8" is the max I'd ever use. 

I use a Dewalt 20v (not hammer) with a Nils auger. I can cut 20 plus holes in 10"  ice even with a 1.5 battery.  5amp batteries do work better but have used 1.5 with no problem

Thanks to everyone for posting in the forum. Everyone had great advice. Been wanting to pull the trigger on a cordless drill to do the work drilling my ice holes. 

Based on what everyone said I went with the Milwaukee Fuel Hammer drill it came with two 5.0 amp batteries and a charger / rugged case. $300 out the door at Blains F&F. I feel like I got a good deal.

Can't wait to run this drill on the hardwater with a 6' Laser hand auger. Now I will just have to wait for ice in NW IL!

Bought a Milwaukee fuel 18 volt last year to use on my 8" strike master lazer. Came with two 5 amp hour batteries, a charger and case. I added a clam conversion kit to it rather than attach it direct and don't regret that decision. Easier to use with handles to hang onto. Never used more than half a battery on any trip, on the ice up to 8 hours. Don't force it, just let the blade do it's thing. Drilled holes in ice up to 24" significantly faster than my buddies Ion. As a bonus I have a drill I can use the rest of the year as opposed to an auger that sits in the basement when there's no ice.

Bought a Milwaukee fuel 18 volt last year to use on my 8" strike master lazer. Came with two 5 amp hour batteries, a charger and case. I added a clam conversion kit to it rather than attach it direct and don't regret that decision. Easier to use with handles to hang onto. Never used more than half a battery on any trip, on the ice up to 8 hours. Don't force it, just let the blade do it's thing. Drilled holes in ice up to 24" significantly faster than my buddies Ion. As a bonus I have a drill I can use the rest of the year as opposed to an auger that sits in the basement when there's no ice.

I had terrible luck with the knock-offs on Ebay. I have 4 total and they all eventually died, I just get a blinking red light when charging. They just keep sending you new ones if you get ahold of them within the 30 day window. Outside of that window I don't get responses and they don't honor the warranty. I've heard they work fine for summer work but they can't handle the cold of winter.

Fun fact - I keep a 1.5ah battery in my tackle bag all season long so it's always with me. Deep down I know one day I will be happy I have it when all I need is that one last hole to get on the fish so I keep it there as a last resort   

If you haven't got your new lite flight yet, I recently got one through cabelas and it did not have the updated adapter(gets wobbly). Emailed strikemaster and they sent one out in a couple days

Milwaukee M18

Hockeyguy I bought one of those 6ah knockoff batteries for my DeWalt from Amazon.  It's worked well so far.  The Youtube channel Wisconsin Fisherman did a video recently about charging up your batteries before winter arrives and he had one of the same ones I have.  I've seen them on Project Farm's Youtube channel as well.  Some of the knock-off's aren't worth it, but the one I got so far so good.  I have two 5 ah batteries that came with the drill and I bought the 6 ah to use with the chainsaw.

Thanks for the responses!  I really had no intention of taking the 1.5s out on the ice, btw. I know those are nowhere near strong enough. Now I just need to look for some deals!

I saw some knock off 20v batteries, but none were supposedly compatible with the DCD996. Not sure what the model of tool has to do with the battery, but I'm not going to risk my drill to find out. Pretty amazing the cost difference, though. Two packs of 6 ah batteries are less than what one Dewalt battery costs lol.

hockeyguy,get the 8's.I have the 6" lazer on the same set up as you.I can get roughly 25-26 holes in 16-18" of ice on the 5ah.batteries.Leave the 1.5's in the basement.