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 should edit my post as well.  I'm fishing mostly the Madison chain of lakes, which on average the ice gets about 12-15 inches thick at its greatest.  Some years a little more, many years (lately especially) a little less.  At around 12 inches of ice I get 40-50 holes with my 8 inch Lazer auger, clam plate, and a Dewalt 5 ah battery.

Really a personal preference and depends entirely on how many holes you want the ability to drill. 

You have to take ice depth into consideration, no way anyone is getting 40 holes mid winter in northern WI during a normal season. Bago gets pretty thick too most years. With my 5.5" kdrill I get ~15 holes at 20" of ice with my 5ah battery (I estimate ~300" of ice) and around 25 holes with my 8ah battery (~400-500"). I don't leave the house without 21-29ah worth of battery, most guys on here will say that is overkill but I've used up all my batteries more than once in a half days outing. I would guess a 5.5" kdrill would be similar to an 8" smooth blade auger bit as far as power use, but really have no idea. 

Cheapest authentic Milwaukee batteries are on ebay, BTW. 

EDIT - these numbers are with a milwaukee 2703 drill, it might be different for Dewalt, missed that detail in your question. 

Hockeyguy, I get about 40-50 holes with a 5 ah battery with using the Dewalt dcd991 and an 8 inch auger. I always bring the second battery with me but have never needed it.  If the 8 ah isn't much more money then I'd get it, otherwise just use your 4 ah and bring the 1.5 ah with as a spare and see how long it lasts for you.

Just  got my Clam plate delivered today. Got a Dewalt 996 and a 8" Strikemaster hand auger. Currently only have a 4 ah (and two 1.5s), so looking to load up sufficiently. With the 8" auger, what would be the best option? Would 6 ah batteries be good enough? Or would it be better to go big with 8 ah? I fish Winnebago mostly, so when I go out I usually hop around and poke a number of holes, usually three at a time. And would really like to get up north this winter and swiss cheese a couple lakes. 

The Dewalt 980 is a brush motor drill, the 990 series is brushless.  I have the 991, which has the same torque as the 996 but doesn't have the hammer option. I don't think they make the 980 anymore.  From what I've read, you it's best to have a brushless motor because they don't burn the motor up as much.  This will be my 5th year with the Dewalt DCD 991 paired with a Clam plate and I love it.  I have a 5 inch, 6 inch, and 8 inch Lazer augers that I use with it, all depending on what I'm fishing for and the thickness of ice.  I tend to use the 5 inch more at last ice when the ice is still thick but I don't have to worry about the hole freezing over.  The 6 inch is my favorite.  Drills through 18 inches of ice like butter!  I raced my friend last year who had a Flite paired with a Rigid he got from Home Depot and in 15 inches of ice I was 2 seconds faster than he was.  He still loves his flite better because he can sharpen the blades himself...to each their own!

I have 2 Clams I LOVE the Dewalt DCD 980. The most torque of all the drills. I use the 5 amp batteries and we get a good 40  8" holes per charge. I have 4 batteries and we can go nuts scouting holes.  

We also have a Jiffy Propane and if you check the Jiffy site the have great prices on the refurbished ones. Well, maybe not this time of the year. We got a good $200 of a refurbished demo model that was pristine...

Hope we have ice this year....

The hammer drill has a heavier duty gear system than the non hammer drill units. Likewise the Milwaukee Mud Mixer drill many recommend has a very heavy duty gear train. These heavier duty gear trains stand up better to the excessive torque used to turn an ice drill. 

I'm curious, Carpio, if you're only going to use the drill for ice fishing, why would you get the hammer drill?  I suppose if you're going to use it for other things as well, I'd get the hammer option, but you can save almost 100 bucks if you're only going to use it for ice fishing because the hammer option is useless for drilling holes.

Make sure it’s a hammer drill!

What Walleye27 said...........  Milwaukee 18v Mud Mixer.

Right now Home Depot has the Milwaukee 2804-22 kit on sale for $250 with free shipping to your door.

Got a chance to try my new makita/lite flite out yesterday. Everyone was very impressed myself included. We had 10-11 inches and i drilled 44 holes still said it had half battery left on1 4amp hr battery. Super smooth cutting didnt hang up going through and cut way faster than any auger i have used

milwaukee 18 volt mud mixer drill

best one out there

2810-20

180 degree handle

I used an old Makita "stick battery" drill for a really long time and liked the durability. It slipped out of my hand once while working on a roof and the bit stabbed into the stack of lumber below. Lucky, I know, but it was unharmed. Lithium is a game changer, and my new "brushless" with my six inch Lazer works like a charm. I have to say that my older Makita with hammer mode works too, and it's not brushless. Porter-Cable, Milwaukee, Ridgid and others work too. Just use what ya got and go fishing!

Thanks for the reply! I searched for over an hour on the interweb and finally found a couple people that use the makita and gave it great reviews. I ended up buying it now the wait till it shows up. I cant wait to get it on the ice! Might add a clam plate yet.