Better Battery ice auger? Thievery...

While preparing to go ice fishing last night someone went in my garage and stole my jiffy propane auger.. nothing like having friends come over in am and start loading up and hey where's auger.......anyway looking for opinion on battery powered augers.. ty

I use an 8” k-drill with an 18v Milwaukee still and am very happy with this setup.

If you are learning towards a cordless drill set up and already have a set of cordless tools simply stick with the brand you already have....provided that the brand you are with has a 700lb or higher brushless hammer drill. From that point forward pair the drill with an appropriate bit that can be handled by your respective drill.

Many don’t understand how blade design impacts what your drill can and cannot handle. As a general rule, use the guideline  to stay above100lbs or drill torque per inch of diameter of the bit. So if you have an 8” bit ideally you’d be looking at a drill with 800lbs of torque or higher. My 750lb drill will handle an 8” shaver (mora) bit better than it will handle a 7” Lazer bit. The Lazer is a more aggressive blade design whereas a mora is not as aggressive. You absolutely have to throw the thought of “but I can drill holes by hand easier with a Lazer than I can a mora” right out the window. Powering these things by hand vs by a drill is not an apples to apples comparison. Additionally...if a 6” shaver (mora) bit is compared to a KDrill of the same diameter you will get through more inches of ice on one battery with the mora than you will with the KDrill. Blade angle and being a shaver vs. a chipper blade are the reasons for this. 

Have been using an 18 volt Rigid 1/2 inch hammer drill with a 6" Lazer auger for about 5 years now.  Can get 20-30 holes per battery depending on ice thickness.  Have not had any issues yet. Keeping the batteries warm is not a problem.  Just put them in my inner jacket pockets. The beauty is, I get to use the drill all year long around the house.  Acmetackle.com sells an excellent ice drill converter to make your auger, drill compatible.  Wrapped a 3/4" wide by 16" long piece of flat steel around converter to make a handle which also doubles as a security device to keep the auger from going down the hole should it come loose from the chuck.

Bought a jiffy last week, love it, was marked down a lot, plus if bought by today, 2nd battery free thru jiffy

There are a lot of good options out there when it comes to battery operated augers. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. There are positive and negatives  to all of them. It all depends on your style. Augers like the ion and strike master 40v give you the feel of a traditional power augers. Augers like the k- drill and pistol bit are a lot lighter and easier to carry.  They also have the binifet of having a drill that you can use year round.

I have the 8 inch k- drill with a dewalt hammer drill. It works great.

My concern was a couple years ago a fella had an ion and would drill 2 inches and stop had to keep repeating.  Don't know if was bad battery or if it's like that..

A friend and I both purchased Ion X ten inch augers two years ago. This now equates to three full seasons of usage.

I have nothing bad to say about them. We aren't drill a hundred holes a day kind of fishermen, but we usually are drilling ten to thirty holes per trip and we have never even had to consider bringing extra batteries or anything like that. We usually keep the batteries in the shack or somewhere warmer than completely exposed outside.

I love gasoline. Seriously, I love two stroke engines. I love the smell, the sound, the power, but for drilling through ice, it is highly unlikely you will see me ever use one again. The electrics are just so easy. Grab, press button, drill hole. Lighter too.

I am on my second year with an ION and could not be happier. I leave it right in the back seat of my truck and just bring the battery in to charge. I will never use the old jiffy again  

I don’t have anything to use as a comparison but I grabbed a Masterforce hammer drill from Menards and a Strike Master lite Flite bit and have been pretty happy with it.

I do keep the batteries in a bag cooler with a hand warmer and that has really helped with battery life.

Yes it is a pain removing the battery every time I finish drilling holes, especially since I like to hop around a lot.  

But I don’t see myself going back to a traditional auger.