New auger time. Electric or Gas?

[MDR]

Anyone have experience with electric augers in AK? We get similar ice conditions in the Yukon, so I figured I'd ask here. 5-10 holes per outing in 24-48" of ice.
Debating buying the Jiffy E6 Electric. Or should I not try and reinvent the wheel and just get a Jiffy 30? Chipper blades are essential as I fish the Yukon river primarily.

Thanks all!

[mark knapp]

I have had very good luck with my Eskimo pistol bit in my Dewalt 20 volt drill.

https://www.sportsmans.com/fishing-g...-8in/p/1507951

15 holes with one 9 AH battery in 38 inches of ice. One hole in 17 seconds. There is a comparison of it against the green one somewhere on the internet. It's really impressive.

[urbanhillbilly]

I don’t have a power auger, but from the research I’ve done I’m most likely going to get a propane fueled 10” when the wallet allows it. Seems fairly simple and I’ve heard of people getting huge numbers (100+) of holes out of one tank

[johnnycake]

I have been running Nils augers (4.5", 6", and 8") for the past 6 years with a DeWalt 20v drill. Zero complaints with the setup. It is light, fast, and pretty cheap. My favorite is the 6" auger and I can usually punch 20-30 holes in 30" of ice if temps are above zero with a 5ah battery. Below 0F the number of holes per battery drops unless I drill them inside the tent with the heater running.

[Daveinthebush]

Might as well go elec. Propane is $4.60 a gallon, gas is $4.08, diesel is $4.30 in Valdez. I don't see prices dropping any time soon.

[Sid]

Propane , no mess no old gas, stores well , no need to run it dry

[kasilofchrisn]

If you want to go electric and need the ripper blades for your dirty ice you should probably look into a K-Drill.
Now you will need a brushless drill to run it and you want to get one with the highest inches of torque you can get.
And the highest amp hour battery.
I'm running a seven and a half inch k drill on a Ridgid octane 1300 inch pound drill with 9ah battery. I did hear they discontinued the 9 amp hour battery though.
A lot of it depends on the size hole you need for your fishing and your access to a power source for charging.
Electrics work fine if you're able to charge your battery every night.
But if you're going to go for several days without being able to charge it then you'd want to go with gas or propane.
I hear the propane ones are nice but if you're out in 40 below weather or colder it may not gas off fast enough to work well.
Granted a person really shouldn't be ice fishing in those conditions unless you really had to.
With the propane or gas augers it's easy to refill them versus trying to charge a battery.
I still have my gas augers and I'll never get rid of them.
But that electric is hard to beat especially in the early season.


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[mark knapp]

When I was guiding ice fisherman, up to thirty people a day (I know, it's crazy, Asian people come over in tour groups and they want to go ice fishing.) we tried all of the augers.

The gas ones are heavy and have a lot of moving parts. The pull start on them seems to always be the weekest link.

We had problems with the 1 pound bottles of propane not gassing at temperatures as warm as 20 below.

None of them are perfect and I don't guide ice fisherman any more but I wouldn't be afraid of using my Eskimo pistol 8 inch and 20 volt Dewalt. I bring two batteries and that's good enough for forty holes and four days of fishing. I bring two Dewalts just in case. I keep the batteries warm inside my parka if out on the ice.

I haven't tried the Kdrill so I can't say how it compares. I do know that the Eskimo pistol will out drill many of the two handle style electric augers like the Ion, mine blows the Ion away.

There are lots of internet comparisons on line, I'd check those out if I was shopping.

[kasilofchrisn]

I haven't tried the Kdrill so I can't say how it compares. I do know that the Eskimo pistol will out drill many of the two handle style electric augers like the Ion, mine blows the Ion away.

There are lots of internet comparisons on line, I'd check those out if I was shopping.

The reason I suggested the kdrill is because the chipper blades on the k drill are supposedly better at handling dirty ice such as you would find on the Yukon river.
The pistol bit on clean ice is faster than the k drill.
But your blades will dull a lot quicker on the pistol bit in dirty river ice.

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[mark knapp]

The reason I suggested the kdrill is because the chipper blades on the k drill are supposedly better at handling dirty ice such as you would find on the Yukon river.
The pistol bit on clean ice is faster than the k drill.
But your blades will dull a lot quicker on the pistol bit in dirty river ice.

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Yep, I can claim ignorance on that. Having never tried a Kdrill or drilled in the Yukon. I have sharpened a lot of ice auger blades in my business (The Cutting Edge). I see a lot that were used in the Tanana and it sure tears them up.

[DRIFTER_016]

FYI, if running an electric auger take a lunch sized cooler along and keep your batteries in it along with a couple of hand warmers and you'll have nice warm batteries with plenty of power.
When you're done drilling holes just put the battery in the cooler until you need to drill more holes.

[Bushwhack Jack]

All I've ever used is the gas powered augers. Eskimo and Strikemasters. Reliable. That being said, I've been wanting to upgrade to a battery or propane. Kinda leaning towards the battery. Two advantages I see are the ability to run the bit in reverse, making the slush go back down the hole, and also it can still work (in theory) in cold weather. Propane sucks in cold weather. Although some of the comments on this thread have me scratching my head a little. Sounds like the propane bottles go a long way. That's a big advantage too. Propane is getting pretty expensive these days though. Choices, choices.

[urbanhillbilly]

All I've ever used is the gas powered augers. Eskimo and Strikemasters. Reliable. That being said, I've been wanting to upgrade to a battery or propane. Kinda leaning towards the battery. Two advantages I see are the ability to run the bit in reverse, making the slush go back down the hole, and also it can still work (in theory) in cold weather. Propane sucks in cold weather. Although some of the comments on this thread have me scratching my head a little. Sounds like the propane bottles go a long way. That's a big advantage too. Propane is getting pretty expensive these days though. Choices, choices.

As far as using propane in the cold…

If you know you’re going out in -20 or colder you will more than likely have a shelter and heater with you too. Keep the tank or the whole power head in there with you while you aren’t using it.

The propane augers operate off of those 1lb cylinders, same as the buddy heaters, no more spilling gas or mixing gas/oil. Let’s say you get 100 plus holes out of one tank, which seems to be common from what I’ve researched, that is one efficient little tool.

Also the fumes are less caustic with it being a cleaner burning fuel source, which makes drilling inside your shelter much safer than gas.

Sure, if you already have a nice high speed/torque BRUSHLESS drill like the M18 or Dewalt then by all means buy the pistol bit or K drill, but my concern with that is this… Those cordless drills are fantastic tools and not cheap at all, I’d be afraid of putting too much stress on the tool over time and shortening the life of the tool and/or battery. That’s just my apprehension towards that method and I’d love to hear some feedback from someone who has been doing it this way for years.

Just my thoughts on the subject. This is all based on the research I’ve done myself and not on actual experience. I still have a hand crank auger and drool over any power auger I see!!

[kasilofchrisn]

When the k drill first hit the market they said it required a drill with a minimum of 750 inch pounds of torque.
At the time the baddest drill on the market was the Milwaukee at 750 inch pounds.
The drill I'm using on mine is the Rigid octane with a 9 amp hour battery.
This gives me 1,300 in pounds of torque.
I've been running this for several years and I have no worries about it not holding up for many years to come.
Some of the new Dewalts and Milwaukee's also have 1200 to 1300 inch pounds of torque.
Of course all of these need to be brushless drills.
If I was running a drill that had the minimum amount of required torque I might worry.
But being I have more than enough I think I'm good for a long time.
Plus I have a really nice drill that is useful in the off season for other projects.
Not that I didn't have a cordless drill at the house but this one is nicer and beefier than the homeowner quality drill I have.
One suggestion for those running propane augers is the possibility of purchasing the flame King propane refill system.
I've heard they're hard to come by because of recent events but if you can find them they're pretty handy.
It's a refill system that comes with refillable 1 lb size bottles.
I believe mine are 1 lb 4 oz bottles.
The little bottles have a vent on them just like your big tanks and are legally able to be refilled and transported.
This way I can fill them for the cheaper cost of propane in a barbecue size tank.
My local U-Haul has price breaks at 11 gallons 21 gallons etc.
So if I bring in a few barbecue sized tanks I get a break in the price once then allows me to fill the 1 pound size bottle for significantly cheaper than buying them at the store.


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[mark knapp]

As far as using propane in the cold…

If you know you’re going out in -20 or colder you will more than likely have a shelter and heater with you too. Keep the tank or the whole power head in there with you while you aren’t using it.

The propane augers operate off of those 1lb cylinders, same as the buddy heaters, no more spilling gas or mixing gas/oil. Let’s say you get 100 plus holes out of one tank, which seems to be common from what I’ve researched, that is one efficient little tool.

Also the fumes are less caustic with it being a cleaner burning fuel source, which makes drilling inside your shelter much safer than gas.

Sure, if you already have a nice high speed/torque BRUSHLESS drill like the M18 or Dewalt then by all means buy the pistol bit or K drill, but my concern with that is this… Those cordless drills are fantastic tools and not cheap at all, I’d be afraid of putting too much stress on the tool over time and shortening the life of the tool and/or battery. That’s just my apprehension towards that method and I’d love to hear some feedback from someone who has been doing it this way for years.

Just my thoughts on the subject. This is all based on the research I’ve done myself and not on actual experience. I still have a hand crank auger and drool over any power auger I see!!

Here's the thing, when you first get to your house, it's cold in there. One pound propane bottles frost up a lot quicker than you'd think, even if they were warm, straight out of the truck. After two holes in 40 inches of ice, we had an auger that didn't work. They might be fine for other climates where the ice is thinner and the temps are warmer but they haven't worked for us very well at all.

In the interior, if you aint fishing at twenty below, you aint fishing much.

Even our heaters frost up way too soon when using one pound bottles (in the house). We have to convert them all to 20 pounders and the 20 pounders frost up if you don't bring them into the fish house.