Electric auger

[fire29]

Does any one use one of these? What are your experiences with them? Or what have you heard about them? Thanks

[redseal]

Great if you have a perm and dont want the house full of co2 or carbon or whatever, but hole hopping i would doubt

[Mike89]

i have had one for years, updated the blade to lazor, and they arte slow but good. In the house is the best, no mess.

[Tom7227]

I have a Strikemaster electric and like it a lot. I can only get about 8 holes out of it but it comes with a cord that lets you hook it up to the car battery. Best part is that you don't have to pull 15 times to get it started and you don't have to worry about a gummed up carb.

[Scott K]

I have the Icegator. It is a great auger. I can get about 50 holes out of it in 24 inches of ice. There is no smoke, you dont have to worry about it not starting, and no gas smell on your hands. The IceGator isnt slow, I would put it up against any of the top gas augers and give them a good run. Plus there is no starting, warm up time, or bogging down when it is still cold. Just push the button and cut. There is also a reverse on it, after you drill your hole, push the reverse button and push all of the slush back down the hole.

The down sides of it are, it weighs a little more, and if you p;lan on cutting more then 50 holes, you cant just fill it back up quick.

Over all, if you like to cut a lot of holes, you may be better off with a gas auger, if not, I highly recommend the IceGator!

[Mike89]

I forgot to say I use my drill also. it works great!!

[Mainehazmt]

x 2 on the icegators!!youll have a hole drilled before the gas ones can even start or start cutting 3rd year on mine now cant be beat except by the newest model!

[hamms-scooter]

Sounds like the icegator is the ticket so far...ONLY 8 holes out of the strike... I would be mad about that as i am a portable angler and would burn that up in one location. Would be ok for a perm, but for the money i wwould want at least 50 holes.Anyone put a nils on their icegator. BTY youtube has video on these in action.look up icegator you wont be disapointed

[Scott K]

Sounds like the icegator is the ticket so far...ONLY 8 holes out of the strike... I would be mad about that as i am a portable angler and would burn that up in one location. Would be ok for a perm, but for the money i wwould want at least 50 holes.Anyone put a nils on their icegator. BTY youtube has video on these in action.look up icegator you wont be disapointed

I have the Nils on mine! It is the best set up one could imagine. It cuts like butter.

[hamms-scooter]

I saw one on youtube and holy smokes that thing could rip.It killed a strikemaster electra lazer! guy said he could drill 60 holes easy are the batteries like a pair of 12v flasher batteries

[Scott K]

Yes, they are just 2 flasher batteries. Like I said, they will give any gas auger a good run for their money!

[deadeye]

Ya I have yet to see a ice gator in person but from what I hear they are the best of the electrics. If I had a permanent that is what I would run for sure. Gotta like that you could swap out batteries of you ran outa juice too.

[WinterHaven]

I own an Icegator as well and would never go back to a gas auger again. I can't tell you how many holes I can get out of mine because my batteries have never ran out in an outing for me yet.

[bdafisher]

They are great if you are going to just drill a few holes, or in a perm. They just aren't gonna drill you 25 holes in a day, IMO.

[hamms-scooter]

Would be nice runnin in shallow water nice and quiet! Love the battery setup the most! What auger comes with it? Is it just a powerhead you buy?

[Scott K]

They are great if you are going to just drill a few holes, or in a perm. They just aren't gonna drill you 25 holes in a day, IMO.

I have drilled over 50 holes in 24 inches of ice with mine several times in temps as low as -25, so that isnt true!

Yes, the IceGator only comes with the power head, but you can just use the auger you have now on the power head.

[hamms-scooter]

went to their site and it said any hand auger attachment too

[Steve Foss]

They are great if you are going to just drill a few holes, or in a perm. They just aren't gonna drill you 25 holes in a day, IMO.

That's just plain incorrect. There is variability between some brands of electric (battery) auger. IceGator is the best and longest lasting on a single charge.

I have a Nils 8 inch drill on my IceGator, and I ran it the other day in 20 inches of ice to see how many holes it would drill. I had 45 and counting when I ran out of steam. The batteries had not run down by that point, but I did.

The IG is rated for 40 holes through 28 inches of ice or 100 holes through 10 inches of ice on a single charge. And that's rated to -30. While some have said it's good to stop cutting 3/4 of the way through the hole and clear the chips, I have not found this to be true, either. My IG cuts as fast or faster than most power augers.

I guide, and have had 20 clients and fishing buddies cut with the thing, and they are all amazed.

All the advantages of the battery operated auger over the gas auger have been mentioned in many, many threads. The only disadvantage is that of course you can drill hundreds of holes a day with a gas auger, and there are some folks who do a lot of panfish hole drilling, as well as searching and searching, who will drill more holes in a day than the IG will drill. However, as mentioned, you can simply pick up an extra set of gel cells for $50 and keep on drilling. Also, when I'm driving one of my vehicles, I have an inverter along so I can charge it off the vehicle battery if needed.

And, honestly, how many of us REALLY drill 50 holes in day's fishing?

IG will have to overcome the innate skepticism and conservatism of anglers in order to break out with this auger, but the more folks like us who make the switch and spread the word, the faster the doubters will realize the truth. I'll never go back to gas again. In fact, a couple weeks after I got the IG I gave away my souped up hot Jiffy 2 hp Legend Lightning to a buddy.

[hamms-scooter]

I think they are cool steve would love to try one once.What is the price of the powerhead? One with 2 12volt flasher batteries? (don't know the model name)

[Steve Foss]

A new powerhead is $389 with the lead-acid 12 volt flasher batteries. Your choice of drill adaptor comes included with it so you can use your current drill on the IG. It's not recommended for drills over 8 inches. I went with Nils because it's the most efficient drill on the market today and I wanted to maximize the effect of the batteries. Also, I do a lot of hand augering in the BWCAW, and while it doesn't really matter to me whether my power auger drills holes a couple seconds faster or slower than the next guy's, when it comes to hand augering, efficiency makes a BIG difference in expended effort. With no pushing down at all the Nils hand auger will easily outcut the sharpest Mora. Been there, done/seen that.

[Northlander]

I guess I know a lot of folks who drill 50 holes in a day. I have had many days this year where I drilled well over 50 and a few were well over 100.

The Ice Gator is a great unit if your not ever going to drill over lets say 40 holes in 25" of ice. Only concern I would have is how many holes you get on LOW or Red this time of year with 35 plus inches of ice.

The IG shines for those with perms. Whats the coldest those batteries will cut at guys?

Myself I will carry a gallon of gas for my Nils rather than carry the extra weight of those batteries while cutting holes.

I know as long as I have gas I can cut. I dont want to be wondering do I have 10 more holes left in these batteries?

[Steve Foss]

I dont want to be wondering do I have 10 more holes left in these batteries?

Neither do I. That's why I carry along an extra set of two charged Vex batteries. That gets me 100 holes through two feet of ice. Sort of like carrying extra gas. Yeah, I know, I know. Some days for some guys 100 holes isn't enough.

Also, while the IG lead-acid powerhead weighs 27 pounds, you can trust me when I say it cuts lighter than it weighs. Because it can be a pain carrying a gas auger in such a way that it keeps idling from hole to hole, while with the IG you just sling it over your shoulder and go, or carry it however you'd like.

I know gas augers are supposed to idle just fine when carried horizontally, but the two I had (Strikemaster and Jiffy) never did. They died every time, so I'd end up holding the auger up and out in front of me walking from hole to hole, and THAT got to be a heavy PITA after only a few holes. The Nils augers I've cut with idled just fine when turned horizontal. Had I not opted for the IG, Nils would have gotten the nod hands down.

For sure, the IG isn't for everyone, but it is for a lot more folks than a lot of folks think.

And no, I'm not staffing IceGator augers. I just feel it's important to weigh the pros and cons of a product impartially, and that's what I've done. It put me solidly in the IG camp. Many folks' needs are different, and each should take the info they get here and weigh it against their needs.

[Big Buck Buster]

Ya I have yet to see a ice gator in person but from what I hear they are the best of the electrics. If I had a permanent that is what I would run for sure. Gotta like that you could swap out batteries of you ran outa juice too.

deadeye,

You will get to see the Ice Gator in action Friday night.

I have last years model with the 12ah batteries. Love it, and will never go back to gas. I also have extra vex batteries for back up. They aren't the 12ah, but will work to get more holes drilled.

I think one thing nobody mentioned was that the Ice Gator is a 24volt system, and a 12volt system with just the cables hooked to a marine battery, vehicle.

[Big Buck Buster]

I have a question for all the owners of the "new style" Ice Gator. Have any of you had any problems with the switch burning out?

The reason I ask is because a buddy of mine has been having nothing but problems with his. The switch gets hot and melts into the case. They sent him a new switch, and after one hole, it happened again. He actually purchased two of them: one for him, and one for his friend. Both of them did the same thing.

When the switch got hot, it stuck wide open. The only way to stop it when it was in wide open forward was to hold the reverse button and unhook the battery.

I haven't had any more issues with mine since last year. I sent mine back for warranty work for the switch burning out. My Ice Gator is last years model, before this new one came out.

IMO, they should have stuck with the old version.

[deadeye]

Well, I got to see a ice gator in action first hand thanks to Big Buck Buster and I gotta say I'm impressed.

It is definitely faster than my lazer mag and I gotta say I like how you can just hit the reverse button and clear the slush out of the hole.

It is also nice that you can swap batteries out in the field. No problems with running out of juice when you got a extra battery.

The other thing I noticed is that its really quiet. Gotta like that if your on shallow water early ice.