Ion x or Strikemaster lithium lazer

[Bass Thumb]

2 hours ago, brian6715 said:

I never clear the snow before I drill with my Lazer and while it gets build up and gets heavier each hole I drill, it always drills the same as if I just took it out of my garage. Only a few times in bitter cold have I had to knock ice off of the blades out of the thousands of holes I have drilled with two different Lazer bits. If this is the case with all X models this is a huge flaw. 

 

I have a 15 year old Strikemaster Lazer. I also never brushed away the snow before drilling. Yes, a little ice would build up as a result, but not enough to prevent the drilling of holes. I carry a sawed-off axe handle to gently knock ice from the auger, but that doesn't work with the cast iron ring.

 

I am gonna head out again with it right now. I put marine boat wax all over the blades and flights. We'll see what happens. I'll post an update. 

Edited December 14, 2016 by BassThumb.

[Bass Thumb]

7 hours ago, RebelSS said:

Guess I've never had that prob, as once it comes out of the hole, I hold it for a few secs and rev it up to WOT. Slings everything off....

 

That is a useful trick. I used to do it all the time with my old Lazer. But you see, the gas-powered Lazer spins a lot faster than the Ion X. The trick doesn't seem to work nearly as well with it. 

[Bass Thumb]

So I had the auger out again today. The marine wax helped out a bit and it didn't ice up as badly as yesterday.

 

However, I still had to chip the ice away on 4 different occasions because it would not dig into the ice. I'll post a pic of what the auger looked like after I banged 20 holes to start the day. It doesn't look terrible, but I needed to chip ice away when I used it a couple hours later because it wouldn't cut. As I mentioned in my prior post, the auger spins too slow to effectively use the old trick that RebelISS mentioned. 

 

I hope others have better luck than I did. The Ion X is no longer my problem. Very disappointed, and I didn't even mention how it binds up and stops on most holes I'm cutting, even with brand new blades, a straight cut, and minimal pressure being applied. 

[RebelSS]

I'd sometimes also give 'er a spray of silicone all over everything..that seemed to last for a while, anyway. Works with my snow blower chutes, too.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

1 hour ago, BassThumb. said:

So I had the auger out again today. The marine wax helped out a bit and it didn't ice up as badly as yesterday.

 

However, I still had to chip the ice away on 4 different occasions because it would not dig into the ice. I'll post a pic of what the auger looked like after I banged 20 holes to start the day. It doesn't look terrible, but I needed to chip ice away when I used it a couple hours later because it wouldn't cut. As I mentioned in my prior post, the auger spins too slow to effectively use the old trick that RebelISS mentioned. 

 

I hope others have better luck than I did. The Ion X is no longer my problem. Very disappointed, and I didn't even mention how it binds up and stops on most holes I'm cutting, even with brand new blades, a straight cut, and minimal pressure being applied. 

 

That is unfortunate.  I've had my ION for 4 years, and the ONLY complaint I have (and you'd have to force me to find one) is that it doesn't have a center point.  It sounds like you gave it a fair effort, and most people probably wouldn't find the performance acceptable.  Hopefully you just got a bad one, but I would have done the same as you.  Let us know how the Strikemaster works out.    

[goldenbobby]

12 hours ago, BassThumb. said:

So I had the auger out again today. The marine wax helped out a bit and it didn't ice up as badly as yesterday.

 

However, I still had to chip the ice away on 4 different occasions because it would not dig into the ice. I'll post a pic of what the auger looked like after I banged 20 holes to start the day. It doesn't look terrible, but I needed to chip ice away when I used it a couple hours later because it wouldn't cut. As I mentioned in my prior post, the auger spins too slow to effectively use the old trick that RebelISS mentioned. 

 

I hope others have better luck than I did. The Ion X is no longer my problem. Very disappointed, and I didn't even mention how it binds up and stops on most holes I'm cutting, even with brand new blades, a straight cut, and minimal pressure being applied. 

wow that kinda sucks.  I hope others that bought a ION X will post and see if others having the same problem.

[kudu63]

9 minutes ago, goldenbobby said:

wow that kinda sucks.  I hope others that bought a ION X will post and see if others having the same problem.

I just wen the ION X this fall and I am hoping to get out this weekend and test it out for the first time.  Should be a  good test this weekend with the cold temps coming.  Will report if I have the same issues.

[bobbymalone]

On 12/14/2016 at 7:59 PM, BassThumb. said:

I've been looking for reason to use this stuff.  It looks cool, that's all I can say.

 

 

 

 

[Paradice]

That does seems like a goofy design around the blades.  I can see your frustration.  I'm glad the older model doesn't have all that extra surface area to coat with ice.  I've always battled iced up augers when running and gunning in cold weather.  I've just always tried to keep the auger warm inside the portable or main shack if possible so it thawed before the next move.

[kudu63]

On ‎12‎/‎15‎/‎2016 at 9:09 AM, kudu63 said:

I just wen the ION X this fall and I am hoping to get out this weekend and test it out for the first time.  Should be a  good test this weekend with the cold temps coming.  Will report if I have the same issues.

I went out yesterday and I drilled about 8 holes with my new ION X.   I did not scrape any snow away and I even set the auger down in the snow after drilling each hole.   I did not encounter any issue with ice build up.  Temps yesterday were in the single digits.   Now my test may now have been the same as previous poster where I would leave it sit on the ice for long enough period to ice up.   I will do that this weekend.   I did run the reverse each time to see how it cleared the hole out - did a good job but ice was only about 7" thick.

[goldenbobby]

4 hours ago, kudu63 said:

 I did not encounter any issue with ice build up.  Temps yesterday were in the single digits.   Now my test may now have been the same as previous poster where I would leave it sit on the ice for long enough period to ice up.   I will do that this weekend.   I did run the reverse each time to see how it cleared the hole out - did a good job but ice was only about 7" thick.

 

I wonder unlike the previous poster never ran it in reverse which would make a big difference just pulling out the auger covered in slush which then it would freeze and I have seen that on gas augers.  I am interested in what you find out.

[kudu63]

Ok I did a second test on my new ION-X with 8" auger.   Prior to drilling I had the auger and battery in my shop which has the furnace set to 35 degrees.  I went out to a local lake and drilled seven holes and did not encounter any build up.   I then proceeded to fish for about an hour and a half and temps again were in single digits.   I also wanted to test out the battery so that was also left outside on my trailer.   I then attempted to drill some more holes - now with the auger at outside temps.   I was able to drill the first two without any issues.  The third hole I notices some issues but got thru.  When attempting to drill the fourth hole it was only able to scratch the top surface of the ice.  There was about 6" of new snow on the ice that I did not clear away.  I haven't had to do this in the pasts 30 years so why should I now - right.

 

In looking at the auger is was completely iced over just like the initial post.  The battery still showed full power.   I am also now completely disappointed in this new auger design.  I will be calling ION on Monday and see what they have to say.   If they don't do anything you will see this item for sale very soon.  For now I'm going back to my 20 year old laser auger.

 

As of now I would not recommend this new auger to anyone.  I can see it only being useful in maybe permanent shacks.

 

[eyeguy 54]

good info

[goldenbobby]

kudu63 was wondering did you use the reverse on each hole?  I am wondering what ION says or even gets back to you and I would like to know what they say.  This is some great info thank you

[Hawg]

I guess I'll find out about my own in a day or so but I sure would like to see what others are finding. Anybody else run into this ice issue. Super cold is always hard on icing but this looks a little excessive.

[Bass Thumb]

3 hours ago, kudu63 said:

 

 

Looks familiar! Thanks for sharing a follow-up. I especially like that last picture. I called that "The Cone". I had that happen multiple times. Imagine having to try and chip that out without damaging the blades. Almost impossible. That's what turned me into an Ion 'EX'.

 

Since we're sharing follow-ups, I took my new Lithium Lazer out to Beaver yesterday and popped about 45 holes over 4 hours. I fish with a one-man flip-over and leave the auger outside. That's what did me in with the Ion X. However, the Strikemaster had zero problems icing up and didn't get struck in the holes even once, which was a major issue with the slower and less powerful Ion X. I'm very happy with this new Strikemaster, and it cost only $399 at Scheels. 

Edited December 17, 2016 by BassThumb.

[kudu63]

3 hours ago, goldenbobby said:

kudu63 was wondering did you use the reverse on each hole?  I am wondering what ION says or even gets back to you and I would like to know what they say.  This is some great info thank you

I know I did not run it in reverse each time - thinking I may have only done it on the first hole if I even did it then.  I will repost once I hear back from ION.  I also sent them an email today with my dilemma.

[Bass Thumb]

I emailed Ardisen too, and they got back to me asking questions and asking me to register the product. They didn't really have answers because my complaint was the first they had heard of these icing-up issues, which is understandable given it was less than a week into the first ice fishing season since their introduction. Ardisen seemed concerned, as well they should.

[kudu63]

7 hours ago, BassThumb. said:

I emailed Ardisen too, and they got back to me asking questions and asking me to register the product. They didn't really have answers because my complaint was the first they had heard of these icing-up issues, which is understandable given it was less than a week into the first ice fishing season since their introduction. Ardisen seemed concerned, as well they should.

My concern is what kind of any real life testing did they do ?  Have they even tested this on a froze lake anywhere ?  These augers need to work in the worse weather conditions.  Not some simulated conditions in some building.

[Bass Thumb]

6 minutes ago, rl_sd said:

 I Can guarantee you that they had a fleet of these out the ice last year or testing purposes, prob in multiple locations. But I don't think that it was in -20 weather

 

We weren't fishing in those temps; Kudu63 and I were fishing in single-digit temps. That's reasonable for the area. Any auger that hits the market, especially with the hype that the Ion X carried, should be able to handle a Minnesota lake with 6 degree temps, 6 inches of ice, and a few inches of snow. 

[DuckSlayer]

Can the new cast piece on the ion x be removed? It looks like it's just an ad on from the original ion flighting. If so, maybe then it would stop icing up. Just an idea. Took bad they're having this problem,i was seriously considering buying one. I think I'll wait and see how this plays out. Thanks for the posts alerting to this problem.

[Wanderer]

So, what's the design purpose of the ring?

 

I have a 20 year old Eskimo gas auger with the ring and don't recall having problems like that.  Somewhere along the way the ring broke but has never caused  any noticeable issues.  My Ion I bought last year hasn't had an icing problem at all either.

 

If that ring is a "safety" feature, I'd remove it.  

[Bass Thumb]

2 hours ago, DuckSlayer said:

Can the new cast piece on the ion x be removed? It looks like it's just an ad on from the original ion flighting. If so, maybe then it would stop icing up. Just an idea. Took bad they're having this problem,i was seriously considering buying one. I think I'll wait and see how this plays out. Thanks for the posts alerting to this problem.

 

The ring cannot be removed. The blades are mounted to it. 

[kudu63]

2 hours ago, DuckSlayer said:

Can the new cast piece on the ion x be removed? It looks like it's just an ad on from the original ion flighting. If so, maybe then it would stop icing up. Just an idea. Took bad they're having this problem,i was seriously considering buying one. I think I'll wait and see how this plays out. Thanks for the posts alerting to this problem.

From what I can tell - it is an outer ring but also has some inner flat area that is attached.  This also is support for the blades.   Like BassThumb stated I was out in single digits temps - about 6 degrees F.    I will post once I hear back from ION.

 

But form my testing it appears to be an issue once the auger is outside for extended periods of time.  But that is just my conclusion.

 

[Wanderer]

6 hours ago, BassThumb. said:

 

The ring cannot be removed. The blades are mounted to it. 

 

I looked closer at the set up at FF today and came to the same conclusion.