Have Ion-Want k Drill

[Hawg]

This is a question for those that have used both, not a debate on everyone's favorite auger. I dearly love my Ion, it's as dependable as a person could ever want but I have a wild hair to buy a K Drill. Has anyone actually used both and have comments on the pros and cons of switching? I always have a drill ( Big Milwaukee) with me. To switch or not to switch, that is the question. 

[Agronomist_at_IA]

K drill is ok, but worth $250?

Hawg what the K Drill would be nice for is  the wheel house. You can use the drill with an EZ up bit to crank the house up. Then put the drill on the k drill to cut holes. 

 

 

[Hawg]

I have the winches equipped with Ice Nutz now, that's my plan for th kdrill. 

[Japeloquin]

I don't have a K-drill but have been around them they do spin quite a bit faster and if your using in a wheelhouse could create a bigger mess? Just a thought to consider.

[Hawg]

Didn't know that, thanks,  but remember it's the guy on the drill that's controlling the speed. I have to believe you use them on low speed don't you?

[vtx1029]

I have no experience with the K drill but would like to try one myself. I have however been using a Nils with my drill for the last couple of seasons. And I've used a friends Ion a few times. With the nils drill combo its easy to pack away. Most of the time I take the drill off the nils unless I'm hole hopping. The ion is much bulkier and slower drilling. For running and gunning I don't think there's a better combo then a light weight drill combo.

[Hawg]

VTX, I'm too old,lazy, and fat to be a hole hopper so speed isn't as important as a clean hole without throwing slush all over. The house and a few tip up holes and I'm all set. Thank you for the reply.

[PurpleFloyd]

2 hours ago, Hawg said:

VTX, I'm too old,lazy, and fat to be a hole hopper 

Right there with you.

[Getanet]

By "clean hole without throwing slush all over" do you just mean you don't want shavings to get thrown around inside of our house? If so, I would think cutting the bottom out of a 5-gallon bucket and dropping that down the catch-cover hole before using the K-drill would eliminate most of that. 

I see guys complaining about the Nils leaving too much slush in the hole, and I would imagine the K-Drill might have the same issue. I can see how that would be a problem if you're cutting ton of holes. But if you stay put all day or weekend I wouldn't think taking an extra 5 minutes to scoop slush out of a hole would be a deal breaker. I also got one of those ice skimmers for about $20 and that clears most of the ice in one scoop.

[leech~~]

On Saturday, October 07, 2017 at 9:34 AM, Hawg said:

This is a question for those that have used both, not a debate on everyone's favorite auger. I dearly love my Ion, it's as dependable as a person could ever want but I have a wild hair to buy a K Drill. Has anyone actually used both and have comments on the pros and cons of switching? I always have a drill ( Big Milwaukee) with me. To switch or not to switch, that is the question.

Not sure what the issue is all about? Since you are ready have one what was your plan for it if you bought the other?  Buy the K and sell the one you don't like.  I have seen guys many times with a K drill run around popping holes like crazy with the 6" inch bit. If I thought the 8" inch bit will drill as fast and as long as the 6" inch I may think about getting one as well.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Leech,

I think this is what Hawg is contemplating......

He has to have a Milwaukee to run the IC nuts to crank up his hut. So if he could go with a drill setup like the kdrill he would.

1. Not need to have a charger for both the drill and ion

2. Save space not having the ion and ion battery charger

3. Be able to sell his ion and pick up an 8in kdrill and be money ahead

4.Just be happy because his new toy actually put money in his pocket. From selling the ion and getting the k drill.

Edited October 10, 2017 by Agronomist_at_IA

[Hawg]

Yup

[eyeguy 54]

I dearly love my Ion, it's as dependable as a person could ever want....  this is what you typed.:)   why change??  I would find a friend with the k drill and try it.  different strokes as they say. you might love it, you might hate it. kinda like archery equipment. lol

[Agronomist_at_IA]

37 minutes ago, eyeguy 54 said:

I dearly love my Ion, it's as dependable as a person could ever want....  this is what you typed.:)   why change??  I would find a friend with the k drill and try it.  different strokes as they say. you might love it, you might hate it. kinda like archery equipment. lol

I agree the Ion is a good auger, but is it really anything special? I mean if Hawg really wanted to I'm sure he could get an adaptor and run the Ion auger bit with his Milwaukee. I think we all give to much credit to the different types of augers being "better" . All they do is cut a hole in the ice, and they all do a fine job of doing it. I would imagine that since hawg has a wheel house he wants something to reopen holes and something with a guide point. If that's the case the Ion bit, Kdrill, or nils with a power point are pretty much the options with electrics. I run a nils with a power point on a clam plate/Milwaukee setup and it works great. 

The drill setup would turn a lot faster then the Ion even in the low speed setting. This would cause a touch more shavings to be thrown at first (it does with my nils). However once you get into the hole a bit the shavings don't fly like when you start. A simple slush bucket will take care of the issue by catching the shavings. I've got the fish hole buddy slush bucket and put that on the hole when cutting and it catches the shavings perfectly, and prevents the mess.

Personally, if I was in hawgs shoes I would sell the Ion off and get the Kdrill. He'd save money, and be able to do what he wants without having a bunch of extra gear. Plus a battery for the Milwaukee is about 1/3 the price of a battery for the Ion. 

I don't think this has anything to do with the Ion not preforming, just more of an efficiency move for hawg not having to have a bunch of extra stuff in the wheel house. Plus the Kdrill might reopen holes a touch better with the point and chipper type blades. The only down part of the Kdrill is the 8in is actually a 7.5in auger. Which might be a downside if it is really cold with holes freezing down. The nils I have with the power point cutting head is actually 8.5in.

[vtx1029]

46 minutes ago, Agronomist_at_IA said:

I agree the Ion is a good auger, but is it really anything special? I mean if Hawg really wanted to I'm sure he could get an adaptor and run the Ion auger bit with his Milwaukee. I think we all give to much credit to the different types of augers being "better" . All they do is cut a hole in the ice, and they all do a fine job of doing it. I would imagine that since hawg has a wheel house he wants something to reopen holes and something with a guide point. If that's the case the Ion bit, Kdrill, or nils with a power point are pretty much the options with electrics. I run a nils with a power point on a clam plate/Milwaukee setup and it works great. 

The drill setup would turn a lot faster then the Ion even in the low speed setting. This would cause a touch more shavings to be thrown at first (it does with my nils). However once you get into the hole a bit the shavings don't fly like when you start. A simple slush bucket will take care of the issue by catching the shavings. I've got the fish hole buddy slush bucket and put that on the hole when cutting and it catches the shavings perfectly, and prevents the mess.

Personally, if I was in hawgs shoes I would sell the Ion off and get the Kdrill. He'd save money, and be able to do what he wants without having a bunch of extra gear. Plus a battery for the Milwaukee is about 1/3 the price of a battery for the Ion. 

I don't think this has anything to do with the Ion not preforming, just more of an efficiency move for hawg not having to have a bunch of extra stuff in the wheel house. Plus the Kdrill might reopen holes a touch better with the point and chipper type blades. The only down part of the Kdrill is the 8in is actually a 7.5in auger. Which might be a downside if it is really cold with holes freezing down. The nils I have with the power point cutting head is actually 8.5in.

 You running the orange convertible shaft or the Blue? I've been thinking about getting something else for use with my wheelhouse Don't think the convertible is going to work well re-opening holes plus I can't add extensions.

[Hawg]

Weight and space are my motivators, as I said Ion's are great augers. Drill holes and put the auger in the truck, why not just pop of the auger part and put that away?   Much less hassle and now use the drill for other stuff, there's always a reason to have a drill with. Slush buckets are a huge waste of space and a pain. I wouldn't think you would need a slush bucket with any electric do you? Even reverse on an electric is no big deal as a slush copter works a ton better and another use to carry a drill. Anyone still using slush buckets or 5 gal pails for liners are missing the ease of an Ion. 

[Getanet]

Hawg, if you happen to live near the Cabelas in Rogers there is an event on Dec 9 at 1pm on "Ice Augers: Cutting Ice the Easy Way" where their experts will talk about the pros and cons of the various types of augers. Maybe they can help you out.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

9 hours ago, vtx1029 said:

 You running the orange convertible shaft or the Blue? I've been thinking about getting something else for use with my wheelhouse Don't think the convertible is going to work well re-opening holes plus I can't add extensions.

I'm using the blue one with the red power point head. Works great. I got a nils blue flyted extention for on it and it's like 52in (4.3ft) from the tip to the top part of the auger when the extention is on it.  If you have the orange one, I believe the blue flyted extensions will work on it, and any nils cutting head should fit on it. To add the nils extentions or cutting head they go on the bottom. You just remove the cutting head and insert.  You should be able to add any amount of extentions, and you should be able to put any style nils head on it.....black, red, or power point. Mine had just a standard red head and I got a power point off of hsolist for $40.

Last season with the extension I was able to leave my wheel house up and drill through the ice with it raised. Was nice I was able to drive around and scout out of the wheel house before dropping it to the ice. I also like how nils seems to be built a little heavier then the normal hand augers.

I posted some pics to give you an idea. I think I got the extension from Fish USA 

Edited October 11, 2017 by Agronomist_at_IA

[Agronomist_at_IA]

8 hours ago, Hawg said:

Weight and space are my motivators, as I said Ion's are great augers. Drill holes and put the auger in the truck, why not just pop of the auger part and put that away?   Much less hassle and now use the drill for other stuff, there's always a reason to have a drill with. Slush buckets are a huge waste of space and a pain. I wouldn't think you would need a slush bucket with any electric do you? Even reverse on an electric is no big deal as a slush copter works a ton better and another use to carry a drill. Anyone still using slush buckets or 5 gal pails for liners are missing the ease of an Ion. 

I'm not saying my way is perfect or anything Hawg. I just put the slush bucket down turbo drill the hole, pop it in reverse blow out slush, move to the next & repeat. After the nine holes are cut dump the slush bucket outside. Floor is nice and dry no slush or ice anywhere from flying chips. 

Then for the storage, I flip it over and put a 5 gallon pail in the hole then shove it under the toliet. Keeps the bucket from tipping & stores out of the way. 

[hnd]

i fished with a guy in MN who had the ion and i have a kdrill/milwaukee (tbar only no plate) set up.  by the end of the trip he was using my drill more than his.   it was faster and lighter. 

everyone talking about more ice in the hole, i don't know what they are talking about.  we've used jiffy/strikemaster chipper and straight blades and i don't notice the kdrill leaves much more ice in the hole than any other product. 

[eyeguy 54]

kdrill doesn't leave much in the hole. 

 

[Big Dave2]

Hey @Hawg, did you ever get the Kdrill?

[Hawg]

No, Ion is so new I decided to keep it. Still look at them all the time though. 

[rl_sd]

My dad decided that he wanted to ditch the gas auger.... he has a whole arsenal of 20 gold dewalt stuff including two brushless drills and about 6- 5ah batteries. I picked up a $25 icesmaster auger adapter to get him started. The plan was to pick up a cheap mora auger to see if he liked it, but we decided to pull the bit off my ion and give it a whirl.  I was very impressed with how well it worked..... so impressed that I may end up buying the new style ion x bit for m ion head and give him my old ion bit.  I imagine that there may be some of the old style bits coming up for sale if anyone is looking to move to the a drill setup

[Duffman]

I was all smiles on the ice over Christmas weekend. No more gas augers or gas lanterns for this guy.