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Ion Augers


Corey Bechtold

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Had mine out a bunch in the last 7 days. Loving it, even in the cold. Worst outing so far was 35 holes in -7 degree temps, which I still thought was excellent. Yesterday we pounded 35-40 holes in 0 degrees, and I still had power left on the gauge...

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Impressive! Got one out for the first time today. Was trying to keep count and lost focus in the 30s....drilled well over 50 though and plenty of charge left. Ice was only 5 through 8 inches, but it did sit outside for over 10 hours in 5 -15 degrees. Drilled a lot like a Gator without being 300lbs, and hands down better than an electra. Effortless, great breakthrough, and leaves the hole,comparably, clean. Saftey switch is not in the best location and sloppy, time will tell if they will hold up, but will certainly be selling the Electra and a no brainer for the extra hundo wink

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Been having pretty good luck with my Ion so far this season. Have well over 200 holes drilled with the unit so far this season and it has been great. Deepest ice I have drilled was up on Lake of the Woods, where two sheets of ice overlapped. Drilled right to the powerhead and it cut like a champ with no hang-ups. Other than that, its been 5 to 12 inches of ice and no hiccups.

Here are some things I have found with the auger so far:

Spray down the auger bit, especially around the ring and blades, with Pam cooking spray or an alternative to prevent ice-up. Just like any auger, ice build-up is a concern, but the ring on the bottom of the Ion creates ice-up a little more so than others. So, by doing this, it will dramatically cut back on that and cut down on weight too.

The auger bit does not catch at the bottom of the hole. Biggest PLUS of this auger for me. It cuts directly through with no hang-up as you break through the bottom. Cuts smoothly all the way through the ice.

Keep the battery warm. I have one day where the battery did draw down to where the auger was stopping as I drilled. This was after a test I did. I kept the battery on the auger for 6 straight nights in the back of my truck in temps under 10 degrees. The 7th day of cutting, it starting doing this. So, as I suspected, keeping the battery warm at all times will keep it going for a longer time. For myself, when the temps get 10 or below, I will be taking off the battery and keeping it warm in the fish house between uses. 1 to makes sure it has a lot of juice throughout the day and 2, so it hopefully keeps the battery around for years to come.

So far so good. I will keep folks up to date as the season continues! But, an A so far for the auger.

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Ran the ION a couple times now with great results as well. I punched around 85 holes one day (had to use a second battery) through 4" of ice. I'm very impressed with it. The battery charges extremely fast too... like 60 minutes and a full charge... I run an inverter on the ATV (or truck eventually) and I'll keep a second battery on the charger and keep switching them out... should always have power... I'm very excited to use the ION throughout the season... back on the ice tomorrow...

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I'm completely sold also. Still waiting for the acid test which will come today after being gone from the house for 4 days-will it reopen holes. The safety switch is a little sloppy but I can live with that. Here's a BIG plus- This cuts with a Mora/Nils style blade which is pretty much a shaver blade. It drill holes in the house with almost zero mess. I've had Jiffy's and SM's and I hated the clean up from the way they threw chips all over. Now if they would put a reversable switch on this thing so you could flush the ice down the hole like the Ice Gator does that would be real nice. Biggest plus over the Gator is going to be this will become a widely used product where the Gator just doesn't have distribution. This will make parts and service, if needed, more readily available.

Charlie, that short delay will not effect the speed of drilling a bunch of holes. The safety button thing is a pain to line up but I'm used to it already - I think you could just take it off.

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