strikemaster mag xpress

[boatfixer]

To make a long story short, I'm researching augers for the mother in law. The father in law wants a strike master for Christmas. I have heard of the blades dulling quickly. Obviously depends on how many holes you drill, but I'd like a little input. Personally I'm a Jiffy guy.

[Sandmannd]

Can't answer that as I just sold my Jiffy today and bought a strikmaster. If you go with the strikemaster you can get them at D-Rock for cheaper as they are Demo models with about 10 minutes use on them.

[MASON38]

my blades have lasted years, important to look for stones in the ice, but more so to have the blades tightend

[hovermn]

I put the first set of replacement blades on my Xpress last year after using it for 4 yrs. I should say that I've hit things like beer bottle caps, pop cans, grit and a lot of weeds. I'd probably be using the same blades now if it weren't for jerks that can't clean up after themselves.

BTW, the new blades cut like butta! Replaced them towards the end of last year. 24" in a matter of secs

[Neiko]

They will easily last a year. One thing to watch for is making sure the blades and point are clear of ice and water so they don't freeze between drilling holes. It can make your auger feel like it doesn't have any blades starting out which gets you to lean on the auger and it is not good for the auger.

[Hotspotter]

Neiko has some great advice. When I'm leaning on mine (I own a Lazer Mag Express), the blades are at the end of their life. Do that on sharp blades too much and you'll throw off the pitch. This is true with all shaver-style blades.

I usually get about a year to a year and a half out of mine. I cut a bunch of holes every winter, and I can be rough on my auger at times. Not to mention, there's a big difference between cutting 20 holes in southern MN in January, vs. 20 holes on URL or LOW in Feb/March. You're cutting twice the ice with every hole and then some.

I use the Strikemaster blade exchange program and have been happy with that. Helps you save some bucks and they're sent to your house.

Joel

[BIG DS]

Drilling "dirty" ice or bouncing the auger in a old hole are the most common ways people create cutting issues. The nice thing is there are a lot of places you can get re-sharpened blades for the Lazers. As stated above, keep 'em tight. Bouncing the auger trying to re-open old holes tends to bend the bottom of the auger where the blades bolt on and then they will not cut. It feels like a really dull blade. Even a bad drop will do that. It knocks them out of pitch. I would urge you to think about the 224 as they hold up better and are a lot harder to knock out of pitch. There are a lot of dealers that are selling the reconditioned Strikemasters. All reconditioned means is they are last years model or they may have been a demo model. If there was anything more than a spark plug or maybe a cracked fuel tank they were tossed. All of the reconditioned augers come with a full factory warranty same as the new ones and a brand new auger blade. Over the last 3 or so years of selling them, I can only think of a few that were troublesome and Strikemaster exchanged the powerhead with no questions. I hope this helps.