After three years of frustration with hand augers, I finally caved and have ordered a gas powered. [cool]I wanted to make sure that it was a good one and a good deal. It's a StrikeMaster Mag 2000 2HP Gas Powered Ice Auger and I got it for 250 including shipping from BassPro shop. It has a 8.25 diameter, chipper blade, and 42 inch ability. If anyone has this auger and could give me some feedback or advice for it, or for me in general as a first time gas power auger owner, please let me know! Thanks!
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After 20+ years of hand drilling I bought a power auger last year. It
was worth every penny. My advice would be to start and run it
before you go out on a fishing trip. Fighting with it out on the ice is
a pain.
They are a little heavy to pack but well worth it. People say they scare the fish, but I fish in 12' of water and caught fish right after my hole was drilled.
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[cool]Wow. That's the cheapest price I've heard of for a new one. Was it on sale or something? Or is that model just in general cheaper priced that most of the others...?
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I think it is just a good price. Regular it was 290 plus tax, it was 20%off and t hen 25 for shipping for a total of 257. Here's the link - maybe you could tell me if it is a good deal and if it comes with quality componenets. Thanks!
[url "http://www.basspro.com/...;cmCat=SearchResults"]http://www.basspro.com/...;cmCat=SearchResults[/url]
This is the site that I bought mine from. If there are any auger experts out there, could you please tell me if it is a good deal and the quality of the components?
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The first time I ever went ice fishing was Christmas Eve day 2004. We went to Strawberry. My cousin had a borrowed, but new, manual auger. We moved around about 10 times that day and each spot we drilled 3 holes...one for me, one for him, one for the fishfinder...and I still don't know how it worked out this way, but it seems like I was the one that drilled all of them! On the way home THAT DAY, I stopped and bought my gas auger at Sportsmans, and frankly, I didn't care what the price was. I was not going to manually drill thru 18+ inches of ice at the Berry ever again!
I bought the Eskimo Mako. I had to order a gas cap for it once (they stock them now at sportsmans), and had to sharpen the blades this year, but other than that it has worked excellently. I estimate that it has drilled at least 200 or more holes in it's going-on-3-years-old life.
As a side note, I always put fuel conditioner in the gas mixture that I put in it. Sta-Bil, as per the instructions.
Buy it. You won't regret it.
Randy
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Power augers are nice, and I agree that they are an absolute necessity when out on super thick ice.
For now I'll keep using my 8" strikemaster (since I have new blades on it). It's really not that bad drilling manually, just takes 30 or 60 seconds in about 8" of ice.
I'm sure I'd change my mind if I was out fishing on the Berry!
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