Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

  • 0

Which Auger?


Genofish

Question

I need to decide which auger to purchase. The Jiffy Artic Blast or the Strike Master MAG 2000.(both are 2hp) I have used Jiffy's for years with good results but have no experince with Strike Masters. What would you do?

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

No question, strikemaster. You couldnt give me anything but a strikemaster. If you want to get the mag, you can always down the road get a lazer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Strikemaster all the way. If you ever do have a problem, they have the best customer service out there to boot.

I believe the Mag has the chipper type blade? I dodnt have any problems with the old chipper type blades, but was much more satistfied with the lazer type.. they cut fast and dont grab nearly as bad breaking through the bottom of the ice. A huge drawback to the Jiffy's I have had in the past is you had to let the things warm up for a bit before drilling.. strikemasters your grilling in a couple seconds and you will have holes drilled before the Jiffy warms enough to drill on a moody day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Sorry to be so negative but...

Based on the last couple of posts, I must have gotten a real lemon of a Strikemaster two years ago. I'm on my third recoil, second choke/gas tank assembly, and the thing takes much longer to warm up than my old Tanaka did. On top of that it doesn't start for crap when its cold out (which it sometimes is while icefishing). If that recoil blows up on me again while I'm on the ice I'm gonna throw the whole thing down the hole.

If I would have done my research rather than relying on the majority of opinion here, I would have chosen the Nils. They have the Tanaka motor, and are rated at much higher hours than Jiffy or Strikemaster. Also, you can convert it back and forth to a hand auger without bringing a separate unit out. As I mentioned earlier, I had an old Tanaka auger that worked fine until the rough ice on LOW bounced it an broke the casting the frame attached to.

Strikemaster has been very friendly, and provided good service, but unfortunately I've had to find out too manay times. Example= plastic choke lever. What the H???. For a cold weather machine? Poor design. Another example= Tech up at Big Lake said that due to a design error, I should disregard the on/off toggle, and shut it off each time with the decompression button. Great.

The Nils will cost you more, but I haven't heard one negative thing about their performance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I love my Nils! laugh.gif

Best power auger I have ever owned, and I have owned almost every brand out there! Jiffy would be my second choice.

Cliff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

It doesnt make a difference what you buy, once in a while everyone gets a lemon. Sorry to hear you have had your problems.

I think I have had to repair recoil units 2 times on my own strikemaster augers.. thats in about 15 seasons of use, and I fish a lot. I have had to repair friends on a few occasions also, one auger moe than the others but I soon realized it was from operator error, not poor design. My friend kept pulling the cord out until it hit the end of the rope every time creating a sharp jerk at the end of the pull... its only a matter of time before a recoil gives on anything.

If an auger has problems starting, its usually due to poor carb settings.. which can be right out of the box on any gasoline engine. An auger should always start within a few pulls no matter how cold it is, and it should pop off on the 1st pull once it has already been run, 2 pulls tops. Many problems people have are caused by their own habits.. 2 cycle engines have an attitude, and its not as simple as the lawn mower or snow blower that once it starts the throttle is held at a higher rpm and a governor often takes over to maintain the rpm. Ther is no neautral like a boat motor to start the engine and be capable of running a higher rpm for a short period of time without load(neautral).

My auger doesnt have the pressure release valve.. it does sound a bit annoying, but it still beats drilling multiple holes by hand any day!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Quote:

I ended up getting the Lazer Mag Xpress, thanks to everyone for the advice.


Good choice!

My Lazer Mag Xpress is on season 4 or 5 now, I'm not sure anymore.

I haven't put a new plug in it yet, and I haven't done proper summer storage procedures either. Yet, I pull it out of the garage and starts 4th pull this year after sitting for many months. My poor maintenance on this thing is going to bite me some day but it hasn't argued with me yet. smile.gif

The one thing I do is put new blades on every year. I cut a lot of holes, fish a lot, and like a sharp auger so I just put the new blades on.

The other thing I've recently done is switch to Amsoil Saber for my premix oil. I'm really loving this stuff so far. The one noticeable improvement so far is the auger starts easier (less pulls) and idles better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Quote:

The other thing I've recently done is switch to Amsoil Saber for my premix oil. I'm really loving this stuff so far. The one noticeable improvement so far is the auger starts easier (less pulls) and idles better.


100-1 mix? I may try 80-1 Syn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I think I'm running close to 100:1 right now. I've got a few of those sample pouches that I've been mixing. 1 gallon of gas and 1 pouch of oil gives you 100:1.

The auger hasn't seized up yet.

Lots of guys on here say they are running 100:1 with no problems so I'm putting a little trust in that. So if something does happen to the auger, I can blame FM. wink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Cliff, where did you get your Nils? I've seen them online and that might be the best way to go, but I'd like to look at them on display somewhere too if possible. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I have been running 100/1 saber in my Nils for 2 years and many many holes. I really like the sabre.

My 1st couple tanks I ran the Sabre 80/1. I also ran it in my old Jiffy at 80/1 and had no problems at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I went with a jiffy auger again. Got over 20yrs out of the last one. Laser mags are nice augers too. I don't care for eskimos at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Quote:

Cliff, where did you get your Nils? I've seen them online and that might be the best way to go, but I'd like to look at them on display somewhere too if possible. Thanks.


I ordered my Nils thru FM.

Cliff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

You know I think the whole auger thing is probably like the Chev, Ford, Dodge thing. They will work only as well as you treat them. I will still only buy Chev, and Strikemaster though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.