Icegator....who has one?

[camshaft]

Looking at ordering the Attacker 2 (new 2010 model) and have heard nothing but rave reviews from all the u.s. folks who have one.

I am curious as to if anyone has put in an order locally. I heard they "may" offer free shipping to Canada, as there isnt a dealer north of the 49th

If anyone has one, can u pls chime in with your thoughts of the model and which auger u have it paired to. I know last years model with the 2 12ah batteries weighs in at 28lbs (powerhead) Supposedly this years model was supposed to get that weight down a bit.

I wud also like to know what the final price was delivered if possible. I dont know yet if they will ship usps as opposed to ups/fed ex. Feel free to pm me regarding the price.

Thx

[honker_clonker]

If you go on iceshanty.com and look under the alberta section, there are some review on it there. Some people also have the same user account on both of these sites so you could track them down. There is alot of info on them on ice shanty. Heres a link to the alberta section:
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?board=23.0

[Jimboy]

l believe it is just a power unit that fits on your lazer hand augers with an adaptor , and with a price tag of $369.00 US , l would say a 24v drill and adaptor would be cheaper , but a matter of choice , seen the vidio , works good butttt , for the money maybe just buy a jiffy , my thoughts.

[camshaft]

Thx guys. I'm familiar with the auger and have read probably all the reviews and threads from different sites re the icegator.

Just had some specific questions thats all....more so regarding final prices.

[Hunter Trav]

I've got one comming, but I won't know the total till it gets here, as I'm guessing its gonna have some duty to be paid. I also ordered mine in Oct. when they had a sale going on, so I got a pretty good price for mine. And I had them send mine through the USPS, cause UPS sucks around these parts. Its supposed to weigh in at around the 23lb mark, and the batteries are insulated now as well. I got to use last years model, and it kicked ass. This years is supposed to be even better. I'm pairing it up with my 8" Mora. I can't remember the auger that was on the one I used. Feel free to PM me if you want to know more.

[camshaft]

Trav

pm sent, thx for the update

[slingshotz]

I've emailed every single one of the guys at Icegator asking about ordering one of the Attacker II models and no one has responded. I wonder if they are blocking Yahoo mail :(

[camshaft]

I have heard they are overwhelmed with orders and have been scrambling trying to fill and ship orders dating back several months. I dont think they expected the demand they currently have.

Of the posts I've read, their customer service appears to be really good, and I have read several posts with Icegator replying on iceshanty their updates and apologies for the late replies to e-mails.

[Hunter Trav]

I've emailed every single one of the guys at Icegator asking about ordering one of the Attacker II models and no one has responded. I wonder if they are blocking Yahoo mail :(

If you want to get ahold of them, call them. They are crazy busy right now, and alot of times its tough to even get them on the phone. Best to try phoneing till you get ahold of them, as they figure they're gonna sell out again this year. I'm glad I ordered in Oct. thats for sure...:D

[camshaft]

Pulled the trigger yesterday and ordered the attacker 2. Spoke to Greg at the company who was more than pleasant to deal with.

Sounds like they are working hard to get orders shipped and were likely only taking today off. Based on the recommendations, I'm going to pair it with the 8" fin-bore 3. They also ship free to Canada as there are no dealers here yet, and they recognize that Cdn customers are forced to pay a bit of brokerage/duties. Nice thing is that they ship via usps and NOT ups/fedex.

Cant wait for this to arrive. Shud be shipped hopefully, by the end of the month. There doesnt seem to be near the following or interest this auger has developed south of the border.

Everyone that has one raves about its performance and how they will never go back to a gas auger again. Shud be fun to see the look on people's faces that are die hard gas auger enthusiasts.

[slingshotz]

I'm itching to get mine too, ordered it last week. Hopefully next year the Li-ion batteries will decrease in price. The nice lady on the phone told me to wait till next year and the prices should come down a lot.

I'm pairing it with a Nils.

[camshaft]

Sling

Do u have the nils already? I inquired about that auger but was told that on the 8" (perhaps it's only the 8") the auger flighting is a smaller diameter than the blades are. Therefore, the auger has to work harder to force the ice up the flighting and out the hole.

The icegator folks still say the fin-bore 3 is the best 8" to use with their drive. I was surprised due to the overwhelming efficient ability of the nils.

Guess we'll see. Wud sure be nice to see the lithium batteries perform. The cost though is still years away from being "reasonable" IMO. Hopefully with the slightly smaller 9ah batteries, the weight of the new attacker 2 will come in less than the 10" model 30 I used to carry around.

[beermilk]

maybe ice gator has some kinda of agreement with fin bore which is why the recommend there auger.

[camshaft]

No they dont.

I believe they recommend nils for smaller than 8", but due to the flighting issue, the 8" recommendation is either the lazer or fin-bore 3. The lazer is just as good, but many still have the cheaper chinese blades as opposed to the far superior swedish blades.

Hense, to ensure the best cutting blades possible, they say go with the fin-bore 3 which guarentees the swedish blades, or buy a lazer and simply replaces the blades.

[insomniac]

I bought one last year, had it shipped to Edmonton. If they hit you with tax/duty it adds a chunk of cash to the final price (I'll have to look up what it was in taxes).

Otherwise, it's a good piece of gear but pretty heavy...

insomniac

[slingshotz]

No I dont have the Gator yet but the Nils is working really well using it by hand. I have the smaller Finbore 6" and it was alright but the blades wouldn't last that long for some reason even though I kept really good care of them. I've never seen the 8" Finbore to compare the flighting sizes.

The Finnish blades on the Nils are really good so far but you can't just buy replacement blades unfortunately so hopefully they last a long time. And I can't get into a debate with Swedish vs Finnish quality blades as my wife is Finnish and she'll kill me if I agreed with you :lol:.

[Dougie55]

Any updated final costs to Alberta?

[camshaft]

Not yet.

I ordered mine last week in hopes of it being shipped before the end of the month. Was told it wud hopefully be shipped before January.

I'll let u know once it arrives.

[Dougie55]

Thanks guy.. Will probably get one, but it all adds up if you add some of the acc.

[insomniac]

For those guys getting an Icegator: I DO NOT recommend getting the Strikemaster Hand Auger to fit to the IceGator. It fits using the adapter that they give you but there are a few problems:

- It usually drills great but the bolt that Strikemaster provides with their auger can't handle the torque from the Icegator. I broke two of those crummy bolts last year when the drill got hung up when drilling a hole. If you replace it with a stronger bolt then you'll be OK...

- Even if you get a new bolt there is a recurring problem that I've had: The auger almost always gets hung up just as it breaks through. I'm not sure why this happens but I have two ideas. One - the flighting on the hand auger is fairly short so a lot of the ice chips do not get pushed up out of the hole. When you hit water it really makes it hard to pull the drill back out. It might also be the blade design. I've never had this problem with my gas auger.

For those guys who already have a Strikemaster power auger, the Icegator power head will actually fit on it. For those guys who have a Normark/Fin-Bore power auger, the Icegator head also fits but only through the top bolt (Fin-Bore augers have two fastening bolts).

insomiac

[Dougie55]

Good info Insomniac..Thanks

[camshaft]

Imsomniac

Good to know about using bigger bolts. I have the fin-bore 3 and will have to take a look at the connection.

Are u using the swedish or chinese blades with your lazer?

[insomniac]

camshaft, the strikemaster hand auger I bought has the Chinese blades.

Thing is - the icegator drills really well w/the strikemaster hand auger right up until you get to the bottom of the hole. The icegator has so much torque it sheared away the bolt when it got hung up just before breaking through. I had to use a drill to remove the old bolt at home but it ruined half a day of fishing... I went to Home Depot to find a stronger bolt and so far so good. I'm probably going to try the drill off my Normark gas auger on it this year.

Even so, it's actually amazing how fast the icegator chews through the ice. I'll probably never use my gas auger again.

insomniac

[camshaft]

Imsomniac

Greg at icegator warned me and I have read other threads about the chinese blades. He said the auger will cut fine until it is close to punching thru the hole, as u described with the cheap chinese blades.

Do yourself a favor and buy the replacement swedish made blades and try the gator again. I bet it will be a night and day difference.

[PINEHURST-PIKE-FREAK]

Imsomniac

Greg at icegator warned me and I have read other threads about the chinese blades. He said the auger will cut fine until it is close to punching thru the hole, as u described with the cheap chinese blades.

Do yourself a favor and buy the replacement swedish made blades and try the gator again. I bet it will be a night and day difference.


any recent upgrades to this model?
any long term reviews?

[slingshotz]

My last post in this thread was 2009 and I've been using my Icegator every year since (I probably average about 100 holes each year). I've had to upgrade the original buttons to the new lever design two years ago which helped but the new design still isn't perfect. I had to rip the levers apart this year to sand down all the metal contacts and replace some of the riveted contacts.

The lithium batteries I bought two years ago died this year but I'm pretty sure it was my fault as I never cycled the batteries every couple months. However, they should have included that tip in the manual...oh wait I never got a manual with the batteries. The lithium batteries made the auger really light and nice to use but I would be hesitant to buy them again.

Despite all these little issues I've had, the auger motor is still running beautifully with my Nils head. I have two blade units so I can ship one away to get sharpened each year. It still cuts through the ice like butter and the torque is still insane. The original batteries have been long replaced but luckily they use two common UPS style lead acid batteries (same as the flasher and camera) which can be replaced for about $15/each.

They do have new Annihilator models now that are more powerful to support larger holes but I have no experience with them or know anyone that has one up here.