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Old 01-21-2018, 06:40 PM
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RavYak RavYak is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: West Edmonton
Posts: 5,174
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We have now used an 18V Milwaukee with a K-drill 2 weekends in a row. They are a nice light setup that is great for hiking in with but I would never use it as my main auger setup.

A good drill and even the cheapest hand auger plus adaptor costs about the same as a Stingray auger. A good drill and a k-drill costs you more then any good gas or propane auger and on par with the electric ones.

K-drill with these Milwaukee drills only gets 15-20 holes per battery in our current ice thickness(18-20 in or so). That means by end of the winter a guy might only get 10 or so(and you would likely also need an extension). That is also talking brand new batteries working at their max capacity, wait a couple years and you won't even get that. Extra batteries are stupidly expensive too(better off buying a 2nd drill).

I honestly wouldn't waste my time trying to use an auger with a cheaper drill either, you are just going to burn it out and it will cost you more in the long run. To me using a drill to run an auger should not be looked at as a cheap option(unless you work in construction etc and have one of these drills on hand) and if using one I would spend the extra bucks and get a k-drill bit for it as they are much lighter, float when(not if) the chuck comes loose, and have a good blade setup meant to be used with a drill.

I also am fairly confident that although these are great drills they weren't designed with this kind of work in mind. Cutting through 8 inches of ice is not an easy task.

So in short I would buy a drill/k-drill if you want something light for hiking in with otherwise I would look at a dedicated auger if you want a main auger. You can buy a dedicated auger for not that much more then a good drill.
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