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Old 02-28-2011, 01:16 PM
780sjc 780sjc is offline
 
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Default Which power auger? - opinions needed

Just had some questions and wanted to hear some opinions with power augers. First off what brands do we see the most of around here... jiffy, strikemaster, eskimo, the odd nils and husqvarna? I have run an eskimo for about 5 years now.( 1.2hp stingray) And still to this day i dont have a single complaint about it. Priced GREAT, its light, it starts extremely easy EVERYTIME within the second pull. Although a small 1.2hp it has never hestitated or bogged down going through any thickness of ice. just endless good things to say about it. then this season my old man got an eskimos shark Z51 10''. And again I was really impressed. That 51cc flies through everything. easy starting ( bit heavier ) and again a very good price that the other brands cant seem to compete with.

Also this season I won a strikemaster lazer mag 2 1/2hp auger at the jackfish lake derby. And this auger blew my mind how light it was, how fast it was, and how good it sounded, and again the ease of starting was there. Never use to be a big fan of the strike masters with how much plastic they use but performance wise, although ive only used it a handful of times, very very impressive.

That brings us to jiffy. I use to work a wholesale sports and cant tell you how many jiffy augers came back every season let it be for mashed gears, problems cutting, rattling noises in the gear box etc etc. countless. never saw one eskimo come back and only one strikemaster due to the pull cords coiled spring was broken. Now i realize that wholesale isnt a warranty repair center and some have gone to lawn mower hospital or straight back to the manufacturer but even so that could only mean that many more jiffys were being sent to those places as well as back to wholesale. Seeing so many problems with them has really turned me off of jiffy. but then i talk some guys and they say have had there jiffy for 30 years and still running better than new? i guess this is my question, whose running jiffy's and what do ya think of them? i also understand that they are extremely finicky augers. but when you get a good one they really fly. ive yet to have personal experience running one but i know they are a very popular brand name for augers. and im trying to figure out why.
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Old 02-28-2011, 01:20 PM
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nicemustang nicemustang is offline
 
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An age old debate. I'm an eskimo fan and always would be, however I'm also really impressed with the strikemasters.
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Old 02-28-2011, 01:34 PM
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chubbdarter chubbdarter is offline
 
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ran all the brands....never had a issue with my jiffy 3...never had a issue with my e-mo....always had a back up power auger to my SM so i experimented with different ones. Everytime someone would buy my my backup because it had virtually no hours on it and they also had no issues. I wont sell my lazer 4 blade SM it does tricks no other auger ive tryed will do and it cuts really good. My propane jiffy should be here this week....i'll report on it after i cut a few holes
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Old 02-28-2011, 01:35 PM
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strikemaster all the way i have had one for 25 years still runs great.next one strikemaster hands down
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Old 02-28-2011, 01:53 PM
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mayuan mayuan is offline
 
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just copy and paste my last responce to this question in 2010.




I guess I will put in my two cents....



StrikeMaster 10" Lazer Mag 2.5hp Power Auger is running a German engine on a Swedish auger blade. When I was looking for an auger this year this is the one I bought. From what I was reading the Jiffy is using a new chinese motor not the old reliable techumsa engine (techumsa went out of buisness). And the other augers just didn't feel right. The only issue I had with the auger before I bought it was the plastic on it. Then I found out what it was, Tufflite Dupont Zytel, the same stuff used on a lot of military equiptment to bring the weight down. And that is a good thing!

As far as using the unit, I have drilled about 100 holes with no issues. The shaft bolt loosens after about 30 holes and needs to be tightened. My auger also starts and runs at -20C better than I do.

Almost forgot, the unit is lighter then most other units.

I hope this helps.....

2011 update

Still very happy with the StrikeMaster auger. I did have one issue with the pull cord on the top. The recoil wasn't working well and the cord got wrapped around the top of the guide causing it to get stuck. This was on Spray of course after a 30min hike to the fishing location. I took out my pliers and proceeded to rip chunks out of the top bezel till I freed the pull cord and had it working. Once I was home I called StrikeMaster told them what I did pliers and all. StrikeMaster promptly sent me out a new recoil assembly and top bezel for free.

I was able to start the auger with no issue at -28 this year also.
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Old 02-28-2011, 06:13 PM
Mayhem Mayhem is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mayuan View Post
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just copy and paste my last responce to this question in 2010.




I guess I will put in my two cents....



StrikeMaster 10" Lazer Mag 2.5hp Power Auger is running a German engine on a Swedish auger blade. When I was looking for an auger this year this is the one I bought. From what I was reading the Jiffy is using a new chinese motor not the old reliable techumsa engine (techumsa went out of buisness). And the other augers just didn't feel right. The only issue I had with the auger before I bought it was the plastic on it. Then I found out what it was, Tufflite Dupont Zytel, the same stuff used on a lot of military equiptment to bring the weight down. And that is a good thing!

As far as using the unit, I have drilled about 100 holes with no issues. The shaft bolt loosens after about 30 holes and needs to be tightened. My auger also starts and runs at -20C better than I do.

Almost forgot, the unit is lighter then most other units.

I hope this helps.....

2011 update

Still very happy with the StrikeMaster auger. I did have one issue with the pull cord on the top. The recoil wasn't working well and the cord got wrapped around the top of the guide causing it to get stuck. This was on Spray of course after a 30min hike to the fishing location. I took out my pliers and proceeded to rip chunks out of the top bezel till I freed the pull cord and had it working. Once I was home I called StrikeMaster told them what I did pliers and all. StrikeMaster promptly sent me out a new recoil assembly and top bezel for free.

I was able to start the auger with no issue at -28 this year also.
I'm on my second season with this machine with an 8" auger, very happy with it. Love the power to weight ratio and ergonomics. Never had any problems with the recoil (or anything else) but before I even used it I followed the tech bulletin fix for that on the strikemaster site....Starts with one or two pulls and lots of power. My dad (who had a jiffy for 10 yrs) even likes it.
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Old 03-01-2011, 11:15 AM
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Jwood 456 Jwood 456 is offline
 
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I have a jiffy white lightning 2hp auger that has been running frequently for about 8 years now. All that's had to been done was replacing a spark plug, getting a new throttle linkage, and a ripcord. I haven't even had to ajust the carb screw once. The auger still runs as good as when it was new, if not runs better than new.

I must agree though that it does take quite a few pulls to get those jiffys started.

I haven't used any other brand of auger though I have seen people use ancient looking strike masters that were still performing awesome.
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Old 02-28-2011, 01:54 PM
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tacklerunner tacklerunner is offline
 
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Post Jiffy 3 HP Model 30

Bought a Jiffy Model 30 3 HP (Tecumseh, now discontinued) 10" 3 years ago because I THOUGHT it was the biggest and baddest so it must be the best. Never operated a power auger before that. Did not do my research at the time.

It's as strong as an ox, practically no plastic but weighs as much as an ox too. I'm a big guy so I can handle it but after trying some "smaller" augers, I would have opted for something else at the time, regardless of brand.

Yes, I can speak for my auger; it is finicky. Tuning, tuning, tuning all the time and 2 screws not just one. It does not run the same in fluctuating temperatures so it needs tuning which is frustrating and time consuming when you just want to get your lines down ASAP. But it works and get's the job done so I guess I'll stick with it. The new Jiffys seem more user friendly and they have improved the tourque on the smaller engines so I'm not neccessarily against Jiffy.

I tried premium gas, better oils, Jiffy products, stabilizer and all of the things that you all do maximize performance but it still needs tuning at different temps. Sometimes I have to drill my holes at full choke, sometimes 1/2 choke and sometimes no choke. On the other hand there is nothing broken on it and I have not done anything to it other than straighten and sharpen the original blades when I hit bottom earlier this year.

If I win a new auger at a derby, I will be selling my current auger cheap or giving it to someone who really needs an auger and isn't in the financial position to be able to afford one; as long as a new one gets the job done just as well or better. Jiffy may be a bit behind in applying new technology as compared to some of the other brands.

That's my Jiffy experience.
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Old 02-28-2011, 02:22 PM
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Ken07AOVette Ken07AOVette is offline
 
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I prefer electric, no recoil, oil, gas, spark plug, choke or carb to screw up, the only limiting factor, or decision you have is how long do you want your cables to be, and do you want to carry a battery or clamp on to your truck battery.

I use wheelchair motors, they last forever, and 30" of ice is gone in 20 seconds with a 8" hole left behind.
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Old 02-28-2011, 02:28 PM
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I run a small strikemast mag. 2000 with an 8" blade. It is my first auger and I bought it almost 3 years ago now. It is a light weight auger and has never had any problems starting it. It isn't the fastest auger on the market but being as light as it is I have no problem taking a few seconds longer on each hole.

My buddy bought one of the new strikemaster strike lites last year with the plastic auger. It drilled really nice and was pretty light. I was worried about the auger being plastic but he hasn't had any problems with it so far. It is also a 4 stroke so its really quiet and no mixing of oil and gas. He told me the other day that he was having a problem with it and thinks its a head gasket so hopefully he can get that figured out soon and strikemaster will help him out since the auger isn't even a year old yet.

I have tried a couple different eskimos and they seemed heavier but drilled nice and seemed to be pretty reliable.

I have also used a jiffy and it was really heavy and really loud but drilled holes like a monster. It also used gas twice as fast as my auger does so that is another downside to the jiffy I tried.

I remember a guy has a pretty new husquavarna that wouldn't start in anything below like -10 to -15. It was a really good auger on nice days but good luck trying to get it going when it was cold and crappy out. It was also super light and super quiet when it ran. I am not sure if this was just a problem with that one or if they all have that same problem.
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Old 02-28-2011, 02:40 PM
cujo1969 cujo1969 is offline
 
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Have jiffy model 30 for 15 year no problems always runs good have adjusted the idle mixture srcrews couple times. Few years ago most used tecumseh engines so same issues. Jiffy definitly the most popular on the ice so there would be more returns. Driving around the lake at badger it be at least 5-1 jiffy to the all other brands.
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Old 02-28-2011, 02:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cujo1969 View Post
Have jiffy model 30 for 15 year no problems always runs good have adjusted the idle mixture srcrews couple times. Few years ago most used tecumseh engines so same issues. Jiffy definitly the most popular on the ice so there would be more returns. Driving around the lake at badger it be at least 5-1 jiffy to the all other brands.
Did they use a tecumseh engine 15 years ago?
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Old 02-28-2011, 03:15 PM
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[QUOTE=cujo1969;849883]Have jiffy model 30 for 15 year no problems always runs good have adjusted the idle mixture srcrews couple times. Few years ago most used tecumseh engines so same issues. Jiffy definitly the most popular on the ice so there would be more returns. Driving around the lake at badger it be at least 5-1 jiffy to the all other brands.[/QUOTE]

very good point
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Old 02-28-2011, 02:37 PM
Big Red 250 Big Red 250 is offline
 
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I had a Jiffy 3 hp with 8 in flyte for 16 years and the only problem I had was I broke the off/on switch off (my fault). Had it sharpened a few times by an old guy that lived down the street from me. And I drilled a lot of holes with it.
I never owned any other's so I can't make any comparisions.
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