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This will be my first year of ice fishing. I've been curious about it BUT I've never gone because of lack of people to go with or time or other activities. Since I'm here at the shop and this is a market it caters to, I figure I might as well do it because I need to learn how it all works so I can answer questions accurately and confidently. That's just who I am so I bought some rod/reel combos and jigs and other stuff needed. The next thing on the list was an ice auger. Now, I'm not one to spend alot on something because I see someone else has "xxxxx brand". Nope. I'm more of a "It works so I'll buy it and I don't care about looks or what others think of it." so I invite you to come on this journey with me in a "Newbie's search for an ice auger."
After reading up on augers and watching videos and so on, I have come to the conclusion that I'm going to look for the best bang for the buck in an auger. I had a few questions to answer and they are as follows:
1.) How often will I go ice fishing?
Well .. I don't know. With my schedule and the shop getting busier, I truly don't know AND I don't know if I'll even like ice fishing. May not be my cup of tea.
2.) What are the differences between augers out there?
This one was a hard one to answer because of the business I'm involved in at this time. I'm surrounded by StrikeMaster augers and they offer a couple of lines. The Mora Line and the Lazer line. The Mora is definitely more affordable and reasonably priced while the Lazer line is more expensive and does have a few different things to offer ... but is it worth it? That now becomes the question. I know I'm not spending $500+ on a powered auger. No way!! Nope. I'll buy whatever fits the bill as a newbie to this sport because of the many uncertainties I face. Hand operated augers it definitely is!!
3.) New or used?
Considering all of the questions I have and knowing I want to get into this as inexpensively as possible I explored many offerings new and used and decided that there wasn't enough difference in price UNTIL you get near the more expensive models. New it is because I'm aiming cheap here!
4.) What size do I need?
Oh boy .... this just keeps getting better. I've ruled out the 4.5" because I truly intend to target bigger fish like Northern Pike and Tiger Musky. During my research, I noticed that most will reach into the hole to pull the fish up rather than the little rod. (I'm not doing the hand over hand tip ups so I'm looking at this from rod/reel only aspect) There is just no way I'll get my hand and a big fish in the same hole knowing how big the pike are where I'll be fishing at times. The 6" ... hmmmm ..... seems to be OK BUT what if I land a 40" pike?? I may need more room. I'm now thinking that It may be best to go up in size and have the hole larger than needed rather than the opposite. 6", 7" and 8" are what will be in my sights for this purchase.
I've answered my questions so now the adventure begins of finding an auger to fit the bill ... or will I?? Sit back and enjoy the ride because now that you're here, you're coming along with me!!
I see the newest craze seems to be battery operated drills attached to the augers. I find this pretty interesting and consider this to POSSIBLY be an option or at the least, one to consider IF I take to ice fishing so I leave this open to my selections. I touched on the StrikeMaster offerings prior. What is the difference you ask? Well the Mora is DEFINITELY easier on the wallet. It's also looking good because it's been around forever and many use them and have had them for years. It's a pretty basic hand operated auger. The Lazer is abit more expensive and I'm looking hard to see what it is that makes it so. I quickly notice the Mora has flat cutting blades. The Lazer has sweeping blades that of course angle upwards towards the flighting. There is another difference between the two. The Lazer appears to have more flightings than the Mora. I search the internet for videos to see them in action. The Mora works as I expected and there is nothing there that tells me "no" to these augers. Well built with blades from Sweden that are highly respected. +1 for the Mora!! The Lazer appears to have blades from China and I'm finding that many are complaining of the way they are cutting UNTIL they switch them out with the blades made in Sweden that StrikeMaster has available as replacements. -1 for the Lazer.
The Mora is in the lead at $59.99 for a 7" auger. I mean REALLY in the lead. I keep thinking about the differences though between the Lazer and the Mora. So again, I'm back to YouTube for more education and comparison. I find that the sweeping blades and different flightings allow the Lazer to drill down through the ice at a faster rate and apparently alittle smoother. Now for those of you keeping score, it's now -1 for the Mora and +1 for the Lazer. I'm starting to truly see the reason in prices. A comparable model from Lazer, the LD7, is over $100. Basically about a $50 difference. Do I need to go through the ice faster? How many holes will I be realistically drilling? Ah ... more questions to answer which I can't because I haven't seen if I even like ice fishing yet. Onward I go in my quest. After some more research and more videos, I'm seeing that there are some real advantages to having a better auger. One of them is less effort!! GREAT!! Another issue to deal with. Finding an auger isn't all that easy for someone that isn't highly knowledgeable on the subject because of the questions presented at so many different times in ones search. Should I like it, which I'm thinking I will, I MAY kick myself for buying too cheap and not spending the extra money on the better auger. I am not going to look into powered augers though.
After more thought into this, there are pros and cons to each. What about this power drill thing?? Oh for chit's sake. I find that both CAN be used with a power drill IF I buy the attachment. The most effective one is one called the Nimrod. It consists of a shaft that attaches to either auger and also to a drill. $28 average price. Now these are starting to add up BUT they still aren't enough of a difference to go into the used market. Augers seem to hold their value pretty well as long as they are taken care of. Upon reading up on the Nimrod adapter, I see there is a handle offered that will basically make your drill a two handed T shaped contraption. At this point I'm thinking "That could be a good thing to have because should that auger catch on the way down, I may be in the ER getting X-Rays to see how badly my wrist is broken." The drill I have is 28v. More than enough power to break a wrist. Am I going to use a drill though?? Dammit!!! Another question. At this point I'll say no because at least I've seen that either of these could be converted. +1 for both candidates .... and the price went up on both.
I'm now in day 3 of looking and comparing augers. Yes ... I do thoroughly examine what I'm getting into because that's who I am.
I have seen more augers in the past 3 days than I ever had prior ... mainly because I never REALLY looked into them and it's quite the quest now. I believe I'm going to just get the Mora and I'm ready to buy!! NOPE!! I opened another video and saw an offering by this company called NILS USA. OH DEAR GOD!!! What the hell is that?? I just witnessed a hand powered auger drill nearly as fast as a gas powered auger and I had something pointed out to me. Remember up ways here I mentioned effort put forth to operate these augers?? Yep. I just found another candidate. (The Eskimo offerings were out of the picture already by the way because they just didn't offer anything different than the Mora or the Lazer and the price points were close enough to not make it on the list) Now I have this NILS USA auger in my sights because I just plain find it damn interesting. It has a different crank design. The Mora and the Lazer have a mushroom style handle at the top located directly over the middle of the augers shaft and then a vertical handle of which you would turn the auger with. The NILS USA has an offest, dual vertical handle style crank. I thought that was truly interesting. Now I'm off to look and see if there are comparisons!!Yes ... yes there are and the NILS is smoking them ALL!!! But wait!!! There's the price ... holy crap!! I'm now looking at this brutal auger to the tune of $120 for a 4.5". OUCH!! Although I'm interested, I have my reserves on this, but I still look at my questions and my answers on all of this. The more I look, the quicker I realize that the NILS is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, in the ice fishing world. It is in the class along with the Finbore augers. They have the same design and are both pricey. I'm now convinced that I really don't need one because I still have yet to even try ice fishing. Again, I'm back to the Mora. Or am I? The more I see these NILS USA augers in action the more I start to see some REAL differences. Here are the differences that I see:
Mora
1.) flat blades resulting in a slower drill rate and possibly alittle clunky feeling
2.) price point it's at the top of the list
3.) it can be used with a power drill IF I buy the attachments and possibly the extra handle.
4.) will serve it's purpose but ....
Lazer
1.) Sweeping blades for faster drilling and smootness
2.) price is a concern
3.) can be used with a power drill if I buy the attachments.
4.) possibly an issue with the cutting blades due to quality control in China as they don't have the blades made in Sweden on them.
5.) slightly better flighting design than the Mora.
Now .. the NIL USA auger
1.) price point is a concern
2.) superior design and parts used
3.) speed of drilling
4.) no need for ANY downwards pressure to drill
5.) URxxxC line is setup for both power drill AND hand operation AND includes plate so it can't be lost if it detaches from the drill at any point.
6.) absolutely effortless drilling
7.) highly regarded among the best in the business
8.) will hold it's value more than the others
9.) the most flightings out of all I'm looking at now
If you look at the list above, price is the main factor BUT looking at what is offered and knowing what the resale is of them and the fact there is still the unknown as to my future in ice fishing. Alot to consider here. As you can see, after 3 days, I'm still undecided on which way to go but being so impressed with the NILS USA auger, there is now a 3rd auger line in the mix .... but can I justify it??
Day 4 of looking into the augers has proven highly educational and I've now had the chance to speak with very experienced ice fishermen and that has helped me in a big way!! Some owned the Lazer augers, some owned Finbore, some owned Mora and yet others had another brand. All told me the good. Some told me the bad. Some told me their regrets in their first selection and some offered more questions to ask myself after offering me their advice. I've finally had enough of the looking and comparisons and I've got the list of what I need vs what I want vs what would be nice to have vs price. On to the purchase on this 4th day!!
I start out looking through distributor books and looking at what is here in the store and such. The Mora is starting to fade some because of the pure fact that it will require more downward pressure and is the slowest of the bunch. I am again though looking at price and the ever important "How much use will it get?". Back and forth I go with the pros and cons and prices of all combined IF I ever wanted to go with a drill should I take to ice fishing. You know where I ended up ... on Ebay. Yes ... the one place I really try to avoid but I'm finding some decent deals offered in between the "damaged" augers offered that is. I stumble upon a seller who's name is NILSUSA. Hmmm .... interesting. Right in VT huh?? I see they are offering the NILS augers at a small discount off of the retail pricing all because the box ripped and it can't be sent to a store. I then notice there are others offered with "make an offer" option. The game begins.
I see the lower line they offer that is hand operated only offered for $126 plus $20 shipping. I make an offer of $100. DECLINED!!! I was thinking "Really??" I know the speed and comfort these augers offer so I'm trying to get one at a price comparable to the Lazer. I didn't make another offer. I then see the one I was looking at which is already setup for the drill but comes with the hand crank for $139 plus $20 shipping. I offer $120. It's the 6" model. UR600C is the model number and we have one here in the shop at $165 retail. Knowing what I can get it for from a distributor, I won't go any higher than my offer. DECLINED!!! OK ... Now I'm getting alittle PO'ed and search again and fin the 8" model. The UR800C. Listed at 167.99 plus $20 shipping. WHOA!!!! That's way more than the others and again, I'm not sure I how much I'll use this thing BUT I do know that I will recoup most of my money should I want to sell it....so ..... OFFER INCOMING!!! I shoot them an offer of $130 free shipping!!I don't see anything from my offer and the listing ended in 4 hours. The last two took about 10 minutes to get a decline notice with no counter offer. Now I'm thinking "I probably pissed them off with the other offers.". That's something I'm good at is pissing people off BUT that's not what I'm trying to do now. The quest for the auger is still at hand. Maybe when I get this last "decline" THEN I'll piss them off with offers of $.25 on ALL of their listings!!!! I check Ebay again after about 2 hours and see "Congratulations!! Your offer has been accepted!!!" I had to pinch myself. Did I just land the UR800C that is selling for $200+ for $130?? Nooooooo. Couldn't be .... but it is!!!
At this point I ask myself "Did you really expect to be paying $130 for an auger you have no idea if you'll even use it enough to warrant it?" Well .... for $130 I did the math. At $59.99 for a 7" Mora plus the drill attachment AND the handle for added safety, I'm nearly there at $130 IF I ever used the drill. Now it's starting to look pretty good!! HALT!! There's something else a completely missed, but mentioned earlier that the NILS offers ..... THE PLATE SO YOU CAN'T LOSE THE AUGER IF IT COMES AWAY FROM THE DRILL!!!! Add another $15. BINGO!!! The NILS at this point has become cheaper than the Mora in the same configuration, cheaper than the Lazer in the same configuration AND it's 8" over the 7" I was looking at!!! Finally .... the search is over and I own one hell of an auger!! The purchase happened on Sunday, the auger shipped on Monday and today the auger is at the house!!As soon as I received the auger, I assembled it, which was about 20 seconds, and drove to the pond up the road. There were a couple of guys I know that were tending to the pond that are BIG hockey fans and they play in adult leagues in Saratoga. I went over away from where they would be skating and removed the cover on the blades. I set the auger on the ice and, remembering to use NO pressure as per the manufacturers instructions, started to turn the auger. Going slow, because this is the first time I've used one and I was unsure of myself, I drilled through 6" of ice roughly 8 seconds. That's right. I said 8 seconds!! I was counting to myself and even though I knew I was going slow, this auger just started getting lower from the very first complete turn!! Utterly amazed!! Now I can confirm what is seen on all of those videos and reviews and statements I had seen on the internet. The NILS USA auger is truly effortless and WICKED fast. Because this auger does all of the work and requires much less effort on the operator's part, I can honestly say that I look forward to 18" thick ice or more!!! Not worried about becoming fatigued having to drill 10 holes or more if I have to move for whatever reason. It's so quick that it's less time spent drilling holes and more time fishing.
I'm 100% satisfied with the NILS USA UR800C and at the price I acquired it at .... I'll NEVER regret buying it. If you are looking for an auger or are new to ice fishing as I am, do yourself a favor and spend alittle more on the initial cost of the auger. You will NOT be disappointed.0112061354.jpg
Above is the Lazer and Mora. Both are good augers .... below is a stock photo of the one I got but they are smaller diameter but you can see the deifference in design.
NILSMASTER-URC.jpg
You can see that there are no parts to assemble to switch from hand operation to drill operation.
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