ICE-ING GILLS -

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Cordless drill/ice auger

     I have been using a 7 inch Eskiimo hand auger for years. I have been thinking about going to a drill/ice auger combo. Probably a 5 or 6 inch auger to be able to drill more holes. I was wondering what others are using that they like?

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    John Foro

    Hi...I've been using a 6" laser auger with a clam plate and a Milwaukee fuel 18 for few years now....the laser was one I've had for years and with the plate/drill.....what a difference, with the 4.5 ahr battery I can drill as many holes I need for 1 or 2 days..I also bring a spare battery along just in case.. Haven't had to use it yet. I'm 71 yrs old and this is so much easier than hand or gas auger....my 2 cents. Been out once already did decent with 17 nice gills and few sunnies.Good luck.
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      dave schuyler

      I have a Milw fuel 18 and use both a 5" and 6", both are lasers from hand drills. I use a 5 ah lithium battery and have yet to run out of juice, most often after all day of drilling I still have 2 bars of power left.  Two things to look at for electric drills, lithium batteries, and torque of the drill. General rule is you want a minimum of 750 in. # of torque, Milw fuel has about 1200. Depending on how quickly I find fish, I may drill 30 to 90 holes on an outing. Good fishing and be safe 

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        Allen Morgan

        You want a hammer drill with a 1/2" chuck, a battery with as many amp/hours as you can afford, and as mentioned, at least 750 in/lbs of torque.  Don't use the hammer setting, leave on Drill, setting #1.  I have a buddy that uses as Milwaukee m18 hammer drill.  He can drill as many holes as he wants, all day.

        You might want to go Youtube and watch some head-to-head videos on drills and/or augers.  Some augers are better at different things.  Some drills are cheaper, but have a "thermal cutoff" that kills the drill until it cools down.  This really doesn't help if you're drilling 40 - 50 holes a day, but if you're only drilling a few, then fishing, then moving, then drilling a few more, it's no big deal.

        I'm still getting started with ice fishing.  I've been using an Eskimo 8" hand auger.  Lots of effort in that one.  I've been thinking about a drill.  I just bought a HT 6" hand auger.  I'll start there.  Smaller augers are easier on the drills, from what I hear.

        Since I typically only drill two holes, getting a cheaper drill with a thermal cutoff is probably what I'm going to do.

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