Mine too, but it got old (30 years) so I went out and bought an electric because everyone loves them. I didn't. I see the pros of less noise/smoke but that's where it ends. Mine died one day with 2 out of 4 bars on the battery indicator. Like 100% dead, not moving. I called the company (Jiffy) and they told me I had to keep the battery warm. uuuuuh, isn't it made for ice fishing? It gets cold ice fishing I said. After a long silence he said maybe get a spare battery (at $180).

Today I do like my electric auger but if you don't keep the batter charged full it will leave you stranded whereas my gas auger never did in 30 years. A pint of gas is a lot more reliable (and cheaper) than a spare battery.

I picked up a spare gas auger in the meantime. If I was going for a few days and could only bring one, I'd grab the gas auger without thinking.

So what is the benefits of the electric auger that everyone seems to rave about, other than less noise/smoke that I'm missing? It appears the weight is pretty close to the same, even. Unless you get a drill type unit.

My 30 year old gas auger spun faster, too.

I don't ice fish much, probably spend 30 35 days on the ice this winter.

My electric auger is a Strikemaster lite flight that is powered by a Milwaukee Mud Mixer. It's far lighter than my two jiffies, I'd sell both of them but they'll only bring 50 dollars each here.[b][/b]

The benefit? I don't have to screw with gas and carburetors, recoils, and the list goes on. Nothing funner than a busted recoil in the middle of a trip. If you haven't broke a recoil yet you either haven't owned the auger long enough or don't fish enough. And if one happens to fish inside a hard hours, something I almost never do, there is no exhaust.

I jump of the snowmobile and pull the trigger and voila, hole is drilled. How many holes in 40 inches of ice? I run 12 amp batteries in the drill, somewhere around 25 a battery I'd say have more than one. I do most of my fishing when the extension is required. I use them for work so I have have multiples.

I don't worry about how "fast" it turns, the strikemaster blade design isn't such to run at higher rpms like the Jiffys.

The only downside I see to the electrics is battery cost. If a guy looks he can get them on sale for half off but it still hurts. The electrics have come a long ways. If a guy bought one ten years ago he'd probably hate it.

I use a Milwaukee drill also with a strike master lite flight, takes up little room and weighs very little. Sold my gas auger and never looked back.

I use a Clam Plate with a 7" Strikemaster hand auger. Fishing last couple of days on 18" of ice, I could get about 25 holes using Milwaukee drill and 5 Amp batteries. It takes about 6 seconds to get through 18" of ice.

At the suggestion of my cardiologist I bought an electric auger and love it. He said to avoid a gas auger because the proximity of the magneto would interfere with my pacemaker. I don't understand this stuff but he knows what he is talking about. The best solution is to have some young guy drill your holes for you.

Steven, Nope never broke a recoil in over 30 years and I used to fish 3-4 days a week. Go easy on your toys, ya gorilla. It's a small engine. Quit trying to pull its head off

My E jiffy is 3 yrs old. Not sure if that's in the bad era or not. It has grown on me but after it died on me with 2 out of 4 charge bars showing, I'm a little leery now. Lost confidence is hard to replace.

I do have a strike master now and you're right. It spins notably slower than the Jiffy did. Cuts fine, but "looks" slow.

My wife and I ice fish nearly every day. I use a Milwaukee drill and liteflite. It’s half the weight of my old Ion lithium 40amp ice auger and twice as fast. We don’t get real thick ice any more, 12” or less. It’s so light and easy to use the wife will drill holes for me.

Cool! I just ordered a 6” to punch holes for beaver sets. All I needed was 3” but hard to find. One I got 2 holes, I cut it open with the Nils ice saw.

I've been using a buddy's , auger and my DeWalt drill works great,

but we only have a foot of ice, also

Got to the cabin a little late and had to replace the battery connectors on my vexlar, by the time my 8 yo and I hit the ice the light was fading and it was around -14f. The new auger works really well it does spin slow but it cuts like a hot knife through butter, the ice is almost 2 feet. Punched 6 holes in a couple min. The positives so far it cuts very well but obviously the blades are brand new, I like not having to mess with gas, chokes and exhaust. The reverse is nice never had that before clears the hole nice. Downside pretty much the same weight as a gas auger, but that's ok for me I only need to go about 75 yards from the cabin. The fish weren't super active I picked up one 14 inch walleye and Sam missed a couple, bite was light. Back at it today its -21.

You will be happy, I have the 24v version and love it.

You can drill a lot of holes here with that thing and I think we've got much more ice.

You'll like it!

I have the 40 volt Strikemaster with the plastic fins. I had the steel fins originally, but got a good deal on the plastic fins which makes the auger considerably lighter. Sold the steel finned one on Facebook the first day I listed it.

Earthworks batteries are 1/2 the price.

Google search -- strike master battery alternative

The rpms are slow because it's a strike master and their blade design. Their has augers user a slower rotation as well.

If the opened up like a jiffy they would tear your arm off

Well last post from me about this auger, overall solid performance -21F when we hit the ice this morning didn't charge the battery on purpose last night just to see how it would work, moved around a little ended up catching a pile of perch, punched about 20 holes and the battery still showed full charge. I'm a fan. Thanks for all the comments, especially about the batteries!

I just bought an Eskimo E40. Ten inch composite, 40v Lithium-ion - 14 pounds. My old propane auger works great but it is getting heavier every year which is hard on my old back and shoulders. It's finally cold enough we have fishable ice at our local lakes. Time to usher some lunkers up thru the tunnel of light:)

I really like the Eskimo 10inch 2.0 Pistol Bit. I have only used it one day of fishing and I can say it is sharp, fast and light. I will still keep my 8 inch Nills but I do like a 10inch hole on those real cold days.

I really like my propane 10 inch jiffy ice auger.