jiffy vs strikemaster ice auger???

[wallihunter]

Any advice would be appreciated...I am looking at buying a new ice auger and have narrowed it down to the Jiffy model 76 lightweight or the Strikemaster Mag 2000. I am leaning toward the Jiffy even though it is more money but is 9 lbs lighter.

[luckyme...-]

SPEND THE MONEY AND GET A LAZER!!!!

(I did that in larger print to get my point across.) I have yet to hear anything good about the Jiffy. I bought the stikemaster because I heard the head is supposed to spin faster and thus more torque and blah blah blah... Basically broke down to $$$. I did put a double bladed shaft on it and it works good, but nothing like the lazer. Best auger out there in my humble opinion.

LKM

[Koldfront Kraig]

Lazer is my choice. Light and VERY fast.

[thordog]

LAZER is the only way to go. I spend a lot of time on the ice and have tried the other major brands. Also, it is hard to find them as they are the first to be sold out.

[Spencer]

I highly recommend the Jiffy. Take a look at their website: www.jiffy-on-ice.com

Keep in mind this.............Jiffy has been in business for 50 years!!!!

If they weren't THE BEST ICE DRILLS, they wouldn't be in business that long............. Jiffy is doing something right!!

[BottomFeeder]

Strikemaster!Strikemaster!Strikemaster!

I'm a fishing guide and I can not tell you how much I enjoy my unit. I can out auger and other person with a Jiffy, I don't care how thick the ice is, effortless is the key word. Clients rave about how fast the auger cuts, and when your perch fishing a person cuts a lot of holes....

[Eyez]

I own an older jiffy 2 hp, and I love it, but the newer ones that friends have, I'm not too impressed with. The lasers that I've seen have been great though, plenty light, and cut dang fast.


Eyez

[Jimmy]

I have both... My 10" jiffy was just too big and heavy for most situations, so I picked up an 8" 2hp lazer as a lightweight alternative. The Jiffy is a bulletproof unit and is very dependable, I've used it for 10 years without any problems. My strikemaster only has one year of use and has been great so far, the blades must always be kept sharp or it won't cut worth a crap. If you are super hard on your equipment, I would say go with the Jiffy, it is tougher. If you want light and fast go with the 2 hp lazer.

[How About Hand Augers?]

I have a 4 inch Mora and am looking to get a 6 or 7 inch hand auger. Are the Lazers the way to go? $30 more than the Mora's.

Also, what about the new design hand augers where the handles are off center? Are they hard to get the hole started?

Thanks in advance.

[Wurm]

Lazers, no matter hand or power, have the best cutting blades going. Well worth any extra doe. Man do these things cut fast! I own two Lazer hand, (6" and 8") and one Lazer power (10") and wouldn't trade them in for anything.

[Northern Manitoban]

i have been using a Jiffy for over 10 years now and works great,has cut thousands of holes.I can't say anything about the others but i wish i could compare on the ice though.Everyone i see on the ice has a jiffy.

[curt quesnell]

Win win here.

Both are top of the line. I own a Strikemaster and love it, the
Lazer style auger (its not a real lazer)is easy and quick. I drilled
over a 150 holes in about two hours last year at the Red Lake
Crappie Derby. I was going to replace the blades because I have
used them for about 4 years but they still cut paper. I am replaceing
the blades but keeping this set as a spare.

It's nice when a product does its job well. The Strikemasters
cut with less effort than the Jiffy, but the Jiffy does the job
too. Both are very reliable.

Curt Quesnell

[Backwater Eddy]

My vote is for a Jiffy, 2hp 8" or 9".

Easy to maintain, durable, made to last.

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson...><sUMo>

Backwater Guiding
"Ed on the RED"

[WalleyeOne]

I agree. Both the Jiffy and the Strikemaster have essentially the same powerhead. The difference's in the two augers are there gearboxs and there blade setup. The tecumsuh motors which power BOTH augers are extremely reliable and relatively maintanence free. I have used both and do tend to lean towards the strikemaster due to its light wieght and speed, however both augers get the job done. I'm sure which ever one you go with you will be happy with.

"KEEP YOUR STICK ON THE ICE"

WalleyeOne

[MarcoPolo]

For dependability and durability over the long haul, get a Jiffy. For sheer speed and smoothness of cutting, get a Lazer. My personal choice last year was to sacrifice a few seconds of speed and go with a Jiffy. I have no regrets, but to each his own.

[REW]

I have worked for several years at a few different ice fishing contests.

As with fishing - with cutting ice holes - there is NO contest - when it comes to Jiffy or Strikemaster -
Over the course of 1000 holes - the Strikemaster Laser will drill 700 holes in the time, that it takes the Jiffy to drill 300 holes.

At the end of the time - the person drilling the 700 holes will be no more tired than the fellow drilling the 300 holes with the Jiffy.

Works for me and all of my friends.

Several of my friends - who have Jiffys - now leave them home, and just use my auger - because the one Laser can cut so fast - and it is so much lighter and less tiring to use.

Take care
REW

p.s.
You DO have to keep fresh blades on the Laser -- if the blades get dull - the auger won't cut at all. Use common sense, don't drill dirt, rocks, or mud, or buried wood in the ice - and cover the blades when not being used - and the blades stay sharp for a very long time indeed.

p.p.s.

For dirt digging - I went to Strikemaster and picked up a rusty old single bit auger -that had been used for fishing contests for $5.
In the warm weather - I take off the "Laser Ice auger" and put on the old rusty single bit auger. It will drill a post hole - in relatively stone free dirt in just a few seconds. It works great for digging post holes for chain link fence, or mail boxes, or deck posts.

[TONY ON ICE]

To everyone who is in favor of the Strikemaster Lazers and jiffy power augers....Have you ever had the opportunity to use or even look at the Nils Master Ice augers ?
This company has been, with many other European companies, building the finest augers to ever hit the ice and they've been doing it for a lot longer than any companies on this side of the ocean.
Nils Master power augers are by far, the fastest cutting augers on the market not to mention the Lightest, most durable and have the best engine of the augers out there.
Another great feature is the adaptability of these power augers to hand augers in only a few seconds.
If any of you giuys in the construction business are familiar with "Tanaka" Power equiptment, you'll know what I mean about the best engine because all Nils Master power augers use Tanaka engines which are built for the long haul. These engines are rated for 600 hours of hard use and they never quit whereas the Techumsehs are rated for only 200 hours and frequently suffer early expiration if not taken care of closely.
Nils Master augers have a much longer and more agressive screw to speed up ice chip removal which makes hole cutting much faster with less strain on the clutches and engine.
Cutting heads are made from Chromium stainless steel and hold an incredibly sharp egde for years. These heads are also as rust free as they get.
The Tanaka power head makes much less noise than the competition and actually sounds like a big can of bumble bees when running at 3000 to 6000 rpms.
Max rpms are 11,000 on these engines.

The painted surface will not flake off and start to rust after a few holes. They are coated in an epoxy bases enamel that lasts for years.
The cutting head comes off with the removal of one 10 mm nut and bolt on the main shaft and there's no bolts on the cutting head to restrict the blades like on the other augers.
These Augers have been aound since the mid 70's but until the mid 1980's, they weren't available in the US or Canada. Originally, they were made by Rapala and used the Tanaka power head back then also. Tanaka started marketing these augers in the US and Canada in 1985 but they were still made in Finland. In 1994, Tanaka concentrated on their line of power tools and equiptment and stopped bringing the augers into the country and a few years ago, Nils Master picked them up and redistributed them all over North America.

The Nils Master hand augers again, are the fastest cutting and longest lasting augers on the planet.
The offset handle design is nothing new here and is the standard in Europe.
With both hands doing the work, the augers spin much easier and no downward force is needed to cut a hole.
Again, the longer and more agressive screw on these hand augers makes cutting holes a breeze and they'll never bind up at the bottom of the hole like the Strikemaster lazers do.
Cutting old holes is as easy as cutting new holes with the Nils Master augers..hand or power. No sticking or binding at all which means a lot for reopening holes inside of your permanent shelters.

Are they more money than the competition ?......yes but well worth the extra few bucks so if you've never had the opportunity to use or see a Nils Master power or hand auger in action, definitely give one a try before you make your decision.

We all spend a lot of money on overpriced rods, electronics, shelters and tackle which is fine but when making an investment in a power or hand auger, only the best should be our choice. Brand loyalty has to take a back seat on occassion and this is one of those occcassions !
T.O.I.

[rngrfshm]

My vote is for the Jiffy. I had lots of problems with my strikemaster's icing up that I went back to a jiffy 2hp 9". Up here in the North where we have sand blowing on the ice, we continually had to sharpen the Strikemaster blades or it just spun on the ice. Any chipper blade being Jiffy or Strikemaster would do better where the ice is not perfectly pure and last longer then the shaving styles. The teflon coating on the Jiffy in extreme cold air, is alot better setup as you dont have to worry about icing up. I was under the impression that strikemaster was going to incorporate something like this for there icing issue. Many anglers had problems with the 3 bladed Ultra mag including myself and store manager and others with them icing, that we went back to the 2 blade strikemaster or a chipper style like the jiffy. The 2 blade strikemaster does ice up some, but not to the severity of the 3 blade that they had last year. I hear that Strikemaster took away one of the guide bars on the auger to fix this, but I have not tried it yet. If you want pictures of the icing up, I have 23 of them that I sent strikemaster last year where the auger was plugged up from ice.