If you have not got a drill yet I cant say enough about this Ridgid
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/18v-ham ... ver/861855Last year I used it with the
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/elect ... GYPVTTF98F but I now have a
http://stores.clamoutdoors.com/clam/aug ... n-kit.html on order. My chuck seized at the end of the season but was covered by the life time warranty and had it fixed within 3 days. it was a combination of the moisture and the adapter from Canadian tire slipping and stripping that caused the chuck to seize up . The idea is great but the metal is quite soft in the one at Canadian tire for what it needs to do. You can find better ones on eBay and on line that are made out of harder metals. to use the Clam adapter, you take the chuck right off and it has ball Bearings that absorbs load from the auger so the drill is only used to spin the auger not to support the torque. I also ordered a 12" extender in case we get ice like last year again.
Happy fishing! Some Ice will be here before we know it if this cold sticks around.
Below is info from an old posts of mine at
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18738I shopped around for a drill and went with a Ridged as it had the highest torque (640lb) rating I could find and also came with 2 double sized lithium batteries. I was worried about eventually burning out the drill but found out Ridged extends the three year warranty on their equipment to a lifetime warranty when it is registered with them online (including batteries). The drill has a variable trigger speed so I run it slow but can pop a hole as quick if not quicker than any electric or gas auger with it. a couple weeks ago I drilled 20+ holes on one battery in 16" - 18" of ice and still had some charge left in it.
The drill is 18v which is not the biggest factor, it is the torque that makes the biggest difference. I was looking at a bunch of 20V from Dewalt and milwaukee and they did not compare to the Ridged. They were all around 350LB - 450LB in my post I said the Ridged was 640LB but it is actually 615LB.
Another thing to do is keep the batteries in an insulated cooler bag with a couple hot shot hand warmers, although I do not think the lithium batteries are effected by the cold as much as Nimh batteries are.