What kind of screwdriver is needed for drilling ice

Hello! Do you like winter fishing, but are you tired of manually drilling holes? Cordless screwdriver can make your life easier. It is easy to fix an ice drill into it and drill 100-150 holes from one charge depending on the thickness of the ice. True, not every model is suitable for this work. About what characteristics a screwdriver must have in order to confidently cope with drilling, and this article will be discussed. Read it to the end, as below will be presented specific high-quality models that can withstand the required load, but having the lowest price. This article is regularly updated, so it always has up-to-date information.

I work as a sales assistant for electric tools, so I am well versed in the assortment. In addition, I myself sometimes go fishing in the winter, so I can imagine in what conditions a screwdriver will have to work. In general, having estimated these conditions, having tested some models and having talked with other fishermen, I figured out which one to choose a screwdriver for an ice drill so that it could deal with this matter with honor. We proceed to describe the required characteristics.

Necessary characteristics of a screwdriver for working on winter fishing

Think and imagine what difficulties you will encounter when operating a screwdriver in a frozen pond? After a brief estimate, the following three factors come to mind:

  • Huge pressure
  • Long battery life
  • Cold

To work confidently in such conditions, it must meet certain requirements. Consider these requirements depending on each factor separately.

Heavy Duty Performance

What kind of screwdriver is needed for drilling ice

Agree that the rotation of the drill in ice requires quite a bit of effort from the screwdriver. My tests have shown that a unit with a torque of at least 60 Nm can cope with such work. The same figure is also confirmed by other fishermen who already drill holes with a screwdriver. Therefore, when buying, you need to build on this value.

But in this place it is necessary to make such a reservation: not all screwdrivers with a torque of more than 60 Nm will be indicated for us. Among them there are those in which a large torque is achieved due to the shock mechanism. It helps a lot when tightening nuts and bolts, but is absolutely useless when drilling ice. Therefore, for winter fishing, models that achieve high torque due to impact will not work.

I note that there is another impact mechanism designed to simplify the drilling of bricks and other stone materials. its presence will not have any negative impact on the use of a screwdriver with an ice drill.

Heavy loads also require that the screwdriver be a professional class, since only in this case it can last a long time. The following manufacturers make professional tools:

The household class is not suitable, so we do not consider all sorts of bison, calibers, encore and other Chinese.

If you used to drill manually, you can recall how the drill sometimes wedged during this process. Now imagine what will happen if the wedging occurs when drilling with a screwdriver. your hands can easily break. To protect yourself from this, it is necessary that the screwdriver in the kit has an additional handle, which is installed on the back side of the main one. So you can confidently hold the device, grabbing it from two sides. Thanks to this, the hands remain intact.

To summarize this part: a large load requires a professional shockless screwdriver with a torque of 60 Nm. And for convenience and safety, an additional handle in the kit is still needed. We figured out the heavy load factor, we turn to the need for continuous operation without recharging.

Video: What kind of screwdriver is needed for drilling ice


Characteristics for long battery life

On the pond, no one will let you down the socket, so the working time of the screwdriver will depend on the amount of stored charge. The charge reserve is equal to the battery capacity and is measured in ampere-hours. I think you understand that for ice drilling in winter fishing it is better to purchase a screwdriver with an increased battery capacity, and this is not less than 3 Ah. And you need to have at least two of them. Although, as I already wrote, we need a professional-class device, and they are always equipped with at least two batteries.

Having bought a screwdriver with a 3 Ah battery, you can drill at least 100 holes, and if it is 5 Ah, then 150-170. Although this indicator, as was said above, also depends on the thickness of the ice.

Thus, when buying, we give preference to devices with the most capacious batteries. Now is the time to move on to such a factor as cold.

Characteristics for work in the conditions of a cold

This item is closely related to the previous one, since it is again about the battery capacity, which becomes less at low temperatures. Therefore, this condition again requires the purchase of a screwdriver with a high-capacity battery.

Also in this paragraph it should be said about the types of batteries. There are three of them:

  • lithium ion
  • nickel cadmium
  • nickel metal hydride

It is believed that in the cold, nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride batteries feel better than lithium-ion batteries. However, my tests show that modern lithium-ion batteries also feel good in the cold.

But even if it so happens that your lithium-ion batteries refuse to work in a refrigerated state, you can simply keep them warm. "And where to get the warmth from winter fishing?". you ask. And I will answer: you yourself are source of heat. Do in your jacket, sheepskin coat (or whatever you go fishing there) additional internal pockets for batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are lightweight, so keeping them there will be convenient. When you need to drill another hole, take out the battery. When you sit down to fish. remove.

And the next point on this point is that nickel-cadmium batteries have a capacity of not more than 2 Ah, and nickel-metal hydride is not more than 2.5 Ah. Lithium-ion can also have 5 Ah. Based on the fact that we need to have more than 3 Ah, we discard the nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride types aside, especially since they are gradually ceasing to be produced as morally obsolete.

So, having examined the three main factors that will affect the work of a screwdriver in winter fishing conditions, we found out that we need a professional, non-impact screwdriver with a torque of at least 60 Nm, lithium-ion batteries from 3 Ah and an additional handle in the kit.

Which models meet these requirements?

Choosing a make and model of a screwdriver

One of the most popular models in 2020. is an AEG BS18C2BL LI-402C. He has a solid moment of 65 Nm and 4 Ah batteries. One of the main features is that it is also brushless, which means that the life of its engine will be much greater than that of brush counterparts. There is also an extended warranty of 6 years when purchasing at Vseinstrumenty.ru. To get it, you just need to register a screwdriver on the website aeg-powertools.eu. This is done for free.

AEG BS 18C Li-402C

The Makita DDF458RFE screwdriver, which has 91 Nm, is also popular, but the batteries here are less capacious. 3 Ah. As you can see, AEG wins in capacity, but Makita’s torque is much higher.

With 5Ah batteries, there is an AEG BSB18CBLLI-502C screwdriver. This is essentially the same brushless device from AEG that was discussed above, but with more capacious batteries, thanks to which it will be possible to drill holes with it a little more.

AEG BSB18CBLLI-502C

If the above models seem expensive to you, but nevertheless you do not want to abandon the idea of ​​ice drilling with a screwdriver, then do not give a damn about everything that I wrote above about battery capacity and an extra handle, and get yourself, for example, such apparatus: Bosch GSR 18-2-LI Plus Professional. Yes, with it you will drill holes only about 50-70 pcs., Since the capacity of its batteries is only 2 Ah. Also, it will have to be held tight, since there is no additional handle. But then it costs one and a half to two times cheaper. Therefore, those who are not so active in winter fishing can do it too.

Bosch GSR 18-2-LI Plus Professional

Well, I think on this you can finish the article. Hope that helped you with the choice. Read my other articles on this site! Until we meet again and have a good purchase!