The Jiffy Rogue 2.0 – Ironing Out the Wrinkles

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The new 2022 Jiffy Rogue 2.0 is here! If you are in the market for a brand new ice auger and want to learn more about the new 2022/2023 Jiffy Rogue 2.0, this article aims to be the most detailed ice auger review on the internet! Read on to learn what sets this new ice auger apart from the rest.

Disclaimer – Jiffy provided this auger for review but the views and opinions expressed in this article are my own genuine, and as much as possible, unbiased, thoughts and opinions.

The Rogue’s release was met with a lot of fanfare. Many die-hard Jiffy fans have fathers and grandfathers that ran a Jiffy and once it was announced there was a successor to the E6 Lighting, the excitement was palpable. The Rogue, as it’s aptly named, promises to be different. While the other major manufacturers are following similar paths in terms of building smaller and quieter ice augers, Jiffy set themselves apart by offering more – more steel, more speed, and possibly more fun!

The original Rogue was introduced in the fall of 2021, which was a difficult time to be doing business. Supply shortages and quality issues plagued manufacturers of all industries and Jiffy found out the hard way that launching a product in the midst of a pandemic was tough. Quality issues started to crop up soon after the auger’s release and it was clear that some of these issues were not one-off problems. While it did take a bit of time to troubleshoot, Jiffy has answered all those issues with the release of the Rogue 2.0.

What’s new with the Rogue 2.0?

Jiffy addressed all the issues they had with the first generation. First off, there is new programming for the powerhead so it no longer cuts out during use. This was initially thought to be a battery issue and that charging and draining the battery a few times (i.e. conditioning the battery) would solve the issue; but this turned out to be incorrect and reprogramming of the powerhead was needed.

Next, Jiffy addressed the auger flight breaking in the cold by adding more rubber to the polymer blend. Now the auger flight is more pliable and bends easily without breaking, which works great to knock ice buildup off the flight which. If you’ve ever used a steel auger in the cold, you know that ice buildup can add significant weight.

Lastly, Jiffy gave the Rogue a new blade design. They replaced the single ripper blade that they have been using for years on their gas models with an upgraded dual hybrid chipper blade. This revamp offers a more balanced cutting experience and promises increased efficiency. 

More About Efficiency

The Rogue 2.0 is one of the first in the next generation of ice augers. Augers that increase cutting speed and performance while also providing more efficiency – so you can cut holes faster and use less battery to do it.

Cutting over 2000 inches of ice on a 185 Wh battery is no easy feat. Comparing the specs across all brands, you can see that the Rogue is one of the most efficient ice augers on the market.

Review

I kind of got ahead of myself by covering what’s new with the 2.0 first. Let’s take a step back and talk about the features of the Rogue in general and what it’s like to live with every day. 

Let’s start by talking about the biggest difference between the Rogue and all the other electric augers – 80 Volts. I had a chance to speak with the president of Jiffy, Kevin Widder, about the Rogue and the very first question I asked him was “Why did you choose 80 volts for the motor?”

His answer – “Speed”.

The majority of 40V ice augers spin rather slowly. While those augers cut ice fine, it’s not terribly exciting. For reference, my 40V Strikemaster spins around 250 rpm, the Rogue on the other hand, cuts at nearly 500 rpm! Using the Rogue on the fast setting reminds me more of the two stroke augers of the past – fire it up, hold the throttle wide and watch the chips fly!

Along with more speed also comes more torque. Jiffy managed to increase the motor torque another 50% over the competitors 40V ice augers. Professional and heavy ice auger users will appreciate having plenty of power, especially when the ice gets thick or when surface slush and snow tries to fill the hole as you drill.

Also different from other brands, Jiffy kept ergonomics in mind when designing the powerhead frame. The wide handlebars are set at a slight angle and offer a strong, comfortable grip as you drill. Which is good because with increased torque and nearly double the rpm’s, you’ll want to hang on tight!

For years, Jiffy has offered a quick-release pin that separates the auger head from the flight. This is a very convenient, and often overlooked feature that can help to save space in your sled when running down the lake, or to simply keep the auger head stored out of harm’s way instead of bouncing around on a rack on the front of your ATV or snowmobile.

A favorite feature of my Jiffy propane auger, and one I would like to see return to the Rogue, is the Easy Snap blade cover. I can’t stand bungie cord blade covers but know from experience how important it is to cover your auger blades when not in use. So as soon as I could, I went to my local tackle shop and picked up an Easy Snap cover. It doesn’t quite fit out of the box but you can do a very simple modification to make it fit. The Easy Snap cover has small plastic steps under the retainer to fit different sizes, I simply removed the last step with a chisel and voila, it fits!

With the Easy Snap cover installed, I can kick the cover off with my foot, drill a hole in the ice and quickly slam the auger back into the cover without skipping a beat – it’s very simple and prevents accidents like needing to visit the emergency vet for six hours on a Sunday for stitches!

Warranty – how does it compare?

Strikemaster – 2 years, no battery coverage

Ion – 3 year auger, 3 year battery

Jiffy – 5 year auger, 2 year battery

My Experience So Far

When I received the Rogue in the mail and put it together for the first time, my very first thought was, wow this thing is yellow! While I’m not one to shy away from bright colours, I have to admit, the Tonka truck look may not be for everyone.

Colour aside, the next thing I noticed was the size of the powerhead, more specifically the width of the handlebars. The wide bars make this auger feel very big when compared to the other brands. In reality, it’s not actually much of a difference, just a couple of inches.

The overall size also contributes to the perception of weight. The Rogue feels like it should weigh a lot more than it does but the overall package comes in at a respectable 23.3 lbs.

JIFFY ROGUE WEIGHTS:

• Powerhead (not battery) – 14.9 lbs
• 80V Battery – 3.1 lbs
• 8” Torch flight (with blade guard) – 5.3 lbs
• Total Weight – 23.3 lbs

The bars are set at an angle to improve ergonomics. While ergonomics are improved while drilling, overall handling of the auger has suffered. With the older butterfly style bars, setting the auger down on the ice and picking it up again with one hand was easy, whether you were left or right handed there was always a flat handle to set the auger down on and you wouldn’t have to reposition your hands to do it.

With the new handlebar design, the bars taper out from the operator, thus removing that flat handlebar end to place the auger on the ice in one fluid motion. The result is when I try to set the auger on its side it usually falls over and the battery ends up directly in the snow. Instead, I end up letting go of one handle, grabbing the auger on the opposite side of where I’m standing (next to the battery), spinning the powerhead around 180 degrees and setting the auger down so the battery and switches stay elevated out of the snow and slush. It’s a minor annoyance but one that I have to repeat with every hole drilled. *This is also an annoyance Ion owners have been living with for years*

When it comes to cutting ice, drilling with the new Rogue is very smooth. The new hybrid blades cut buttery smooth and theres no hangup at all on breakthrough. Even drilling double connected holes, triple cloverleaf holes, or drilling on an angle didn’t seem to phase the new blades.

While the Rogue is fast it does slow down a bit when under load. Holding the auger in the air and pulling the triggers, the Rogue spins shockingly fast, but once you set it down on the ice and start cutting, the rpm’s drop a bit. Just because it slows down doesn’t mean there’s any loss in torque though. The Rogue has been tested to put out 24 ft-lbs of torque, which is 50% more than the 16 ft-lbs of torque produced by the 40V competitors. 

Given the increase in speed and torque, I was hoping to tear through the ice faster than ever. I’ve timed my drilling speed for a number of holes and the Rogue averages a cutting speed of 1.8 inches per second, which is roughly on par with my Strikemaster 40V but quite a bit slower than the advertised 3.4 inches/second of the new Ion Alpha +. 

More speed is fun but what I am most excited about is the increased efficiency of the new motor, battery, and blade system. With this new combination, I should be able to drill a lot of ice on a single charge and will likely not need a second battery, even during long days on late season ice. When I first received the auger, I charged the battery to full and gave it plenty of runtime in the garage. Then, without charging, I took the Rogue out for my first weekend of ice fishing and drilled roughly 40 holes in 6″ of ice. After all that work, the battery showed it was down 1 of 3 bars. 240 inches is only 12% of the factory rating but it’s hard to know how much power I used while testing in the garage. This is a long way of saying the jury is still out. Later this season, once we have a decent amount of ice, I will do a thorough test of its actual runtime and update this article, so stay tuned.

A MESSAGE TO ROGUE 1.0 OWNERS

Jiffy offers the best ice auger warranty in the business. If you own one of the first generation augers and experience it cutting out while drilling, do not despair. It is very easy to get the updated programming for your powerhead from authorized Jiffy service centres.

If you experience breakage of the poly auger flight, Jiffy’s 5 year warranty also has you covered.

You have the option of upgrading the original single ripper blade auger to the new hybrid dual chipper blades by purchasing a new Jiffy Torch. The new hybrid blades are worth the upgrade in my opinion, they offer a much smoother cut and improve efficiency over the old single ripper blade.

CONCLUSION

With the release of the Rogue 2.0 the Jiffy fans have an auger they can rally around. Although there were production issues last season, the biggest takeaway I see is that Jiffy has been listening. They’ve listened to their customers, addressed every complaint, even added new features and brought back an updated, next generation ice auger worthy of their loyal Jiffy fanbase.