Post hole auger with 6 inch auger item #56257. PASS
I've read many mixed reviews on this post hole digger. Youtube videos lean more toward it being a good buy. I bought one and it cost $200.18 delivered with a coupon price of $179.99. I couldn't wait around until it drop to the $150 range.
I was quiet surprised by how capable this machine really is. The depth of digging is a bit misleading. Somewhere I read it's 31 inches and other places say 36 inches. If you bury the power head in the ground, you may get close to 36inches. From the very tip to the top of the auger spiral was 24 inches exact. With the tolerances being pretty loose on these Chinese machines, it could vary. I would measure yours before poking holes in the ground. I wanted 30 inch depth for my privacy fence posts and I got that.
As far as how it ran and the power, it will dig like crazy once it gets a good bite. I have red clay in the area where my fence is going. Luckily, we've had a lot of rain. If had been dry, I don't think anything less than a 5hp two man unit would have got the job done. I ran into a rock spot. As long as the rocks aren't fist size, it pulled them up and out of the hole. It wasn't happy doing it, but it did do it.
I was impressed with how easy it starts. I mixed the gas and oil in the little container that's provided. It's a 25:1 mix. They recommend adding fuel stabilizer. I did and also used non ethanol gas. Using the bottle as recommended, I had just a faint hint of two stroke smoke. Not even enough to smell it unless the wind blew just right.
The first start up, I pumped the primer bulb five times to fill it up. I set the choke to start, and turned the kill switch on. She started in three pulls without using the throttle. I switch the choke to run and she purred along nicely. With about a minute or two to warm up, she revved to full throttle instantly.
I put her away until the next day. I left it upright leaning against the corner of my out building. All I had to do to start it up was set choke, turn on the kill switch, two pulls with no throttle, and she started right up. As we ran the machine, it got easier to start.
I didn't run the machine to hard. We may have gotten called away, so we did one hole and set one post at a time. Where the fence is going, my neighbors like to back into my yard and they would have collapsed the holes had I had to leave and leave the holes open. If I would have set the posts in the holes, and left them, they would have pulled the posts up and stole them. They really are not nice people.
All in all, I wouldn't go with a larger auger bit with this power head in my area. With the tightly packed red clay we have, I did have to really put all I had into keeping the power head from spinning out of my hands. I raised the machine every 6 inches or there about to clean out the hole. I'm not tall at 5'8" but I am a stout fatty at 230lbs.
I set 8 posts 30 inches deep and used have of the mixing bottle full of fuel so maybe a cup of fuel total. I could see this machine doing 20-25 post holes per tank. Maybe more in nice soil.
