Damn it Will.. you're making me nervous... what do you mean having bad luck with 3 cameras in the past years? Bad luck as in the view/clarity was complete crap and useless? Or meaning they kept breaking down on you?
And augers... how did yours keep breaking down on ya?
Jason, I bought a Marcum, Atlantis and AquaVu. They all went out on me in 4months. I guess I just have bad luck with them. My aquavu and atlantis I bought new maybe something in the cable because of how they are wound on the camera somehow causes a bad connection with time. I rarely even used them and they went on me so I'm not sure, maybe I'm just bad luck.
As for the augers I've owned 2 Jiffys, 2 Eskimo and 3 Strikemasters, All 6 of them were Christmas gifts.
Jiffy's STX (yellow-the big heavy one and their most expensive) never ran right from the beginning. It took me 10 minutes to drill 1.5 holes, hows that for reliability. After 5minutes of trying to get the thing started you don't have enough energy to drill holes because of the torque on those things. I've contacted Jiffy numerous times about the issue, they suggested adjusting the jets-that didn't work out either I wasn't going to drop money to sending them back to the Company for work. (fuel/air mixture too rich from the company and the Tecumseh 3horse motors just plain suck)
Eskimo's Z71 (3.x horse, big and heavy and their most expensive) never ran right either from the beggining. Eskimos shields and parts are also made of cheap plastic and are prone to breaking. (Ardisam motors sucked too, It would run for a bit and die than I couldn't get it to start)
Strikemaster changed their handle design to plastic, well that broke on the lake, I don't know how but it broke. (maybe the cold weather and slight dropping it) My old Strikemaster Lazermag is flawless though. I've put so much money into it I can't get rid of it. After a tuneup she fires up every time and runs like a top.
I guess I just have bad luck.
Hopefully with this new auger things will work out right for me.
I've got a Aqua Vu that I think needs a new camera and cable if you want. Its brand new, maybe an hour of use if even.