Vent: That $600 "pro grade" post hole digger was a total waste of money

I spent $600 on that fancy hydraulic post hole digger everyone raves about from the big box store. Used it on a job last month out near Maplewood, rocky clay soil like we all deal with. Thing got stuck after 4 holes, bent the auger bit on a hidden root, and I spent 3 hours cleaning mud out of the gears. My old $40 manual clamshell digger never let me down like that, just took a bit more elbow grease. I ended up finishing the fence with a shovel and a digging bar, felt like a fool. I know people swear by power equipment, but sometimes simple tools win. Has anyone else been burned by a fancy gadget that couldn't handle real conditions?

2 comments

2 Comments

skylerw8710h ago

Hate to be that guy, but I gotta call out something real quick. That $600 digger isn't "hydraulic," it's just a powered post hole digger with a gas motor. Hydraulic ones run off a skid steer or excavator and cost like 2 grand plus. Anyway, your main point totally stands though. I borrowed a buddy's gas powered auger once and it was a nightmare in rocky soil too, sheared a shear pin on the first rock. Those things have no give, they just keep spinning until something snaps. The manual clamshell is slow but it lets you actually feel what's down there. You can work around roots and rocks instead of fighting them. Folks see power tools and think they're always better, but for our kind of ground, brute force usually just breaks stuff.

victor_perry906h ago

Wait, do people really think a gas auger with a little motor is the same as a full on hydraulic system? That's like calling a lawnmower a tractor just because they both cut grass. You're totally right though, the problem with those gas powered ones is they just don't give you any control when you hit something hard. I watched my neighbor break two shear pins in one afternoon trying to dig in our clay, and he was cussing up a storm. The manual clamshell might be slow, but at least you can feel when you hit a rock and work around it instead of breaking your equipment. People honestly forget that sometimes the old school way just works better for tough ground.