At the farm we have Alderwood soil. An interesting mixture of sand, clay, and rocks. Since it is glacial sediment the rocks are all nicely rounded. Unfortunately, they have been in the ground for many years and they have absolutely no interest in moving. That creates problems when trying to drill holes for planting 120 fir seedlings. Seedlings with very long roots that want to be extended full length when planted.I bought a set of four or five auger bits here on Amazon for planting last year's 120 seedlings. The auger portion of the bit held up nicely. Unfortunately, they used a very poor-quality metal for the top portion that fits into the drill chuck. It broke off and I had my wife weld it back on. She said some of the worst-quality metal she had seen and it was virtually unweldable. Very soft. Terrible choice by the manufacturer.I got in about 20 more trees before it was a complete failure, so I ordered a new set of bits, since I needed to get those trees in the ground. It barely finished the project before breaking.Fast forward to this year. I ordered this bit along with a different brand, but pretty similar bit, figuring I would need at least two to get the job done. But to my surprise this one has shown not the slightest weakness at the upper weld joint. That is far more likely to break than the spiral section of the bit. And this one has an interesting solid weld on the top of the spiral and half weld on the back. Regardless, with the way it has been brutally bashed for the past three days it is a more than adequate weld.The spiral tip is nice, but I hit rocks so quickly it really doesn't have much chance to be helpful, at least for me. All I know is that I feel fortunate both arms are still attached to my body, because my drill has a lot of torque - I have an F-150 hybrid with a built-in generator, so I take a 100' extension cord and my big corded drill out in the field. I know my thighs are heavily bruised from the drill smashing into them. But through it all this bit has performed flawlessly. Remarkably, it still has most of the paint.I just finished up for the night about 20 minutes ago, since the sun had set, but I'm so pleased it appears I actually will finish using only one bit, and one that didn't break, although it should have. Even my drill likely will need replacing after the workout it's been through. It isn't smelling so good. Definitely five stars for the bit.(The photo is the bit after drilling 60 - 16" deep holes in rocky soil (those are the little rocks on top, while the big ones have been tossed to the side). Since my wife is making fun of that little seedling in the photo I want to say they are called grand fir for a reason. They are the tallest fir trees in the world. And merely because they start out rather small, under that little seedling is 12-16" of roots, which is why I needed a longer auger bit. It also is how they are able to support themselves so well and how they tend to have rapid growth. And the auger bit appears to have broken off. It actually is just covered with some of the deep grass that is in the pasture).

Full disclosure, I received this item as part of Amazon's Vine Program in exchange for an honest review, good or bad. I was very impressed with how well built this auger is. It is not a cheap piece of junk. It feels like a quality tool. I test this auger out in Florida where the dirt is sandy. It works great there. I don't think it would work well at all in the Appalachian mountains where there is more rocks than dirt in the ground, but I haven't test it in the mountains.In sandy soil the dirt would come up and get dumped out of the hole very easily. You will want a powerful drill though. I was fortunate not to hit many roots, but that means I don't know how well it cuts the roots that get in the way. I think I am going to grind the leading edge of the screw thread to make it sharp so it will cut tree roots. This is what I do to my shovels and it makes a big difference.Most people will be using this to for gardening and planting bulbs. I will use it for digging post holes. By drilling out the center of the post hole, it make less dirt the post hole diggers have to scoop out and remove, making the job easier. I hate digging post holes any anything I can do to make it easier, I will take. This auger helps a lot.

I am very impressed with this hole digger auger. I tested it in somewhat moist soil, and it went in like a piece of cake. The thing to be careful about using something like this, is if you hit a rock, and are not holding the drill solidly with two hands, it will tend to want to torque your wrist off if you are not careful. I hit a root on one of the holes and that is what kind of happened to me, in that the drill tried to keep on going and I wasn't holding it solid with both hands. Also I suggest going in at a slow speed, because you would not want that to happen at a faster speed. The unit itself seems to be built very well, as compared to some of the other ones. As far as the operation of this, you can really make quite a deep hole with it. And it is much faster than a post hole digger. The end of it, is such that it kind of wants to screw itself into the ground, but not so much that it doesn't dig out the dirt with the larger side area. So it's a perfect mix between drilling, and cleaning out the hole at the same time. Very good tool.

This auger comes in a box and wrapped in a rubbery sheet to protect the nice finish. Mine came in perfect condition. The paint/powder coat looks great but will chip off on its first use. I have rocky soil but this auger and Dewalt drill made some nice holes. I first used a deep 3/8” socket but the auger kept falling out when I wanted to pull the dirt out of the hole so I just put the hex end into the chuck of my drill. This resulted in the orange paint getting damaged but that should be expected. I made 10 holes and this thing worked great. The screw seems to be welded all the way to the shaft. The shaft appears to be sheet metal. And the bit that goes into the drill seems to be spot welded to the shaft. For my limited use, it was fine but I can see the bit getting ripped out of the thin tube steel if used in tough soil with many rocks. It does what you want in less dense soil, I just don’t think it would stand up to tougher situations. I still find it useful.

It is the bomb! It preformed as the described. If you have to install 4x4 posts, you need this auger tool.