It pierces through 22" of ice in 10 seconds (with sharp ice auger blades). Change the batteries during the fishing day. I love the drill so much I use it for all my drilling needs. Torque is impressive and the batteries last a long time. My only criticism is that the chuck is hard enough to tighten for the torque the drill could handle. After tightening the bits enough to keep the 3/8 masonry drill bit from slipping while drilling in concrete, the chuck became difficult to turn and stayed put eventually got stuck and then rotated on the shaft without loosening or I was able to get the cartridge working again. However, the drill exceeded most of my expectations. The drill is so strong that I probably pushed it harder than I should have. BTW I added an 18" extension to the ice auger shaft and attached a 9" lawn mower tire to the shaft as a safety washer (to prevent the auger from falling into the hole in the ice if it detaches from the auger).