I have the Speeco brand unit. Yes ,it is cheaper priced, and probably cheaper built than most others. But it works well. The output shaft from the gearbox is 2 inch round. Speeco sells augers for it of course. 9 inch and 12 inch. But Northern Tool also sells augers for their own powerhead, that also happen to fit the Speeco gearhead. I found that the 14 inch auger that Northern sells weighs about twice what the 12 inch Speeco auger weighs, and is more aggresive, for little more money. 14 inch gives a nice margin with setting 6x6 posts. 12 inch is about bare minimum, and leaves almost no room for error correction. I run mine on a 21 Hp tractor, drill in clay with rock. I run the tractor at just above idle, it does not take much power at all. You want to remember to pull the auger out of the hole as soon as the flighting is full, don't expect it to keep pushing the dirt out. If you dont pull it each time it fills (when diggin in clay) sooner or later you will drive it in. Once driven in, it must be turned backwards to get it out of the hole. This is no fun. One guy on this TBN described how he added a pipe section welded onto the auger shaft near the top end, so he could insert a shovel handle to get leverage to turn the auger back out of the ground when needed. This sounds like a really good idea and I plan to do this before I need the unit again. This would be the great advantage of the hydraulic unit, you could reverse it. But too much money.
