KDKA.com Consumer Web Extras
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May 5, 2008 6:53 pm US/Eastern
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Does It Really Do That: Awesome Auger
(KDKA)
Infomercials tout the Awesome Auger as the world's most efficient and powerful yard tool you'll ever use.
It is made of solid steel… and its spiral razor sharp edge is supposed to give you the muscle to blast through rock hard clay and the thickest roots.
The Awesome Auger claims to takes the hard work out of yard work but does it really do that?
We asked Garden Guru Doug Oster to help us find out.
The Awesome Auger comes with three different sized augers, an extender and a free drill.
Doug is impressed with the augers but not the free drill that comes with it.
We plugged in our drill and got down to basics and have success at first.
"Wow, Holy cow… that thing works good," said Oster.
But in just seconds, on our second hole, the drill jams every few seconds… making it difficult, if not impossible, to use.
"It is just because it's a cheap drill," said Oster.
We did some checking, the drill that came with our Awesome Auger looks nothing like the one in the ad.
It is anything but free as promised.
You might not get charged for the drill but we paid almost $37 for a shipping and handling charge. That's the highest we've ever paid.
So, we replaced their drill with a drill of our own and it made a big difference.
"I like how the dirt comes out," said Oster. "Look at that. Compared to working with that other drill, this thing is pretty nice."
But does it really work in clay, as promised?
Oster said it worked "very good" in the clay.
What about tree roots?
First we try it on small surface pine roots and then on some bigger ones.
"It's just a matter of figuring it out," said Oster. "Look at that. That cut right through that root and that's no easy task."
Oster also says the medium auger is a great tool for planting bulbs.
"If you are going to plant bulbs, this is the way to do it," he said. "You could plant 100 bulbs up here in 10, 15 minutes."
It's supposed to be great for weeds.
However, we're not that impressed with the job it does on weeds.
And the same goes for that garden soil.
Yes, the Awesome Auger works but Oster thinks it might be easier, quicker and probably more efficient to use a regular shovel.
So all in all, does the Awesome Auger really do that?
"I think it does," said Oster. "It's definitely the right tool for digging… not so great for weeds."
And as far as the drill that came with it?
"Pitch it, throw it away," said Oster. "I hate it."
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