Battery Recommendations

Glad I found this thread.

My battery is showing signs of weakening......think I'll try the mentioned Odyssey, thanks.
 
From my wholesale battery distributor my company was buying batteries from at the time. He shared that his warehouse was full of Optima returns from Costco. Costco made the switch from Optima to Interstate.


From a guy who knows a guy. Got it.
Wonder what was wrong with the optimas? Battery testing is very complicated from what Ive read.
 
MallCrawlOnTons said:
How did you get this insider info on Costco dropping optima due to quality?

Jerry Bransford said:
From my wholesale battery distributor my company was buying batteries from at the time. . . .
[emphasis added]

From a guy who knows a guy. Got it.

There you have it.

I am always amused by Jerry's puffery. Here a guy who worked for his employer's battery distributor has somehow morphed into "his" battery distributor and "his" company.
 
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The Costco interstate is not the same as the regular interstate, my battery guy checks them for the costco number, if it is he will not warranty it because the interstate distributor wont warranty it. They need to take it back to Costco because it is built to a cheaper price point and not the same exact build. Tim
 
I have an everstart, it's a deka brand that I picked up thru Oriellys. Replaced in 2014 or early 2015. So far so good and has a winch to it.
 
If possible, we should all be running an AGM of some sort. The damage from acid seep and spillage is just too insidious to do otherwise. As for brand and where to buy it, pick one, it doesn't matter much, they all suffer the same when left discharged in that they are notoriously difficult to recover. I've had a couple Platinum Diehards that could not be jumpstarted, even jumped with another known good in parallel on a good charger being boosted by my diesel with 2 Diehards in it and 2 gauge jumper cables.

I've had similar issues with Odyssey and I've worked on far too many rigs with dead Optimas in them to ever run one. I've had several of the Marine group 31 Diehards die a quick death, similar with NorthStar, and when we tried the Bosch Platinums after the demise of the Diehards, they are about the same. Some are good, some are great, some are junk.

Of all of them, NorthStar worked very hard to warranty the dead one I bought at Batteries Plus but only if I would go through another distributor which I did. They then worked with me to replace the weakening Diehards in the diesel with a pair of NorthStar for which I was very grateful. (they changed the group size and gave me one if I bought one)

We've been running AGM batteries since the precursor to Odyssey, the Black Panther brand started. I currently have 13 various AGM batteries in use around here and there is no clear consensus as to which one is best. Good luck, pick one and run it. Hopefully you get a great one, don't let it sit discharged if you can possibly help it.
 
I use the Super Starter AGM from OReileys. It’s made by East Penn. I’d just stray from johnson controls batteries, but they produce about 90% of the batteries in the US.
 
The Odyssey battery is at the top of the list if you need or want an AGM battery.

For conventional lead acid batteries it is hard to beat the 800 CCA Interstate Group 34 battery from Costco (Item # 850241). It is exactly the same as the Interstate MTP-34 but costs substantially less.

Costco's "no questions asked" warranty on batteries has changed. It is still better than everyone else's warranty, full replacement within 42 months rather than the past warranty of full replacement until 36 months with pro-rata replacement on a sliding scale after that. This new policy prevents exchanging batteries every 35 months + 364 days for life as was theoretically possible in the past.

https://www.costco.com/wcsstore/Cos...e/Attachment/Costco+Battery-Warranty+2018.pdf

I cant figure out exactly what this is saying, but it seems to indicate that Costco will give a replacement up to the end of the warranty period or refund the purchase price:

"If there is a defect in material or workmanship (not
merely the battery being discharged) this limited warranty provides that upon return of the battery to any Costco Wholesale warehouse, the battery will be replaced, at purchase price, excluding fees and taxes, and be refunded, according to the life of the battery warranty as stated on the battery label. To obtain a new battery or a refund under this limited warranty, the original battery must be returned to Costco Wholesale within the warranty period."

If the battery shows a 36 month warranty on it, doesnt this mean that a new one can be had if this one takes a dump within 36 months?
 
The Costo warranty that applies is the warranty in existence at the time of purchase.

The Costco warranty was recently changed from full replacement up to 36 months with pro rata replacement on a sliding scale after that, to a full replacement warranty until 42 months at which time the warranty expires.

In my experience it is a "no questions asked" replacement warranty and the only refund is the difference in price if the price of the battery has decreased between the date of original purchase and the date of the warranty claim. (I actually received a $1.78 refund.) You do not have the option of requesting a full refund in lieu of replacement.
 
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The Costo warranty that applies is the warranty in existence at the time of purchase.

The Costco warranty was recently changed from full replacement up to 36 months with pro rata replacement on a sliding scale after that, to a full replacement warranty until 42 months at which time the warranty expires.

In my experience it is a "no questions asked" replacement warranty and the only refund is the difference in price if the price of the battery has decreased between the date of original purchase and the date of the warranty claim. (I actually received a $1.78 refund.) You do not have the option of requesting a full refund in lieu of replacement.
Ok good to know, thanks! I try to swap out my battery (moving it to a road vehicle) about every 36 months or so as a precaution, but I dont want to use the warranty unless the battery is truly fried.
 
I had a Diehard Platinum that survived about 3 years before it wouldn't take a charge. During that time I needed to jump it more than was fair to it, usually from me leaving the lights or some other accessory on. I've wondered if that contributed to the DHP's short life.

I replaced it with an Odyssey Extreme about a year ago and I added a small onboard trickle charger for when the Jeep is parked for a week or more. Hopefully that will keep the Odyssey alive longer than it's clone.
 
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ALL batteries die. This is a fact of life. Now limiting the number of times it dies is a good point. But in the past 25+ years that i have been driving all i ever needed was a jump start to get my vehicle the local automotive store and grab a new one.

Buying a battery with winch load as a factor is another good reason to go with a top of the line battery.

Slightly off topic but I am amazed that so many people don't have jumper cables in the vehicle.

I’ve got jumper cables, but after having to flag someone down when lights were left on in my wife’s 4Runner while out camping in a National Forest, she and I both keep one of the small jump packs in each of our vehicles .

It takes up almost no space (the whole kit is about the size of a nerf football) and has saved my bacon a few times.

For $50, I think it’s worth it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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On the eastcoast Deka is a very good battery as well as Interstate. I heard Optimas are very good, now personal experience

Optima are not what they used to be. I switched to the Deka AGM they call the Intimidator. Has served me very well.
 
I did basically what Blaine suggested and got the cheapest AGM I could find, 34-AGM from autozone for just under $200. Works fine, I've had yellow tops and they worked fine too but got tired after awhile. I killed the stock one before I learned to air down on the trail, now I bet I could get by running a wet cell but I can afford a few bucks to avoid the whole acid in the face thing. Autozone is everywhere in CA to and that doesn't hurt.
 
I bought an AGM battery from Sam's Club recently it's made by Duracell (East Penn). There is actually a sale on it right now for $114. 3 year warranty on it, or you could go the Costco route :)
2x this. Same manufacturer as Deka. I purchased my Duracell from Sam’s Club a year ago with zero issues so far. Never has died or needed jumped. Has jumped a lot of other vehicles though :D I think I paid $120 for mine.
 
Optima's batteries were well made then and had earned a great reputation. Then they were purchased by Johnson Controls who moved Optima's entire manufacturing line to Mexico which pretty well killed their quality, they no longer hold up like they did. I bought two of Optima's newer Yellow Tops and one Optima Blue Top and all three died prematurely. That's why Costco no longer carries Optima batteries, they started having too many returns after the manufacturing move to Mexico.
Thanks for saving me $200+ back to $ 80.00 FLA Batt