A "What Batteries?" Thread

For some reason the batteries in several of my vehicles have all gone bad at one time. Here's the vehicles and what I use them for:

2004 CR-V - My wife's DD
2001 330CI - My DD
1965 Mustang - My toy. Needs something light and powerful
1974 Ford Tractor - Well, my tractor. I have run both tractor and automotive batteries in this. Not sure why I need that huge tractor battery, but if you know whey please enlighten me

Now, for many years I bought Optima batteries, both red and yellow top. I have a fairly new yellow top in a CRX I'm selling that I may put in my CR-V, and then I'd need a fairly cheap battery for the CRX. But the past two Optima batteries I've bought have failed pre-maturely (Thanks Keith for the warning!), so I'm leery about buying more of those. Plus with having to buy so many at once, value is a high priority. So what do you guys recommend for each vehicle?

I asked the same question last year and Patgizz pointed me to Rural King Stores with happy results. Their private label is manufactured by Exide.

If that is not good for you see the advise within about Interstate Refurbs.

I have had great success with even cheap batteries, as long as they are AGM.

Since optima turned crap ive just been using whatever the parts store sells with a decent warranty.

I buy batteries from NAPA or Sears or some other national chain. If one of them strands me, I have some recourse fairly close by. At least that's the theory.

I just had a Walmart Maxx Everstart go bad at 2 years 7 months. It comes with a 3 yr free replacement warranty. Showed the receipt and they gave me a new one with another 3 years.

Had a red top Optima that at 2 yrs it would not hold a charge for more than a week. Interstate said it needed a charge. Put up with that for a few months and got the Walmart one. We sell Interstate at work, they are average at best.

not sure what happened to Optima.. they went downhill quick and seem only to exist on their name now. People still think they are a great battery.

I am a big fan of AGM batteries.. Odyssey in particular. Expensive, but seem to last as long as they are not exposed to a lot of heat

sergio wrote: I just had a Walmart Maxx Everstart go bad at 2 years 7 months. It comes with a 3 yr free replacement warranty. Showed the receipt and they gave me a new one with another 3 years. Had a red top Optima that at 2 yrs it would not hold a charge for more than a week. Interstate said it needed a charge. Put up with that for a few months and got the Walmart one. We sell Interstate at work, they are average at best.

Unless you got lucky and got a not-so-smart Walmart employee (highly possible) the warranty goes from the date of original purchase, not any returns. Ask me how I know

I like the stuff from East Penn Manufacturing. They make the Deka Intimidator AGM battery. You can also get the rehashed version from Carquest called the NGT Extreme... Same as the Deka Intimidator. At least USED to. No idea since Carquest was bought out by Advance.

For non-motorsport stuff I'll get whatever cheap/best value lead acid battery. Heavier is higher quality in general. Compare the weight of a Mercedes battery to anything aftermarket some time. I've seen lead acid Mercedes batteries last 10-12 years several times... They're very very good.

the OEM battery in my Integra lasted (and was still "good" when I replaced it) 8 1/2 yrs … turns out it was an Interstate … this per the parts guy at the dealership parts counter … since the original lasted so long, I figured "why not" …didn't cost any more than a parts house battery

We don't have many returns on the mid level batteries we sell at oreilleys. Not a canoe, just my experience.

For a lot of my cars I use blems from the local Interstate depot store for $50 a piece. For the cars that are hard on batteries (I'm looking at you German cars) I generally go with a regulars interstate or the Autozone Duralast Gold or Platinum. I'm also a big fan of Diehard batteries, but Sears isn't really convenient for me.

Too bad it couldn't have failed a few months later:

http://www.getohm.com/

Very expensive but good value for money.

I recently bought an Interstate battery for my Suburban. Comparable batteries were $120-150 everywhere I looked. Costco had it for $89

GameboyRMH wrote: Too bad it couldn't have failed a few months later: http://www.getohm.com/ Very expensive but good value for money.

Yeah, thanks for that. I clicked on the arrow and it through my computer a fit. I had to shut the whole thing down to correct it, losing a bunch of info.

bravenrace wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: Too bad it couldn't have failed a few months later: http://www.getohm.com/ Very expensive but good value for money.

Yeah, thanks for that. I clicked on the arrow and it through my computer a fit. I had to shut the whole thing down to correct it, losing a bunch of info.

I didn't have any issues with it.

In reply to bravenrace:

Weird, the website worked just fine for me on the computer at work.

The Ohm battery seems like a really cool idea, and honestly $200 is far less than I would expect that to cost. Maybe not ideal for every vehicle but it seems like the weight savings especially would be a huge boon for certain projects.

All my cars get batteries from Costco, had two Optima Red Tops fail on me in short order so I switched to their Kirkland Brand 3 year full money back, (6 years prorated, if I recall correctly.) Now they carry Interstate batteries with 4 year full money back, no prorated warranty after that.

Standard anvance auto battery plus $40 off $100 coupon. Buy online pickup in store

Not much to add but my wife's dd is the same as your wife's dd, and my toy is the same as your toy. You have good taste in vehicles I guess

Ive bought my last couple batteries at Menards. They sell Exide at decent prices and have frequent sales. Ive had good luck but the oldest one has only been in use for 2 years.

There are only a few battery companies left and they all build their battery to price point and spec. Meaning a rebadged store brand may not be the same as a "name" brand. It could be worse, could be better, just depends on what was speced out.

I was recently at a meeting where a battery rep was explaining how the warrenty that comes with the battery is a pretty good sign of how well it was speced out. If OEM A requires the battery company to offer a 7 year warrenty they will get a better, more expensive battery than OEM B who only requires 24 months. I would assume the aftermarket is the same way.

I should add my OEM honda battery lasted from 03-11 and the OEM replacement is still going strong.

Optima batteries went to crap when Johnson Controls switched production to Messico.

I stick to either Deka or if I am down and everything is closed, Walmart brand.

Ironically in the midst of this conversation, the NAPA Legend battery in my car died. Couldn't find the warranty (we're remodeling) but they honored the build date on the battery case which was maybe two months different, tops. So I ended up paying about half for a new battery. The old one showed good volts but flunked a load test pretty badly.

old_ wrote: Standard anvance auto battery plus $40 off $100 coupon. Buy online pickup in store

This. I've bought more stuff from Advance in my car in the parking lot than I care to admit.