Good battery brands?

[Carmudgeon]

I've had excellent service from Johnson Controls batteries. To see a list of brands they make, see:

http://www.autobatteries.com/brands/index.aspx

Costco Kirkland batteries are also made by JCI, though they don't appear on the list. Interstate also sources some of their batteries from JCI as well.

East Penn-Deka batteries also have a good reputation, but I've never used one. They're also more difficult to find, unless you have a distributor or Carquest in the 'hood.

For the most part, pick the one which has the best price/replacement warranty ratio, and a convenient dealer, if it goes bad. The prorated portion of the warranty is almost worthless if the battery lasts as long as it should.

If you don't mind a little sleuthing, it's easy determine who makes a particular battery, which can help you avoid buying the $130 Diehard from Sears when you can get the same battery with a different label from Autozone for $100, or from Costco for $65.

 

[boxcartommie22]

odyssey high performance dry cell battery far beyond optima they are expensive but well worth it!!! these are the best of the best...the one i use is a deep cell and starting batt..1550 cranking amps and 880 cca

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: boxcartommie22
odyssey high performance dry cell battery far beyond optima they are expensive but well worth it!!! these are the best of the best...the one i use is a deep cell and starting batt..1550 cranking amps and 880 cca


I saw on Modern Marvels show the Odyssey battery factory and how they made them there. The program showed them making lead acid batteries that were made with virgin lead plates that were 99.99% pure and were considered the best lead acid battery you could buy.

 

[Cutehumor]

I have to give my vote to duralast regular brand not the gold duralast. I had one last 8 years.

 

[RacerE7773]

I've had Diehard, Interstate, and now in the impala and cavalier have Autocraft Titanium (impala) and Autocraft Silver (cavalier) from Advance A.P. all are made by JC.

 

[Papa Bear]

Latest issue of CR has battery recommendations.

 

[Drew2000]

Batteries Plus sells their house brand "Werker" which are re-badged Deka/East Penn. Deka seem to make good quality batteries. I've had good luck with their AGM motorcycle batteries as well.

Drew

 

[Bror Jace]

I had a Deka in my old Civic. It was OK ... but needed to be replaced after 5 years or so. Nothing too outstanding.

I had an Optima Red Top ... but then wrecked the car after 7 months so I can't say much about them except that it was 8lbs lighter and more powerful than stock. But I hear their quality has gone downhill in the last couple years. Many, many warranty claims.

Yep, I think I'll go Odyssey battery next time I need one. My Honda is less than 2.5 years old ... so that'll be a couple more years at least.

 

[kgb007stb]

I tend to drive through dusty conditions and my flooded batteries get contaminated early and usually die prematurely. Looks to me like the optima is a hit and miss. Exide is considered junk, but my orbital produced in Spain is pulling strong after 8 seasons. I wonder if I was just lucky enough, or whether Exide batteries produced outside of US have a better QC.

With prices up considerably across the board, I am itching to try out the Odyssey, but very few people use them due to the high(er) costs. Don’t know about your flooded batteries, but all of mine no matter what kind of venting system they had, leaked acid. I hate to see acid corrode a keeper car, that’s why I tend to stay away from flooded designs.

 

[MysticGold04]

Originally Posted By: carlprop
I just purchased a Costco battery. Fresh date, high cranking amps, and a great warranty.


Same here... I think they're decent batteries for the price... why pay more?!

 

[brianl703]

It seems like Costco stopped stocking some of the slower-moving group sizes. They no longer stock any of the European reverse-terminal batteries. Maybe that's because they'd order 20 group 47 batteries at a time, no group 48 batteries, and then wonder why they still had 15 of the group 47 batteries a year later.

 

[JHZR2]

I like Deka AGM.

 

[ChiTDI]

Originally Posted By: Drew2000
Batteries Plus sells their house brand "Werker" which are re-badged Deka/East Penn. Deka seem to make good quality batteries. I've had good luck with their AGM motorcycle batteries as well.

Drew


Glad you wrote that. Lot of diesel people like the Deka, they seem to hold power at low temperature where diesels are the most at risk.

 

[Dually]

I would buy Interstate batteries.I had two in my Ford Powerstroke.Joe

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: kgb007stb
I tend to drive through dusty conditions and my flooded batteries get contaminated early and usually die prematurely. Looks to me like the optima is a hit and miss. Exide is considered junk, but my orbital produced in Spain is pulling strong after 8 seasons. I wonder if I was just lucky enough, or whether Exide batteries produced outside of US have a better QC.

With prices up considerably across the board, I am itching to try out the Odyssey, but very few people use them due to the high(er) costs. Don’t know about your flooded batteries, but all of mine no matter what kind of venting system they had, leaked acid. I hate to see acid corrode a keeper car, that’s why I tend to stay away from flooded designs.

Well, Carquest sells an AGM group 75/35 for about $125 and a 78/34 for a little bit more, which is less expensive than any Optima or Orbital battery I have ever seen. However I do not know how long a Carquest/DEKA AGM will last.

Also, Sears makes an AGM Diehard battery and sells it for around $180 for a group 75/35. However, I'm not sure how long that will last, either. It certainly has a higher CCA than any other battery of its size. The other great thing about the Diehard is that there is a Group 65 available.

 

[MarginCalled]

Interstate. Best battery in the entire world.