Update me please on the battery market/what's reliable, etc.

Richey's "thumbsup",
still going strong, this DieHard Platinum Automotive Battery - Group Size 35 Sears Item# 02850035000 | Model# P-5 in my 08 Accord installed June 9, 2012. 12 years
 
Anything from East Penn, Napa Legend, Deka and a few others. These were the original makers for the DieHard, all are great batteries.
I buy a lot of batteries the worst have been Walmart, AA, anything Johnson controls. The best by far were the EP made DieHards, Napa Legend and Deka.
When I need a battery and can wait I wait till Napa has a sale or if I need it today I just go to the local Napa store and buy it.
+1 - better to get a good battery (East Penn) than save the last nickel on a battery. Walmart has or has EP in their stores. But things change and new contracts with battery manufacturers are written. NAPA has East Penn.
 
NAPA has East Penn.

Not necessarily. Bought a new Legend battery this past winter. Got tired after battery shopping. Went to NAPA. They had one Group 35 in the store fresh off the truck. They went to the back to get it. It was......................................................a Clarios!
 
Not necessarily. Bought a new Legend battery this past winter. Got tired after battery shopping. Went to NAPA. They had one Group 35 in the store fresh off the truck. They went to the back to get it. It was......................................................a Clarios!
Like Walmart, NAPA has had East Penn and may still. Maybe be localized.

You can contact East Penn with your zipcode and I think they will tell you places in your area where you can get one.
 
Like Walmart, NAPA has had East Penn and may still. Maybe be localized.

You can contact East Penn with your zipcode and I think they will tell you places in your area where you can get one.

It pretty much boils down to the supply chain and everything that evolves from that.
That's why a Group 35 Interstate from Costco around here is an Exide.
Same thing when I was perusing the battery aisle at Rural King, and noticed that a Group 58 was amazingly enough, a Clarios.
It is all a convoluted mess.
 
+1 - better to get a good battery (East Penn) than save the last nickel on a battery. Walmart has or has EP in their stores. But things change and new contracts with battery manufacturers are written. NAPA has East Penn.
East coast only. Western USA WalMarts have batteries made in Korea. Jury still out on them, but so far so good on the Korean AGM WalMart Everstart Platinum I bought for a friend in size Group 24F for her Toyota Highlander last year. Awesome four year free replacement warranty with AGMs at WalMart.
 
If I am replacing a battery on a customer's car I will use a AZ Duralast because I get a good price on them and warranty them myself or they can go to any AZ store....but I always recommend customer's who replace their own battery to get it from Walmart due to the big savings (vs retail auto store price they would pay), quality of the battery and there's a Walmart everywhere open later then most parts stores.

Here in TX the average battery (any brand and lead acid or AGM) only last 3-4 yrs. Also batteries cost so much because you are paying for the warranty so always test your battery before the warranty is up - you paid for it.
 
East coast only. Western USA WalMarts have batteries made in Korea. Jury still out on them, but so far so good on the Korean AGM WalMart Everstart Platinum I bought for a friend in size Group 24F for her Toyota Highlander last year. Awesome four year free replacement warranty with AGMs at WalMart.
I went to East Penn and enter a San Francisco zip code.

Screenshot_20240824-072113.webp
 
I went to East Penn and enter a San Francisco zip code.

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If you go to a WalMart in the western USA they do not have East Penn manufactured batteries...been that way for at least a year, but others say even longer...I believe before that it was Clarios out west.

If someone really wants an East Penn battery (and lives out west), simply go to a Batteries Plus store. They carry Duracell brand that are private labeled by East Penn. You can usually order online and get a 10% discount, you can also stack an additional 10% by doing a local pick up at a Batteries Plus store. If you sign up and register online, they also send out promo coupons for discounts. Rakuten also offer 3% cash back if you are a member.

I'm not super brand loyal after several leaking Optima red tops, and a couple early failures with East Penn flooded batteries.
I tend to buy only AGM and a with solid free replacement warranty and lots of stores for easy warranty replacement if ever required.

Even if you follow Consumer Reports, there is no one brand with top ratings in ever size test. X2 Power was top rated in most, but the absolute lowest rated in one size. Some will be top rated in one size, and mid pack in other sizes. I did note that AGM as a family, seems to test better in general, but there are still some outstanding flooded batteries in some sizes and brands.
 
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Walmart has the best price and warranty IMO. I recently got a 27f with a three year replacement, for 150
I got a WalMart Everstart Platinum AGM with a four year free replacement warranty for $170 in 24F. Its from their new Korean supplier, will see how well it holds up. If is as good as the OEM they provide in their cars, it should be good to go...fingers crossed.
 
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