Battery thoughts?

Ok so my truck needs a new battery. I dont have 300$ for a yellow top at the moment. The only options i have around me with in 2 hours are as follows, Autocraft, everstart, carquest, napa legend. I would get an interstate but need to drive 2 hours to get one and i cant justify that. So out of what i have listed what would you guys pick?

 

closest one & the best value......NAPA ?

 

free shipping on gel from Walmart

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Optima-RedTop-Group-34-78-Automotive-Battery/55465192

 

Would get an optima just dont have the money for a battery that expensive right now....gotta prioritize ya know?

 

I bought an oddessy battery, the size their website said fit my truck (with the spacer). Well, it did not fit lol (obviously it could have with some fabrication/customization but I wasn’t trying to go that far... yet).

So luckily I was smart enough to buy one from a local chain (autozone) and I returned it for a duralast AGM battery. Too bad I got the spacer off Amazon and ended up just throwing it away.


Anyways, my point, whatever you decide to do, I suggest to buy local so if it shits the bed you can easily return/exchange that shit.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/best-battery.56967/

 

In size 24F:

The Duralast Gold from Autozone has been in my truck for over 8 years. Its around $142. Its probably on its last leg, but it still starts sub-zero.

As far as bang for the buck, its really hard to beat the Everstart Maxx at Walmart for $94, and people seem to get good life out of them.

 

I have also had success with NAPA batteries / AZ with free installation costs $20- more here where I live

 

Funny this comes up today I was informed by my shop that my battery was weak and should look to replace it. So off I went to see about an Odessey battery get to Batteries+ Bulbs which carries Odessey, used in my BMW motorcycle and love it. None in our size would have to order, the guy says maybe you might like a NorthStar Well I remembered back in November there was a group buy on NorthStar batteries. So ordered 1 and will wait till then.
My story
Good luck

 

Optimal quality has gone to shit since they moved to Mexico.
The AGM's from Oreilly, Auto Zone, Sears and a ton other are made by Deka, which is a good company. There's really only about 3-4 manufacturers of batteries, with Johnson Controls being the largest producer. Most are the same with different stickers. Buy an AGM locally that has the best warranty for the best price and be done with it.

 

Strictly on quality, I'd get a Northstar in a heartbeat, probably one of the best money can buy. For someone like me, however that dosen't have a lot of gadgets attached, or dosen't live in an extreme enviroment, its hard to justify the price difference when you could get 2 WalMart batteries and still be about halfway to the cost of a Northstar.

 

Don’t get caught up in that yellow top, red top , AGM or whatever hype unless you actually need it. I live in Northern Illinois, have a 2007 TRD sport and my original Panasonic battery died after nearly 10 trouble free years. If I could have got another Panasonic I would have beacause 10 years is oustanding service in my opinion. I replaced it with an Interstate battery because it was on sale for under $100 and I drive by the place every day. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a Walmart battery either as I drive by that store every day also. IIRC the warranties were identical and I didn’t need any of the special qualities that the more expensive batteries offer. Hope that helps.

 

Optima batteries aren't what they used to be.

Where do you live, and what do you do with your truck?

Living in NW Montana, doing a lot of remote travel, and running a winch semi-regularly, I chose the Northstar AGM.

You may not need to spend $300 on a battery.

 

So im in the military and move around, right now im in northern Michigan with temps hanging around zero almost every day. The only extras i have are some rigid lights and pods. I know that car quest and auto zone make agms. Autozone is about 40 min away. (I live in a small town right on the great lakes). Most important to me is that it starts up in negitive 20F if need be as we have seen about 2 days this winter that cold with wind chill.

 

AGM batteries are built to handle cold temps.

 

Heat kills batteries, not the cold. It just rears its ugly head when it's cold as it's harder to start than when it's warm. Hot climates (i.e. Texas) are very hard on batteries.

 

An interstate would be nice but any decent battery from the local store should do better than the one you have right now. It's going to have a warranty, if there's any problems with it you can just bring it back

 

I forgot you have to be careful around here when you make generalizations. I guess extreme conditions are bad for batteries for different reasons would be more accurate. The AGM batteries have higher cca and reserve ratings making them better able to handle the special needs associated with extreme cold weather vs a regular lead acid type battery. Since you move around a lot you should look for a chain store with branches in the areas you travel if the warranty is important to you.

 

You'll need to compare CCA, reserved capacity, warranty, composition (agm, std lead, etc...) and group size, 24F or 27F, among the available models to find the best value and the one that fulfills any particular needs for your intended usage.

 

Get a 27F AGM from any of the auto parts stores.