New replacement battery needed! Suggestions?

Hi ya'll from Western North Carolina!
My 4.5 year old battery is dying in my Taco. Been noticing is getting sluggish to start and this morning it barely did. So I've read a few threads on batteries and can't come to a clear choice.
So I'll ask for suggestions.
Here are my purchasing options. Walmart, Autozone and Advance Auto.
I do not off road.
Do I go lead acid or AGM or other?
Budget really is not a concern but I would like to get a good battery at a good price.
Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Lead acid, get the one with the best looking warranty and price. Aside from that I usually go walmart because they're so ubiquitous if i were to need a warranty replacement.

 

I'm at 3+ years with my truck's battery...following to see outcome.

I had a Multi-Point Inspection yesterday (21Oct24) and Battery Checked good!

 

I got the Die Hard Platinum AGM, earlier this year. Battery died at 4 years and 2 months.

I’m not taking full advantage of having the AGM by getting the tune to adjust the voltage but there is one from OTT. It’s not needed and if I put a non AGM it would need to be re-tuned.

 

But isn’t a tune needed to run AGM.

if you’re not tuned, why would you need a tune to go back to lead acid?

 

I have a tune and I believe I'd have to contact my local Tuner for update if I went AGM.

If I reverted from AGM to OEM battery, it would probably be the same to update tune.

 

Why lead acid over AGM? I see the price difference, any other reason?

 

Same.
Replaced the factory battery the first week of ownership, so that will put my AGM @ 7 years, come march.
If history repeats itself, I expect 10 out of it.

No tune needed.
I've been using AGM's longer than most of those perpetuating the AGM fears have been alive, and each and every one of them have been charged using conventional methods.

Fear not TW, you really can run and AGM without a tune, and without issue.
Your father did, and quite possibly, his father.

 

Would I have issue being stock with an AGM batterie?

 

Absolutely not.

 

No issues since March with my AGM and no tune to optimize it. Here is what I got from my OTT tuner when I asked-


so technically the battery never gets 100% charged with the stock amps the alternator puts out but it’ll get pretty close. For the time I had stock voltage I never had issues with it starting the truck or running accessories. I also put in a trickle charger and if I went camping I’d plug it in a day or two before hand to top off the battery over night and it was just fine. To be honest, without access to tuning software myself, I’m not sure I’d do run an AGM tune just because if something were to happen to that tuning resource I could potentially be in a tight spot.

 

So what's the current "Kool Aid" behind the AGM's when it come to running them in a Tacoma?

 

They never get "fully charged"

It's not Kool Aid, but it is, for 99.99999% of the population, totally, utterly, and completely irrelevant.

 

If you are a AAA member and you have a local Napa, check out the Napa Legned AAA rated battery.

 

This battery has been in my truck for almost 7 years. Take a look at the terminals, they've never been cleaned. There's no corrosion on or around them, the battery, or anything in the immediate proximity.
There is more than one reason to run AGM, but this alone would be enough for me.

 

Not a AAA member unfortunately.

 

My 2015 ''factory'' non agm battery just died, never had a bit of corrosion on the connections. I added distilled water several times over the course of it's lifetime.

A couple cells finally died recently. Put in a DEKA brand battery. Charged it fully before installation.

 

Everstart

 

There's nothing better than a fortuitous anomaly.
They off-gas, causing corrosion, and it's normal, unfortunately.

Unlike AGM batteries, they're also exceedingly leak prone, and even more so in harsh environments.

 

I very seldom, if ever have batteries corrode.

I do 3 things to every car battery I put in. Every one gets those felt terminal covers that Wal-Mart sells (same set goes from old battery on the new one). Set in my van is from 2014 (when I put in its first replacement battery).
Battery terminals and wire contacts get cleaned with alcohol and battery terminal brush.
Assembled terminals get coated with battery spray or dielectric grease, or if I am out of both, with petroleum jelly (Vaseline). Option 3 gets messy in hot weather. Coating keeps Oxygen away. No oxygen, no corrosion.

There were only 2 battery manufacturers in US, last time I looked. Buy based on price and warranty. I usually go with Wal-Mart, for warranty access, but they no longer offer a 5 year prorated warranty (I replaced a 5 year old battery in wife's RAV4 this summer with the one from WM. GA summers kill the batteries. She is on the 3rd battery).

Van got a Sam's club Duracell battery last summer, just because Sam's had a sale that month, and we go to Sam's once a month (and have 3 vehicles, can afford to wait to replace a battery).

PC I remember BAD battery corrosion on Hyundai Veracruz I got with 75K miles and original battery. Positive terminal in particular. Vercruz had a funky positive terminal, with multiple wires running from it. An hour of cleaning later, with addition of a new battery, new felt terminal rings and terminal spray, corrosion did not come show up in 7 years I owned that car.