Which Battery

Well 4 years, 8 months later, my battery has finally took a dump. Am picking one up on the way home and was wondering if anyone had any input. Im looking at Duralast Gold 27F or the TrueStart (toyota factory), Truestart is cheaper ($89) with 24 month/60 month warranty (replacement/prorate). Duralast is $119 with 5 year warranty. Any experience, I know everyone raves about the optima's but just not interested right now. Thanks in advance, Zach

 

I would stay away from the factory battery and go with the duralast. I usually try and look around for the best battery with the best warranty I can find. Can't remember which brand i have now but it has a 8 year warranty!

 

Damn! 8 years? That's longer than i plan on keeping the truck lol

 

haha its a good resale point!

 

The Duralast gold has been great for me so far. Just make sure you get the terminals on the correct sides.

 

jmop, I take my truck to the dealer they install the new one & dispose of the old one, all at a good price, after 5 years repeat. I think the Toyota battery is about as good or better than most. jmop

 

You might base your warranty buying decision on the free replacement period rather than the prorated period because the manufacturer is at risk. IMHO, the prorated warranty is more a battery distributor/dealer's marketing strategy to resell you a battery often at a higher price or to keep you "locked in" to keep buying their batteries. The November issue of Consumer Reports reports the results of their car battery testing. For more information on buying replacement batteries, please see Section 7 in the Car and Deep Cycle Battery FAQ on www.batteryfaq.org.

 

Find someone who works at GM or some other dealer that can get you cost on a AC Delco. The warranty is better than the ones you listed and I paid less than the price you mentioned. Not as many goofy looking labels all over it too. Mine just crapped out a couple of months ago after about 4yrs too. not sure how some are getting 8 years or more but that's pretty impressive.

 

Most are pro-rated warranty after the first 2-3 three years.

At the end of the 5-8 years you are only getting 10% of the value.

Batteries typically last 4-5 years and depends on your area of the US.

There are only 2-3 parent companies when you take in the different types of battery tech available.

Optimas are only good if yellow. The red suck.

 

Like I said, look at the AC Delco. Best warranty for the $ hands down.

I killed several red tops w/normal use. My yellow tops all survived situations I would call out of the ordinary. That being said I didn't feel like shelling out that kind of cash for this truck.

 

I believe Johnson Control makes both the batteries you listed.
I would go with the one with the better CCA rating.
I've used and installed MANY Duralast Gold. I've had good luck with them.
I would recommend a Gold over all the rest of Duralast batteries.

Odyssey Battery makes a very good battery. The lead plates are very pure.
And typically they have more lead plates. But they are expensive compared to most others.

 

I actually looked up the specs. The rating on both of those batteries are piratically identical. 710 CCA each with a reserve capacity of 165.
I think Truestart might be the cheaper option at the same performance.

Good luck.

 

If you buy any wet battery, you should buy a fresh one that was manufactured less than three months ago, especially if you live in a hot climate. The reason is that unless the dealer recharges them like most Interstate dealers do, they sulfate. I always test (or have it tested) a new battery before leaving the dealer. For a list of popular battery brand names and who makes it, please see LEAD-ACID BATTERY MANUFACTURERS AND BRAND NAMES LIST 2014 on www.batteryfaq.org. For a list of battery replacement buying tips, see Section 7 in the FAQ.

 

X2 ^^ I have it in all my vehicles.

 

go get a costco battery. I had a costco worker tell me one time that for their warranty they don't actually check the battery they just tell you to go get a new one, so every 3 yrs (I think that is what the warranty is) you just take the battery out go to the customer service counter and tell them its not charging and they just tel you to go grab a new one. You basically will never have to pay for a battery again is how he put it.

 

Get a gel battery

 

The Truestart is 24/60 month warranty for $90 plus tax (call it $100 for round numbers).

The Duralast is a 3 year free replacement, no prorated amount afterwards and costs $119 plus tax... call it $130 for round numbers.

The AC Delco I recommended is 3.5 year FULL REPLACEMENT and then a 3.5 year prorated after that and I paid $107 with tax included. Tell me nearly double the warranty on an industry known leader isn't worth $7 on something as mission critical as a battery. Mine was also manufactured the month before I installed it. CCA are also 710 so that stat is a wash.

Face it, if your battery isn't a lemon out of the gate it will likely fail years down the road. Each month that passes the likelihood of failure increases exponentially so those last 6mos on the end of the warranty and then the additional 3.5 years of prorated warranty is a big deal.

 

Probably more expensive than you want to deal with, but I put a DieHard Platinum in my Outback. It's an AGM battery and cost around $200, but it would be -15F and that thing would crank over as if it was 70 degrees out. Very impressive. Great warranty too.

 

Thanks for all the input guys, didnt see it till after I installed the Factory TruStart 84 month. Figured I could get the same life as my previous one (4 years), and got it for $96 plus a $25 Visa Rebate Gift Card. Price was a good factor. Tested the old one was definately bad, weird how all of a sudden overnight it just went.