Best Battery VALUE

[uglyota]

Note the "value." Any suggestions besides these? Do I need a 1000 cca battery, or will 625 do? Bad experiences?

[Doug Krebs]

what the hell is it going in?? what are you going to do with it?? If it's a daily drive get a walmart battery, they have a 3 year warranty where you just bring them back. If it's a trail rig running a winch and lights get an optima.

[AgDieseler]

Interstate makes great stuff, and they last forever. A regular cased battery does just fine as long as you don't go tipping it upside down. If it's a trail rig, go for the Optima so you won't have that problem.

[stinger7401]

Interstate makes optima batteries and we have been an interstate dealer for 26 years. Most reliable battery out there. Go to wal mart and get the Never Start line and when it leaves you stranded call me and I'll come bring you an Interstate.

[BMFScout]

Interstate, optima, whatever. But Do not buy a never start, sure you can get a new one, my joo dad hasn't bought a battery in years, and one time they exchanged it AND gave him some money back. However, last weekend I got to sit on the side of the road until Fred brought me another battery. Never start is a ****.

[bburris]

I say Optima. I had my first one for about 2.5 years, I left the key turned to acc in my garage for about two weeks and killed it. I took it to O'Reilly and they decided that it was unchargeable and gave me a new one. This one has been discharged and recharged a couple times now and is still going strong. When my alternator wasn't charging a couple of weeks ago I ran off the Optima for almost two days without even knowing it. (My guage is fuct.)

[uglyota]

Originally posted by Doug Krebs
what the hell is it going in?? what are you going to do with it??
Here's the deal...my yota gets the leftover crap, so my chevy battery (which is still going strong) is going in the yota, and the cheby's getting the new battery. no winch, no lights, gets groceries

What's a Neverstart?

[jerryg79]

NeverStart = EverStart = WalMart

I had one in my chevy truck (Everstart I mean) and everytime I took it to Wally WOrld they would test it and say it could hold a charge and charge it for me and give it back. I have had this done 3 or 4 times on the same battery. This last time I bought a Knock off produced by interstate for NAPA. IT has a 3 yr Replacement warranty and Prorated for 5 years after that. Havent really had any probs with it but i i've only had it a month or two.

Was that useless?

[Fredo]

I'm with Nick on the Interstate thing. I had one of their MEGA-TRON batteries in the camaro when I first got it. That thing wouldn't die! It survived sitting in the body shop for 3 months after my car got rearended, then what finally killed it was after the front end got ripped off the car when a bitch ran a redlight. The battery still held a charge but the positive terminal was screwed up. It was a sad day, but I replaced it with a small case optima. It's been a badass battery thus far. I wouldn't stray from Optimas or Interstates.

[StevenAg03]

i say buy the everstart....that way you can trade it in every six months like i do....i think the shortest one has ever lasted was a little over a month and the longest is somewhere around 9 months...:D

[uglyota]

okay, red top, blue top, or yellow top?

[eight]

Motorcraft. They last 4-5 years.

[J Cooper]

i also had a mega-tron in my jeep, it worked forever... but it got tipped and drained and killed it, so i got the red top... and i have killed the then many many times and it fully recharges everytime... ask tate on the last mason trip my alt. went out when we left college station friday and the battery ran the jeep untill sat afternoon, after wheelin all day and starting and stopping... not bad in my opinion

[AgDieseler]

Red tops are the easiest to come by, the least expensive, carry plenty of amps, and are also the easiest to warranty should there be the need. It's also nice to be able to go to ANY interstate dealer (interstate stores, lots of shells, firestone, and on and on) and get your batteries checked if volts are low.

[Doug Krebs]

To do a decent test on a battery you need a load tester

[eight]

Starter + multimeter = load tester

[Doug Krebs]

that will work, but for some reason i think you have to leave a load tester on for 10 seconds or so. I guess you could just crank for 10 seconds

[stinger7401]

to properly test a battery you need to take it to a constant load of 200 amps for at least 10 seconds. A good battery will not drop below 11 volts after the load is released. If it drops below 10 volts during the test or 11 after the test the battery can be condemed.

[StevenAg03]

this is not totally true....if it drops below 10 it can still be salvagable...

[BigRedFord04]

I've had a Duralast Gold in my truck for 4+ yrs and have never had a problem with it. system blaring for hours on end while workin' on something and it still cranks right up. i run a lot of electricty thru mine too...system + electric fans + computer driven motor + high wattage headlights...etc. i've never used an interstate but everyone seems to like 'em, i just cant comment on personal experience. I'll agree w/ kopecki though...Motorcrap batteries have always seemed pretty good to me, and they come w/ a hella warranty.

[mark]

My optima red top is over 8 years old and still going strong.

-Mark

[BMFScout]

so my carb takes a **** at the last ledge of TSOB in Clayton, I crank on it forever, it started to feel sluggish, and I thought, there is no way the winch will work now. It pulled the winch in, and once level started the sunnuva gun. I have a yellow top optima, but anyways, they are worth the cash.

[Graystroke]

You need a RED top. These are for DD and are a cranking battery. The YELLOW tops are for long heavy loads the REDS are for short heavy loads. Supposedly, if you use a YELLOW for starting it will shorten the life of the battery.(Maybe they won't recover as fast?) I have a RED. They're good for the occasional winch load but are designed for "Winch fest 2003". The best scenario would be to have dual batteries: RED=starting, YELLOW=winching, high, continous power draws.

[redcagepatrol]

My red top from my old toy is now in my Dodge. It is about 7 years old. It had alot of abuse with winching, stereos, and lights and is now in it's third truck.

Bought red tops for the Patrol, the other Dodge battery and Lynda's Heep (all for $110) you can talk anyone down.

[fbronco86]

does optima prorate batts

[Doug Krebs]

red tops are free replacement for 3 years and then prorated. Yellow tops are considered an industrial battery so they are not prorated... If I remember correctly

I too, have a cell phone.

[bburris]

Red tops are free replacement for three years...

[BMFScout]

Originally posted by Doug Krebs

I too, have a cell phone.

My uncle has a pocket knife!

[Doug Krebs]

Originally posted by BMFScout


My uncle has a pocket knife!

Freddy has one too!!! Remember when I used it to pop that huge double blood blister on my finger??

[eight]

Glad to see you finally got your own pocketknife Jimmy.

But I'm still the only one with a lawn mower with a limited slip, or maybe its a locker, never had it let loose yet, even with one tire in the air.

[Fredo]

Originally posted by Doug Krebs


Freddy has one too!!! Remember when I used it to pop that huge double blood blister on my finger??

That was gross! That bastard was sharp though wasn't it?

[Cajun]

Originally posted by eight
Glad to see you finally got your own pocketknife Jimmy.

But I'm still the only one with a lawn mower with a limited slip, or maybe its a locker, never had it let loose yet, even with one tire in the air.

Glad I'm not the only one that wheels the lawnmower. I kinda hafta* shift my weight over the slipping tire on occasion, but it does the job. My neighbors probably think I'm nuts after watching me come out of my ditch on 3 wheels yelling "Get it lawnmower!" :D




* You like that did you? "Kinda hafta"?

[uglyota]

http://www.tna-sports.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=10759

[BMFScout]

I hate you Andy, I was trying to find a cool auto related pin-up for my avatar before we lost the man in black, couldn't find one. :)Bastard...

[Cajun]

Originally posted by BMFScout
I hate you Andy, I was trying to find a cool auto related pin-up for my avatar before we lost the man in black, couldn't find one. :)Bastard...

With Photoshop all things are possible Jimmy.:D However, that one took some work.

[Goldie]

I just bought a red top at Costco in FW and it was like $75 - $80 versus the normal $115 at most places. If you can go there, hope this isn't too late.

[uglyota]

I gaht Optima!

(22 days after paying Batteriesareus.com $89.95)