• If you currently own, previously owned or want to own an Avalanche, we welcome you to become a member today. Membership is FREE, register now!

Best Battery

2013avalanche

Full Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Messages
138
My 2013 is turning 5yrs old so that means it's new battery time. What kind battery do you guys recommend?
 
A good AGM battery seems to last longer
 
I'm partial to the Kirkland batteries at Costco.  Good value and they are made by Interstate.  

Spending good money on a battery always seems to be a waste.  How they are used and maintained has more to do with how long they last in my opinion.  I've purchased expensive Optima batteries in the past (before they were junk) and I found that they always died at about the same rate.  Where they excelled was on performance.  They pump out amps faster than anything else.  Most trucks don't need that.

I do highly recommend buying a battery tender.  Something by NOCO.  Run that charger on your battery periodically and you can get 7 or 8 years out of a battery.  I love everything NOCO produces.  I must have 4 or 5 of their devices by now.
 
The were a few years Optima had a problem along with other battery manufactures because of material quality so they got a bad rep  .. I had a two Blue Top and one failed when it was about two years old so I called Optima, they asked the info on the battery and said it was in the date range that they had issues with and sent me two new ones.

Almost every AC Delco battery I've had failed in under 3 years, even had one that was in a new truck less than 1 year old explode spraying acid all over. Had an interstate fail in the wife's car that was 2 years old. They were all replaced under warranty, the point is they all have had problems.

I've been using Optima's for a long time and that was the only problem I've ever had. They have typically lasted 7 plus years, the Blue Tops in my AV now are over 5 1/2 years old with no problems.. I run the two D34M dual purpose, they have 5/16 stainless studs that make it real easy to attach cables for aux equipment.

Don't be so quick to dismiss the Optima's..

 
Had to buy a new battery for the wife's Vibe 2 weeks ago. Long story short, it came down to cost and warranty length for me. Walmart won out on cost, cold cranking amps, and best of all, warranty by far. That's where I took my money.


Now the reason I had to replace it.....well, the old Walmart battery pooped out in 2 years 11 months. Didn't realize it was that short, so I ended up getting it for free.
 
Wal-Mart having best warranty? They all carry 3yr replacement-after that period they become batteries on there decline with pro-rated warranty.
 
My suggestion.
Compare $ per month of Free replacement
Take sell price after all discounts etc and divide by the # of months for complete Free replacement (usually 2-3 years)

lower $ /month is good thing and buy that one

Find which one is sold all over and covered by more retailers for warranty reasons.



 
I've had 4 or 5 Walmart batteries in my different vehicles the last 5-6 years or so.  IMHO they have all been very poor.  Only one lasted even 3 years - most 2 years and change.  Yes, I sometimes went back and got replacements but those never lasted any longer and I still felt had a junk battery - and you don't get a new warranty with the replacement.  Now I have purged all the Walmart batteries that I have, except for my Avalanche which came with one.  Thinking about replacing this battery before cold weather hits.  I've been buying Advance Auto Part's house brand batteries.  Too early to tell if they are good or not.  Oldest one I have of these will be 3 years old next Spring.  Crossing my fingers.

FYI the original Motorcraft battery that came in my 2008 Ford Ranger finally gave out last Summer.  That is 9 years of service.  Never had one go that long before.  Now there is a quality battery.  
 
Keep in mind that there only  a few battery company's in the US with many many private labels, I remember several years back 2004 I think, consumer reports had the Walmart battery as their pick of the year for the best battery.  At that time I think is was made by Exide!


Didit
 
  Like Didit posted there are very few manufactures. They label under vendors to their specs.   

  You need to look at what performance you are expecting out of your battery.
Are you remaining stock or adding mods that put a drain on the charging system?
Do you live in a cold area/cold cranking amps?  Check reviews you basically get what you pay for.
It is also the maintenance on batteries.

  I have good luck with Die-Hards.
There again you have different levels of Die-Hards.
Have one that?s still going around 12 years. Put it on a travel trailer not even a deep cell for
the last 3 years. Got in a pinch purchased NAPA this time around for the AVY.
So we will see.   

 
Randy said:
Don't be so quick to dismiss the Optima's..

Thanks for the insight.  I gave up on them after putting them in every vehicle I had for many years in the late 90's and early 2000's.  It's good they they are better.

I still think for a typically used daily driver, there isn't much upside in spending $200+ on a battery. 

As for batteries dying - I literally just made an AC Delco last 8 years after it tried to die at 5.  I put the NOCO charger on it.  They breathe new life into old batteries.  My Trans Am eats a battery per year due to a parasitic drain from the stereo system and a low utilization.  The NOCO Genius charger has saved some of them.
 
Johnniemo-there is a lot of NOCO chargers out there. Can you tell me a good model # to purchase?
 
Randy said:
Don't be so quick to dismiss the Optima's..
A buddy of mine had 2 of their Blue Tops fail in his Mastercraft last spring. He took them back to where he bought them (Costco). They said they had so many problems with them that their no longer carrying them. They replaced them with a pair of their Kirkland house brand batteries.

They could be great batteries, but people are still having problems with them.

I have a pair of DieHards in my Malibu. Their 7 yrs old now. And cost 1/2 as much.
I have another DieHard in the truck. It's 3 yrs old now. Time will tell how it does, but so far, so good.
 
See that's why I gave a general answer there is no best battery, it's what you use it for. I did the Optima for years then I went with Twin 930 CCA batteries because I lived in Michigan and I sometimes times I had to go into work in the middle of the night to make changes to our network. In winter sometimes it got down to -20f with windchill the last thing I wanted is to find the AV not starting plus I run a whole bunch of toys on it. LOL and they were a bunch more than 200 bucks.
 
I just replaced mine with an Interstate from Costco. It cost $109.99. I had 2 AC Delco batteries that only lasted 2 years each and then a Kragen's battery that lasted 6.5years ( 7yr warranty ). All our vehicles now have Costco Interstate's .
 
found this rather interesting, maybe you will also!

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=qH_6WY75BKiLjwThuqq4BA&q=how+many+car+battery+manufacturers+are+there&oq=how+many+car+battery+manufac&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0.4047.9773.0.14394.28.27.0.0.0.0.304.3906.0j15j5j1.21.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..7.21.3890...0i131k1j0i22i30k1.0.vQ16fvH4rds

Didit
 
I had both walmart and autozone battles in the ave. Both lasted just over the two year warranty then failed. Currently have a 3 year super start extreme from oreilly and I've been very happy with it. Going on two years now I think. I have a different vehicle as a daily driver so I only drive the ave maybe once a week, sometimes it'll sit for 2 weeks and it always starts without issue. When I had the duralast battery I couldn't go three days of sitting without a dead battery, granted I do have a bit of parasitic draw. I believe the extreme has more CCA than the two years, or maybe it's just in my head but it's been a good battery!
 
2013avalanche said:
Johnniemo-there is a lot of NOCO chargers out there. Can you tell me a good model # to purchase?

The NOCO Genius 3500 is a nice charger for lots of uses.  That is the first one I bought.  You can also get waterproof ones that install right in the vehicle.  Then you just plug in the truck so to speak.  I have one of those in my boat.  You can also buy quick connect leads that you leave in the vehicle and then just connect to the charger (like the 3500).  I did that with my Trans Am.
 
My Avalanche sits around mostly. I keep a waterproof battery tender plugged in all the time. 800 ma and its stays fully charged. I have a East Penn Deka for my main and a 8 or 9 year old Optima as my AUX.

I have a 8 year old Optima red top in my Olds Aurora that replaced the 8 year old OE battery that was still working fine when I replaced it and it sits for months at a time (without a battery tender) and always starts right up when needed.  :D
 
Hmm my posting is gone for some reason...

My personal experience is to buy the best brand name battery you can get. Stay away from the cheap no-branded batteries. Chances are the batteries are made by the same company or a company using the same techniques so actual brands really don't mean much.

I bought two Meijer brand batteries for my truck. Meijer had a cheap battery with like a year warranty, this battery which was about $110 apiece and a premium battery at $150. I believe the only difference between the middle and top models were the length of warranty. Wasn't worth it to me for the longer warranty. The cheap battery only had if I recall a 12 month warranty. I want to believe the cheaper batteries are refurbished batteries or made from recycled batteries where as the better quality ones use better materials. I believe that to be the only real difference in them. (Meijer is a midwest store. Basically Walmart changed their structure to the "Super store" format because of Meijer. Walmart seems to follow Meijer closely and emulates all of the inovative ideas Meijer comes up with.... Meijer tends to carry better brands and has slightly higher prices than Walmart but they both seem to feed off each other in my area.)

AGM batteries are better if your battery is going to be in a harsh environment otherwise not really much of an improvement over a standard battery. Ie you won't notice a difference in normal usage. I bought an AGM battery for my CTS ONLY because they were like $30 off at the time at Sams club. They are less sensitive to vibration and can handle abuse a little better.

If you go with an Optima battery be aware that they were bought out by a bigger battery company and quality has fallen since that time. They have a very low internal resistance which is GREAT if you have a winch or need other quick electrical loads met. Otherwise the pitfalls of sustaining one for me aren't worth it. If discharged they can be very stressful on your charging system. I had a couple in the past and they ate my brass and chrome connectors I tried to use with them. The store I bought them from exchanged batteries 3 different times from two different batches and still had the same issue. If the battery gets discharged too far you have to use a trickle charger to get the charge back up to where a standard charger will charge it again. Due to the low internal resistance this may not even work if the charge drops too far and will require a special current limited charger to recharge the battery to normal range again. I toasted 2 alternators on that car during the time I ran my red tops. Your experience may differ from mine but I won't touch an Optima. Battled with the ones I had for almost a year.
 
Got to wondering about the age of the Optima's in my boat , both 9/08. No issues, always put them on the Battery Tender if it sits for awhile and over the winter..
 

Attachments

  • Optima .jpg
    Optima .jpg
    88.5 KB · Views: 117
  • Battery Tender.jpg
    Battery Tender.jpg
    95.2 KB · Views: 119
Randy said:
Got to wondering about the age of the Optima's in my boat , both 9/08. No issues, always put them on the Battery Tender if it sits for awhile and over the winter..
WOW!  All the boat people I know wouldn't let their batteries last more than 3 years!  Of course they were mostly offshore fishing.  You definitely don't want a dead battery offshore.  Maybe you are fishing on a small lake where a paddle or another boat could tow you to the nearest marina/dock.  I would never push that in a boat.

My Avy came with a Wal-Mart battery from 2012.  The dealership wouldn't replace it before I bought it.  It is going strong (so far).  I have had the cheapest battery in my old Durango from Wal-Mart last much longer than the top of the line Die Hard from Sears.  My last battery that I purchased was from SAMS Club and it was a Duracell (forgot who makes them); however, it was a really good battery too.  Never had an issue in the 3-4 years I had it (before selling the Durango).
 
jmcclung11 said:
WOW!  All the boat people I know wouldn't let their batteries last more than 3 years!  Of course they were mostly offshore fishing.  You definitely don't want a dead battery offshore.  Maybe you are fishing on a small lake where a paddle or another boat could tow you to the nearest marina/dock.  I would never push that in a boat.

My Avy came with a Wal-Mart battery from 2012.  The dealership wouldn't replace it before I bought it.  It is going strong (so far).  I have had the cheapest battery in my old Durango from Wal-Mart last much longer than the top of the line Die Hard from Sears.  My last battery that I purchased was from SAMS Club and it was a Duracell (forgot who makes them); however, it was a really good battery too.  Never had an issue in the 3-4 years I had it (before selling the Durango).


Most boats have two or more batteries, unlikely they would both fail at the same time. But I will probably replace them both next season..
 
Randy said:
Most boats have two or more batteries, unlikely they would both fail at the same time. But I will probably replace them both next season..

sorry that I'm just getting back to this.  You are correct that most boats do have dual battery set up.  However, you want them to be the same type and age.  You wouldn't want to mix a brand new battery with one that is 5 years old.

I'm looking to purchase 2 batteries.  One for the wife's Santa Fe that is only 3 years old.  However, we bought the car when we lived in FL and I'm sure I need more CCA now as it has been barely starting in this cold weather in VA.  As another note, it started fine in FL over Christmas when it was warm.  Fun...fun...fun...
 
I have always bought ACDelco.
My 2007 Avalanche original battery lasted 9 years.
My wife's 2001 Buick Regal has finally gone through it's second one. 8 years a piece.
I will continue to use ACDelco!
 
Back
Top