Don't know what to get... battery related.

[92exploder4dr]

I've narrowed my choices down to two.

1) Diehard Platinum for $198: 930 CCA, 4 year free replacement, rebadged Odyssey

2) Carquest NGT Extreme for $165: 800 CCA, 3 year free replacement, rebadged Deka Intimidator

The Diehard IS a better battery IMO. My conundrum is that I believe Sears will go out of business in the next 4 years. I see it happening slowly and have little doubt K-Mart and Sears will stay afloat. Should this worry keep me from buying the better of the two batteries?

 

[Deathwish657]

In all reality, a battery is a battery. I'd say go with the one with a longer replacement span. They both work entirely the same, nothing different other then the CCA..

 

[Jason94sport]

I've always used Optima Redtops. Never had an issue with one installed in many cars.

 

[mr cribb]

Jason has a point... if you're spending $200 for a battery, why not pony up the extra $50 for the optima red top?

 

[92exploder4dr]

1) Recent quality issues
2) Laid off American workers to move plant to Mexico
3) Recent quality issues

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296766&highlight=optima
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=913442

 

[Jason94sport]

As I said I never had any issue with them but the Odyssey batteries are pretty good too. I'd try that one if I had too. I may try one in my srt8 since they make a size that fits & Optima doesn't.

 

[mr cribb]

2) Laid off American workers to move plant to Mexico

Respect that!

 

[swshawaii]

I've narrowed my choices down to two.

The Diehard IS a better battery IMO. My conundrum is that I believe Sears will go out of business in the next 4 years. I see it happening slowly and have little doubt K-Mart and Sears will stay afloat. Should this worry keep me from buying the better of the two batteries?

The OP's dilemma is regarding warranty coverage, not which battery to buy.
I purchased my DieHard P-2 in 2009, and would buy another without hesitation.
The Sears DieHard and Craftsman brand names are very well established, and I'm
confident the warranty will be honored by the company(s) that owns them in the future.

 

[92exploder4dr]

The OP's dilemma is regarding warranty coverage, not which battery to buy.
I purchased my DieHard P-2 in 2009, and would buy another without hesitation.
The Sears DieHard and Craftsman brand names are very well established, and I'm
confident the warranty will be honored by the company(s) that owns them in the future.

I was thinking about that this morning... the Diehard and Craftsman names being picked up by another company after Sears goes down. Hopefully not by Optima and Harbor Freight, respectively.

So you have had your Diehard Platinum for 2-3 years now, has it let you down?

 

[swshawaii]

92Ex- Absolutely love this battery and would recommend it to anyone.
My ST runs better, brighter lights, even the audio sounds more dynamic.
Drops in and looks like it belongs under the hood unlike the "other" ones. Do it!

 

[Anime]

The Sears DieHard and Craftsman brand names are very well established, and I'm
confident the warranty will be honored by the company(s) that owns them in the future.

This.

Sears/Kmart may go out of business, but the Craftsman and DieHard brands will almost certainly be bought by either a manufacturer or another retailer. We may even see them in Walmart. (Hey, it happened to Levi's and almost happened to Snapper) In that case, they would legally assume the warranty coverage of prior purchases. There's no guarantee that the DieHard Platinum would remain an Odyssey/EnerSys battery though, they could just as easily rebadge an Exide/Deka model as the new "Platinum" or whatever they want to call it. There might also be a chance that EnerSys would assume/honor the warranty too, although once you're in the pro-rated period after 4 years, any percentage towards the much more expensive Odyssey batteries would still be more than what the DieHard Platinum cost.

In any case I went with the DieHard Platinum P-2 Group 65 and have been more than pleased. It cranks like nobody's business, and has never given the slightest issue, in hot or cold, or even after keeping electonics and lights going with the engine off for long periods of time. The Group 65 size is great, fits like a glove with no adapters.

It's a better deal if you can get it on sale though, even better if you can combine sale prices with a "Friends & Family" or shop your way rewards discount.

I'd say go for it. Even if Sears does go out of business, if it lasts the 7-8 years I'd expect (my last DieHard Gold lead-acid lasted 7), I'll feel I got my money's worth. If Sears folds and the battery goes, and Walmart buys the name and puts it on cheap Exides, I'll see if the pro-rated part makes whatever they will give me worth it, probably to put in something else. If it's not worth it, I'll trade it in for a credit elsewhere when getting a new AGM battery and chalk it up to a nice experience while it lasted.

 

[fifthranger]

The last two Motorcraft batteries have crapped out on me prematurely since neither lasted 4 1/2 years. Anyway, I happened to be at Wal-Mart on Valentine's Day last year in the rain when I had a deader-than-a-doorknob battery in my Ranger (doors wouldn't even open with the key fob and no lights at all). I went in and bought the only battery they had left for the Ranger, which was a EverMax or EverStart. It was a low end $89.99 + tax, two-year free replacement. Funny, a local Ford dealership tested the battery in Dec. just 6 weeks prior to that when I took the vehicle in for service, and they supposedly performed "the 25 point inspection". I even remember the service guy writing that "battery in good shape" on the paperwork. Around that same time, the original battery in my wife's Edge was leaking acid and Ford cleaned it off and said it was good to go. Before an 11 hour trip in May last year to Myrtle Beach, a quick lube (at oil change time) tested the battery and said it was at 92%, but in June/July the charge had trickled down to only 54% (and the leaking acid was getting worse). I decided that it was time to replace the battery, and Autozone didn't want to deal with it because of the leaking acid. I went to NTB, and they only had a Service Central brand for $115 + $15 install + tax, which I went with. I was kicking myself since I found a $10 off coupon good for any service when I arrived home.

Edit: Our Wal-Mart's are now selling an Energizer car battery. I know in another forum I found a link listing the manufacturer of car batteries. Most are manufactured by Johnson Controls and are rebranded for a particular retailer. Funny, I don't remember seeing Energizer brand before, and I've seen a lot of different brands.

 

[TedJ]

In any case I went with the DieHard Platinum P-2 Group 65 and have been more than pleased. It cranks like nobody's business, and has never given the slightest issue, in hot or cold, or even after keeping electonics and lights going with the engine off for long periods of time. The Group 65 size is great, fits like a glove with no adapters.

I've got one of these, two of them in the family. Great in my Explorer and my dad's Bronco with the 5.0.

I left my parking lights on for half a day one time, it was low but it still cranked it over. Plus no acid seepage, no spillage, just keeps working great.

I've also got two Optima Red Tops around which are so old they are from before the DieHard platinum line. One of them is in a 5.8l carb V8 powered Buick Riviera stored outside, that car has never not started in the dead of winter, and that battery is at least 6 years old. The other one has been in three vehicles so far, just keeps going and going.

The info about Johnson Controls sending the Optima production to Mexico is interesting. They have been good to me in the past, but I think I'm only going to be buying the DieHard Platinum in the future. I was already doing that because of the improved capacity, but the quality issues are inexcusable.

I'm not worried about the warranties because I'm expecting the batteries to outlast their warranty period by at least double as long as I take care of them. It is also possible to buy non-rebranded Odyssey batteries online, so if Sears stops they will still exist.

 

[Anime]

There's a good bit of info on the whole Optima fiasco online. It ticked me off so much that they tricked the Aurora, CO workers into training their own replacements, then closed the plant and moved everything to Mexico that I will not buy Optima again.

The DieHard Platinum, as a Made-in-the-USA EnerSys with a great warranty for not a lot of money was an easy choice when it came along. Sold my old Optima 34/78 for more than I bought it new since battery prices doubled, and have enjoyed it ever since.
I doubt EnerSys will ever go out of business, since they make most of the batteries for the U.S. Military. I'd balk at buying a genuine Odyssey for full price though, those expennnnnnsive.

 

[Maniak]

I went with the diehard battery when my optima blue went bad. I got the blue at Costco but since they dont carry optima anymore they gave me my money back.

One big concern for me when buying parts, especially batteries is can I get a replacement easily when traveling. With dirhard the answer is yes. At the time I needed the battery, the answer was no for the optima.

~Mark

 

[TedJ]

Plus when your hunting buddies get pissed off, it can survive being shot... at least if we believe the marketing. I wonder how many times they tried before they got one that worked?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7bOF94Iq70

EDIT: "Just look more like a scientist.... not an axe murderer..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV7NDu7ZJ_U

 

[Anime]

Another part of the reason I went for the DieHard was the ease of replacement as well.

Optima had actually replaced my original 34/78 TWICE (both times because of a bad cell that just happened...and reportedly that wasn't all that uncommon. Rumor had it that was a known defect and just hadn't been worked out), but this was IN Colorado, at dealers that worked directly with the factory, which was local. Living outside of Colorado, buying at one dealer meant no other dealer would honor the Optima warranty. Even big-name stores like Advance and AutoZone would only honor the warranty on batteries you purchased from them, and them only. So much for a "nationwide" warranty.

The only thing about the DieHard Platinum is, only the larger Sears stores with Automotive Service Centers stock it. Smaller, seperate Sears Auto Centers don't always have it, and smaller Sears stores just stock some basic lead-acids. I think it's ok though, a nationwide warranty at a place that has locations in most major cities is good.

The video of it being shot and still starting a vehicle was really something. I watched all the ads when I was deciding and I can't say it didn't have at least some influence. I'm guessing there is more to it, there was some behind-the-scenes reassembling/testing or something, but if it really retains enough amps to start my ride, even in blown apart form, that'd be great. A good marketing campaign, if nothing else.

Sort of related - just had a DieHard Gold go out after only 4 years in another vehicle. Took it to Sears, got 60% back towards a new one. $42 out the door for a new one with another 3 year/100 month warranty. The new DieHard Golds are slightly smaller than the old ones though, size for size. I wonder if there's a new manufacturer or they are just going back to completely sealed designs, since the previous ones went back to the caps after they had gone sealed.

 

[TedJ]

The current DieHard Gold is AGM now as well, but a lesser build than the Platniums. I'm not exactly sure who the manufacturer is. That would explain the size difference. Gotta love the warranty though.

 

[Anime]

This was a regular $100 DieHard Gold battery, probably just lead-acid. I just meant the top was sealed, which was a change since the one I had before had the caps on the top, and a few other models still have the caps as well.

The DieHard Gold Advanced are the AGM ones, but they only seem to be available in a limited range of odd sizes and cost in the $149.99-189.99 range. I'll have to look again and see if there is the usual acid warning on the battery or not, if they are really selling lesser AGMs now as $100 DieHard Golds, that would make them an easy choice.

I went back to the store and took measurements, oddly enough the Platinum batteries are the same size as the Golds. Seems really odd to me given that the whole point of sizes was so that they would be a direct fit in certain trays and holddowns without modification. The Group 65 seems to still be the correct original size, though. No point in getting anything else anyway, all the Platinum batteries cost the same regardless of size, the Group 65 is the biggest with the most amps, and fits in the factory tray with the factory hold downs.

 

[Burns]

I use the Duralast Gold (Auto Zone Battery) and it holds all my lights and winch. Always starts and keeps running under all circumstances.