Yeah it's rather well known (at least back home with the farmers) that the batteries from wally world never lasted all that long. I'm an Optima guy my self, I've never had a single issue with one and always upgrade my vehicles to them. It's worth it to me for the peace of mind.

 

Batterys are what you pay for them cheap and nasty or pay for a good battery. cheers Doug

 

No offense. BUT I never go to Walmart to get help with my truck. WHY? Well yesterday that person was unloading, then, today they are a tire tech.
YES I do know this for a fact. Friend worked and at crapmart for 4 weeks, one week learning. One week unloading, one week sweeping and then+++++++++ PROMOTED to the tire area.... LOL< guy did not even know what size tires were on his car.
SURE get your oil change while you eat nuggets, talk on your phone and get in my way. MOVE TO THE RIGHT

 

No offense taken. We do not have enough people in the shop and the managers keep stealing us to unload trucks. Our people know enough to get the job done here but they treat and pay us like crap so nobody works there that long.

I don't get anything truck related at Walmart either. They are out of most everything I want anyway.

 

The big chains (Wally world , K-notsmart etc) are known to make "Special" deals with manufacturers to get the cheapest possible price on "name branded" material that is not necessarily of the same quality that is sold in smaller stores (from solder to spark plugs to appliances just because it looks the same and come in a similar package you can't assume that it is high quality).

For Wally's proprietary brands I would expect nothing but the lowest quality.
I personally would rather get name brand factory seconds at a discount from a real store.

I have had friends work at W-world and they tell some pretty bad stories about co-workers, management and conditions...

Enjoy!

 

The big chains (Wally world , K-notsmart etc) are known to make "Special" deals with manufacturers to get the cheapest possible price on "name branded" material that is not necessarily of the same quality ...

Having known a number of former employees, that's exactly what is going on. The big companies can make the store branded goods cheap, because they have the capacity, but they are most certainly not of similar quality.

You get what you pay for, or less.

 

There are few US battery makers anymore,any name brand like wal-mart, diehard,etc,have to come from somebody.like exide,johnson controls,delphi (delco)deka etc,but there are tons of offshore manufacturers.I bought a wallybattery for a car of ours about 10 years ago and it was still fine till we junked the poor old rusty thing a few months ago.my fils car got one 8 years ago also and its still going strong.I have NAPA batteries (exide) in my truck because I get a killer deal from a local store myself.a few years ago diehard got a bad rap too,so did NAPA.I sold the napa battery for 25+ years and had very few defects(real defects like shorted etc,)alot of normal everyday drivers do not realize that you get what you pay for.if you need a battery you must go with the vehicle manufacturers reccomendation of cold cranks @xx degrees and minutes of reserve capacity or,higher (more is better).I am not saying wallybatteries are the greatest but,you have to adhere to a certain spec.to get one to perform properly for you and your charging system must be up to par as well.also a non sealed type battery must be cleaned every so often as it will gas and splash acid over the sides and can be a source of discharge.I have seen dirty batteries pull 4-6 volts between the case and the negative terminal.the one thing I have noticed though is the price of an automotive battery is through the roof now. yesterday, I paid $92.00 for a repalacement for my truck and they normally go for $110.00-$130.00+ in stores now for my type that I needed.I used to sell that same battery for $65.00 eight to ten years ago.crazy indeed.

 

Yea some people just need to clean their terminals. I got another bad battery off the rack today.

 

I'm guessing the same would be true with Sam's Club?

 

yes.sams too.I imagine.

 

Optima batteries

 

That or Interstate for me. I have yet to have an interstate last less than 10 years.

 

As recently as a few years ago I know that Consumer Reports rated WM car/truck batteries as the best in some sizes, at least good in all sizes.

An anecdotal story here and there means nothing. Unless you compare the results of a statistically significant sample of different batteries, any reliability data is seriously suspect.

 

I have what i believe to be the factory original Nissan-labeled battery in my '03 Xterra. Bought it in August '09 and the battery was not new at the time. Never had a problem. I had the same battery (dont remember brand) in my Jeep for 7 or 8 years without issue. It doesn't get crazy hot or cold here in CT, but we regularly see 0-95 degrees throughout the year.

I think that something that needs to be considered is that newer vehicles have considerably more electronics and electrical drains than older vehicles. This has a definite affect on battery performance.

 

It really depends on how you treat them - a decent battery in a street car that never goes off road, doesn't see rough roads, is the right size or larger, is paired with an easy to start engine, has good thick cables, connectors kept clean and tight, a good charging system and is never run down or discharged by leaving the lights on, will last a long time. The battery in my car is 8 years old, and even though once the dome light got left on and ran the battery down a bit, it still works fine.

I have seen brand new batteries fail within a week because the buyer installed them in a car that had a faulty charging system.

Most car batteries are not deep cycle - run them all the way down once, twice, thrice and they are most likely done for good and you will need a new battery.

What do I get? It depends, but for a plain old car, I go to Les Schwab and have them install it. They sell decent batteries and stand behind them. If there is a problem, they will not only give you a new one, they will install it.

Most of the batteries most people buy are made by one of a few manufacturers that put different private labels on them. The manufacturers are companies like Exide and Yuasa.

I would not be surprised that Walmart may get something cheap and poor quality - that is their modus operandi; go for the lowest price stuff they can get. For some things they can't get the manufacturer to cut prices or quality so they go with crap.

http://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart

 

Optima (red or yellow top) batteries seem to be godlike. But then again it all depends on the equipment in the car. The best battery will die easily if you have numerous parasitic draws. The difference with optima and other liquid batteries is that optimas can be saved from the dead more times than the others.

 

I usually go with Autocraft or Duralast. The lifespan I've gotten from them has been great.
The only time I've ever gotten a Walmart battery was for an old beater that I just needed to get running for a short time so I could move it.

 

The last 3 USA made auto batteries ie Interstate, Walmart etc. lasted just beyond the warranty. How come some Japanese auto batteries are guaranteed 10 years? Why can't we just copy theirs? Or are we just building short lived batteries in order to sell more? Same story on lawn mower batteries. USA ones are junk - lucky to get 2 years. Japanese ones are good for ten years (Honda). Planned obsolescence is a LOSING strategy in my opinion. The age of junk should cease.

 

About 4-5 years ago, was an over the road truck driver and more than once I'd pick up a load of new batteries in Arizona for delivery in Calif. This was before I knew anything about Wallyworld. The batteries were made in Az. and remember them having different brand names on them, but don't remember the names now. I have a Wallyworld battery in my '72 Ford pickup for past 6 months and haven't had any trouble with it. This includes having to charge it up every other day because the alternator wasn't charging it up due to bad electrical wiring. Which I got (finally) fixed over a week ago.

 

Batteries plus sells a rebranded Deka, made in the USA with lead they recycle themselves (quality control). Great battery at a decent price.

Optima's are over-rated in my opinion. Had a deep cycle (yellow) in my camper van that lasted just over a year and then wouldn't take a charge. Replaced it with a pair of diehards that have been in there for 5 years or so now

 

Optima used to be a great battery; however they had problems a number of years ago that lost them a lot of their customers. I haven't heard if they solved their problems.

Unless you plan on rolling your vehicle they are overpriced, IMO (the AGM construction prevents loss of electrolyte when they are turned upside down).

Enjoy!

 

I gave up on Optima batteries after they were sold, they don't last as long as they use to.

As far as WalMart Batteries go, I had my RV engine battery go bad while on vacation a few years ago and bought a cheap Walmart battery because I was on a vacation budget, I still am using that battery today and have been impressed with its performance.

 

Walmart batteries are a luck of the draw. Like all new batteries.
My guess is 85% good 15% bad (with in 1 year).
When I'm at Walmart the cars I see there are not the best
in the world. So I'm sure there could be other problems with the car.

 

I don't care what brand it is. If I get more than three years out of one in the heat and humidity, bouncing down the goat paths that pass for roads around here I feel lucky.

 

my old walmart battery has lasted me 6 years with no issues in my dodge. the battery in my sidekick is going on 3 years. but i maintain my batteries and use a maintainer and desulfater a couple times a year.

 

Maybe I happened to get good ones, but my last 3 batteries have been the Maxx brand from Walmart and all went beyond what I expected them too. I now run a dual battery system in my crew cab 4x4 truck with a standard main battery and a deep cycle battery located in the bed to run my inverter and such (isolated with a relay). I have over 5 years on the main battery and 4 1/2 years on the aux battery with no signs of trouble. You have to be careful not let them discharge too far or it will ruin the battery, especially a standard battery. I learned this one from experience. But I have completely discharged the deep cycle battery at least twice (accidentally left the bed lights on), and so far no problems.

I agree, you get what you pay for but I can't afford an Optima. FWIW, Consumer Reports rated the Walmart batteries very high on their reliability ratings this year.

 

dont waste your time on the optima. if yuo want an agm get a standard agm and not the spiral cell as the spiral isnt as dense and you get less power. look into the exide edge.

 

One thing I have not seen mentioned here:

Battery durability can also have a lot to do with what amperage the battery is. The higher the amperage, the more plates they have to cram in each cell. More plates in a cell means the plates are thinner and more tightly packed.

This makes the battery more vulnerable to dead sells from contamination, or from just being banged around.

Just sojething to consider. Higher amperage is not always better .

 

More plates in a cell means the plates are thinner and more tightly packed.
.

Nope- plate thickness is a design thing. The thicker the plates, the deeper the possible discharge. The thinner the higher the current being able to deliver.
This makes exactly the difference between a starter (SLI) and a supply (DC) battery.

 

I have a Walmart battery in my 2003 Jeep Liberty that I have had to replace 3 times in the last three years.

Every year on the exact same date the battery goes out and Walmart wants to argue with me on the fact of the warranty. They said I didnt purchase a warranty even though on the battery itself it says three year waranty.

I'll never buy a battery from Walmart again.

 

I used to be a loyal Optima person, and I got 10 years life out of both the red and yellow tops, but since Optima was sold and moved thier manufacturing out of the country, I have had several reliable people tell me that the quality has sufferred. I also noticed that the Optima's prices have shot thru the roof.

I also have used the Walmart store batteries several years ago, and 3 of 3 that I bought died exactly a week after the 1 year warranty expired!! Now thats some great engineering! No more Walmart batteries for me, either.

Several years ago, I replaced most of my vehicle starting batteries, as they wore out, with Batteries Plus store-brand AGM batteries. So far, they have been good. BUT, I am thouroughly disgusted with BP's store brand SLA batteries ("Werker" brand). They suck extremely bad. I also am put off with BP's horrible customer service, so I won't be back.

I have replaced my deep-cycle batteries with an AGM battery made by Universal Battery. They have some really big batteries available. I have been really impressed with them so far, and they seem to be very reliable and deliver more than rated capacity.