So what brand is good, lasts a decade, backs the warranty, fair price, etc.

 

The Interstate in my 77 is 12 years old, never kept in climate controlled and it keeps kickin. That being said, I find it hit or miss in any case with anybody. Warranty depends on the vendor. Interstate used to be great. Last time I was there was just a pain and a runaround. I'd rather just buy a napa brand since I've known and worked with my Napa location guys for 17 years. So I guess I provided no good information at all

 

Those are the 2 brands that came to my mind.

 

 

East Penn/Deka is made in the USA at least. They sell under some other brand names I believe

 

I use the Wall mart MAX; got 3 of them and stagger their use ( don't drive year round, every spring my newest battery gets installed in Mean Green.) Every few years I bring a battery back dead and get a brand new replacement. I just returned 1 last month & I had to pay taxes on the exchange,... so $90 for the initial purchase, then after 2 1/5 years I paid about $6 for a second brand new battery. At a MINIMUM I figure I'm getting about 7 years out of a (2) $100 Battery(s) purchase.

 

I've heard their quality has gone down the *******, but I've had my Optima for over 19 years now. Installed it in Oct '01 and it is still going.

 

Interstate. The one in my Camaro (always garage-kept) is now almost 12 years old; it replaced one that was about 10 years old. Those in mine and my wife's daily drivers (kept outdoors all year around) have always lasted an average of 7 years.

The last one I bought for my previous Chevy truck was about $110 IIRC.

I've never had to warranty one.

I'll never buy anything else for any price.

 

Sounds like an American made, pre Mexico, unit you have

 

See, and that is the problem. At some point, the manufacturers switch to offshore, don't tell anyone about it, and ride the already established good reputation out for as long as they can. Meanwhile, the consumer purchases what he believes to be a good product, only to be cheated.

BTW, this is "legal" as long there is a headquarters in the US. They can claim "Made in USA" even though a product is actually made offshore.

 

They can get in a lot of trouble claiming "Made in USA" on a non American made product. All the new Optima's I've seen have a "Made in Mexico" sticker on them.

To answer the question, I'd give Odyssey a try as they're still made here. East Penn is also a good brand to try.

If only those old Delco Freedom batteries were made today. They were beasts from my understanding.

 

Odyssey seems to make nice batteries, but you have to ask yourself do you need to spend around $300 for one when a Walmart lead acid will likely last you 5 years? You can probably buy two of them in 10 years and still have spent less. The one thing that sells me on agm batteries is that they don't off gas acid and cause battery area to rot out, and do a lot better at running electronics with the engine off. Optima is in a race to the bottom, and today it's just best to avoid them.

 

Tell that to Skip White - specifically his "plain white box" lifters.

 

Interstate is what I run and have had good luck but for the money Deka is a great battery or NAPA, they are both quality as previously mentioned. I believe at this point batteries are only made by a few manufacturers.