After reading the suggestions here and doing some research, I'm thinking an Odyssey or a lithium might be my choice when I need to replace my batteries. A group 65 Odyssey is right at the price I paid for my Caterpillar-branded battery. Food for thought anyway.

 
Odyssey for me for my Tacoma. The Tacoma takes a BCI group 24. You will find, in perusing the Odyssey batteries, that they do not follow the BCI group definitions. You just need to find one that will fit. It might be smaller in length and/or width, but it just needs to fit into the tray or battery compartment. Most are also shorter. The one I use for my Tacoma is shorter than a BCI group 24, and Odyssey includes a riser with it to help make it fit your battery hold down. Some hold downs can be adjusted a lot, but others are limited to a small range near the BCI battery specified for your vehicle. Or you could just use a bungee cord.
 
Speaking of BCI group numbers, 24 was one of the first BCI groups defined when the US auto industry switched from 6 volt to 12 volt, back around the mid-1950s. My '56 Chevy took a group 24C. Back then, there was a 24F and a 24C (for Ford and Chevy), the difference being the poles are reversed. Today, it's simply 24 and 24F.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
AGM are the exact same lead acid chemistry as standard wet cell batteries. There's no problems using them in a standard charging system.

However, due to their construction they can be charged faster than a wet cell battery so charging systems designed for AGM batteries will cook a standard wet cell battery.

THIS. No issues putting AGM in a vehicle designed for lead acid.

I have had zero issues swapping to AGM in two vehicles.
I did however buy a battery charger/booster box that has an AGM selection for battery type.

I have used NAPA Legend AGM batteries with great success.
Oddly enough my Expedition has been starting to get a little sluggish on the start here and yesterday had a big temperature drop.
It’s the original battery but the truck is almost 5 years old so I am just going to replace it.

Pulled up the NAPA site their AGM for my Expedition is only 750CCA and most others are 850CCA.

Think I’ll look into Deka as the company vehicles use them and have been pretty solid and usually come highly suggested here.

I’ll check batteries plus and the local Deka supplier.

Anyone familiar with X2Power AGM batteries?
Batteries plus currently has 20% off all batteries and $30 mail in rebate. Making it a hair over $200 which is inline with all the other regular prices AGMs.

The Duracell AGM is $165 on sale.

X2 is a 60 month full replacement and Duracell is 48 month full replacement

I am pretty sure X2Power is part of Northstar which I have heard lots of good things about plus it is 930CCA.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
I did however buy a battery charger/booster box that has an AGM selection for battery type.

BatteryMINDer sells AGM specific charger/maintainers, similar to the Deltran Battery Tender Plus in amperage. They use 7 stages, including special continuous desulfation features and temperature compensation. I use the Model 2012-AGM for maintaining my two Odyssey batteries.

I ended up with the Northstar X2 Power.
$220 after tax, sale and rebate.

Could not find a negative review and the Offroad/Overland folks seem to like them.

Batteries+ has always been awesome with service for me and all replacements can be handled by them.

So he did say their store had just been taken over by corporate. So hopefully service will continue to be quality.

Great price on that battery. My regular old group 65 AGMs were $150 each out the door. Any of the premium brands were almost double and I just couldn't justify an extra $300.

My Lincoln wouldn't start this morning. I put the charger on it until I got back from the gym and got it started. Ford has a 650 CCA battery for $139.00. I got a 850 CCA from Farm & Fleet for $109 and it has a 7 year warranty as opposed to the 3 year from Ford.

The F&F battery in my daughter's Kia died in November and F&F replaced it for only a $13.00 installation feed. I believe it was under 4 years old.

I also snuck a box of $10.00 9mm onto the bill for the battery. Can't do that at Ford.