posted 04-08-2009 04:05 PM ET (US)            

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From what I remember the four lagest battery makers are-

Johnson Controls: (Interstate, Motorcraft, Energizer, older Diehards),
Delco: (Sears, newer Diehards),
GNB: (Champion) and
Exide: (NAPA).

posted 04-08-2009 07:04 PM ET (US)         

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Walmart's batteries are now made by Exide.

Their size 24 dual purpose (starting and deep cycle) battery is about 1/2" too high to fit the BW tan battery box.

posted 04-08-2009 09:01 PM ET (US)            

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The last two batteries I bought were purchased at my local boat store and engine service provider. I paid a fair price. I suppose I could have saved $5 somewhere else, but I would rather keep my trusted boat mechanic in business than enrich some giant big-box retailer.

There is no way WALMART will provide one lick of service to me. They will hardly take back a battery on a core deposit without a trail of evidence that would have convicted O.J. Simpson. Why on earth would I want to give WALMART my business instead of a my local boat mechanic and dealer?

Vote with your dollars. If you vote for WALMART, don't complain when the last retail store left standing is some ugly big-box warehouse staffed by non-English speaking immigrants working for minimum wage that doesn't give a hoot about you.

posted 04-09-2009 12:40 AM ET (US)            

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The last time I needed a boat battery I did happen to be in the vicinity of a WALMART, and I stopped to see what they had. It was in early June, as I recall. This WALMART store was out of batteries. The shelves were empty. That is one of the more frustrating things about shopping at WALMART: their inventory is highly variable and quite inconsistent.

If WALMART sells batteries for $50 less than others, then they must be selling a premium 1,100-MCA marine cranking battery for $25. I only paid about $75 for an INTERSTATE battery with those ratings. It was a few years ago, and no doubt prices have gone up.

There is one positive about a WALMART battery (and I hope you appreciate that pun): once you leave a large metropolitan area they'll be the only retail store you can find. Go to a smaller town, and the WALMART will have driven all the other retailers out of business. This is great if you need to get a replacement battery from WALMART on their warranty. Let me know how it works out for you.

posted 04-09-2009 12:52 AM ET (US)            

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I've been buying batteries from Walmart for more than 14 years now. I used to buy them from Sears until they shafted me on a so called warranty.

I have 4 diesel trucks with 2 batteries in each truck. All of my equipment that uses a battery and the Whalers have Walmart batteries installed.

Walmart gives you a piece of paper that goes in a little plastic baggie on the side of the battery. It is used in case the battery fails before it's time. On the rare occasion that the battery failed, I was given a new battery.

The last time that the battery failed in my skid steer loader, the piece of paper and the plastic baggie were gone. This battery is exposed so I guess the sun/weather got it. Well I had to take the battery in anyway to size it and get the $5 core charge. They just scanned the bar code and it still had 2-3 months left on a 3 year warranty. I didn't get a new battery for free this time but I did get $10-15 off and upgraded to a higher cold starting rating.

I use the top of the line batteries in my trucks for piece of mind, I guess. They cost around $70-80 bucks each but I have never had them fail but after 4-5 years of daily use they start to show signs of slower cranking. I put them on the charger overnight and do a load test on them. If the load test does not check out, I replace them.

The Marine battery at my local marina is $130. Marine batteries are $60 with the deep-cycle at $80 at Wally world. I like my local marina guy but not enough to pay double for the same item.

posted 04-09-2009 01:12 AM ET (US)            

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I guess I need to say that I may be biased a little towards Walmart. Since they came to town 17 years ago I have been doing their parking lot sweeping every night. So, I'm one of the people that have benefited from them coming to town. By doing work for them, my business has done very well. So well that I was able to buy another $$$$ sweeper truck in these tough times.

I also had a lawn & garden shop when Walmart first came to town. They did hurt my business by selling lower than what I was selling. Luckily a nasty divorce forced me to give the nursery business to my lovely EX-wife(bless her soul) in trade for my freedom(it was a good trade). So I have seen both sides of the giant big-box retailer. My profit margin is much, much better sweeping trash from their parking lot than when I was selling a flat of petunias.

posted 04-09-2009 10:41 AM ET (US)            

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My "manufactured in March of 2008 90 hp Mercury FOURSTROKE" (lol) requires a miniumum 1000MCA/800CCA/125 min reserve capacity starting battery.

To my knowledge, and I have looked, Wal Mart does not sell such a battery, at least in a group 24 size. I haven't seen that spec in any size at Wal Mart.

"Batteries Plus" down the street, however, does. It is the EXACT same brand and battery that my Whaler dealer sells for $37 more. Seems like an easy choice to me.

If my Whaler dealer wants to stay in business, and sell more batteries, perhaps they should attempt to meet the price of other battery retailers (And at the price they want for a Whaler, maybe they should attempt to meet the prices of other Whaler retailers as well).

posted 04-10-2009 10:51 AM ET (US)            

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I bought a starting battery from an Interstate dealer over 5 years ago and it finally gave it up this year.

I have only heard good things from some of my neighbors about Wal-Mart batteries so I bought a deep cycle group 24 for my trolling motor but I replaced the Interstate with a marine battery from a local auto parts store since they were much closer to home.

I think many performance issues are related to regular maintenance.

posted 04-10-2009 11:23 AM ET (US)         

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Much to my surprise, I just accidentally beat Walmart's pricing on a same type and rating product.

I don't buy starting batteries, but instead buy the dual purpose starting/deep cycle type. This handles the heavy draw of electronics, cruise lighting, etc. Since Walmart's Exide manufactured battery is too tall for the Whaler tan battery box, I found a Stowaway at Batteries Plus, also by Exide, that does fit, for $69, and no old battery core needed. Walmart chages $64 for theirs, plus $9 if no core turned in, which I didn't have.

posted 04-10-2009 05:26 PM ET (US)            

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I'm not suggesting that the local stores can equal Walmart's prices but I think a lot of us would go along with your figure of 20% more for keeping the business local. Unfortunately, as many people have verified, it's usually a lot more than 20%.

Walmart not only has the advantage of volume, but I would assume that there are fewer middlemen taking a cut. I have no idea what the actual numbers are but it's entirely possible that 20% above Walmart is still a losing proposition for the locals.

I find it interesting (and sad) that a lot of people say they don't want to patronize the big-bopx stores, but they have to.

posted 04-26-2009 10:39 AM ET (US)            

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Let's keep the discussion focused on retailer and comparative pricing.

To add the topics of which brand of battery is the best brand and which type of battery is the best type will expand the scope of this discussion to a hopelessly large frame.

posted 04-29-2009 11:58 PM ET (US)            

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On the topic of big boxes. I choose not to shop at Walmart largely due to the employment practices, environmental record etc. I am more conflicted with Costco as a big box. Costco pays even their cashiers about $17 per hour with health care, vacation, sick leave and retirement benefits. Let me say that this is significantly higher than almost any merchant on Main Street. The Wall Street Journal has criticized Costco for paying high wages and for not paying enough attention to its stockholders. The world gets more complex every day. It wasn't long ago that Sears was the big bad bully on the block.

Andy

[This article re-introduced a general discussion of the performance of batteries by brand and type. That topic has been separated and moved to its own thread. This thread is discussing retailer of batteries, not the batteries themselves. --jimh]

posted 05-01-2009 11:57 AM ET (US)            

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I've purchased a number of batteries for both my boats and my cars at Costco over the last few years. In addition to very low prices, I have found Costco is excellent with warranty issues. If your battery is under warranty, bring it in, no questions, no hassles. I can't say the same for WalMart. I purchased a used truck that had a WalMart battery (with a date stamp on top) that would no longer hold a charge. Despite the fact that the date stamp showed warranty remaining, the clerk refused to provide any warranty without a sales receipt. I guess this store didn't train their employees to scan the bar code on the battery. Nevertheless, I won't be buying any batteries at WalMart in the future.

For a long time, I was a dedicated Sears Die-Hard battery buyer. Whatever I drove (Jeeps, cars, Whalers) it got Die-Hards because I had excellent luck with them. The last set of Die-Hards I purchased provided only mediocre service (about 2 years on the Montauk) despite their premium price for lead-acid flooded cell batteries. I've had as good or better service from Kirkland (Costco brand) batteries at a much lower price. Since there are just a few battery manufacturers out there, and the retailer house brands seem to switch manufacturers fairly frequently, it would be much more usefull to compare batteries and prices based on who manufactures them. Unfortunately, this is not terribly easy to do.

I'd love to be able to do business with a localy-owned retailer like Lockeman's in my area. Unfortunately, of the two local chandelries around my seaside town, one is an outright crook (learned my lesson with that guy) and the other has yachtsmen pricing and banker's hours (actually, my credit union has better hours than this outfit). I don't know how a yard stays in business operating 9-5, Monday through Friday, but I'm certainly not going to take time off of work to buy a battery from that shop.