Seeking AGM battery recommendations. What's good in 2024?

[outback97]

Hey guys. I'm in need of a battery for my 2009. I bought it with an Odyssey Extreme 34R AGM that lasted ten years. Replaced it with a Duracell 34R from Batteries Plus, and after treating it the same way I treated the Odyssey battery, the Duracell died in about 13 months. Batteries Plus is doing nothing for me, and not honoring the "warranty" that was supposedly good to 2027, so I won't be buying anything from them.

The obvious answer is to get another Odyssey 34R because it was awesome for a decade, but the $400 price tag and some negative comments I've read online about declining quality over the last couple of years are holding me back.

The 2009 has a winch (which I never use, but may need some day) and we take it to more out of the way places, and on longer trips, so the slightly higher capacity of the 34R is appealing over the 24F size. Not sure I really need the 34R though, so I'm open to a 24F. I really wish Costco sold AGM's in sizes useful to us, because I love their generous replacement policies, but they seem to have abandoned AGM's.

What would you go with?

 

[ThatGuy]

Hey guys. I'm in need of a battery for my 2009. I bought it with an Odyssey Extreme 34R AGM that lasted ten years. Replaced it with a Duracell 34R from Batteries Plus, and after treating it the same way I treated the Odyssey battery, the Duracell died in about 13 months. Batteries Plus is doing nothing for me, and not honoring the "warranty" that was supposedly good to 2027, so I won't be buying anything from them.

The obvious answer is to get another Odyssey 34R because it was awesome for a decade, but the $400 price tag and some negative comments I've read online about declining quality over the last couple of years are holding me back.

The 2009 has a winch (which I never use, but may need some day) and we take it to more out of the way places, and on longer trips, so the slightly higher capacity of the 34R is appealing over the 24F size. Not sure I really need the 34R though, so I'm open to a 24F. I really wish Costco sold AGM's in sizes useful to us, because I love their generous replacement policies, but they seem to have abandoned AGM's.

What would you go with?

I have a 2 year old Odessy performance 34 that I love. Couldn’t find the extreme here and batteries are tough to get on the island. Accidently left my headlights on for 10 hours at work a few weeks ago. Still measured 12.8 v and cranked right up. I will never go back to the lead acid batteries

 

[xyoverland]

I would have suggested the one I have, but it’s the Batteries Plus brand (X2 Power). It’s approaching the year 4 mark with a 5 year warranty but I suppose the warranty doesn’t mean anything if they won’t honor it.

Is it the manufacturer warranty that they aren’t honoring? Or an extended thing they sell?

 

[Zack.]

I have interstate agm from Costco in my Subaru, and whatever the walmart branded agm in the Xterra because costco told me interstate discontinued the 24f size.

 

[outback97]

I would have suggested the one I have, but it’s the Batteries Plus brand (X2 Power). It’s approaching the year 4 mark with a 5 year warranty but I suppose the warranty doesn’t mean anything if they won’t honor it.

Is it the manufacturer warranty that they aren’t honoring? Or an extended thing they sell?

Thanks for the reply. Those X2's look nice.

It's the manufacturer warranty. Here's a summary of my experience with Batteries Plus.

I needed to get some tools from the 2009, but the remote wouldn't unlock the truck. Checked the battery and it was sitting around 2.5V. Way too low to even take a charge. I called BP to ask about their warranty, and was told if the battery is under 10V it must be neglect, and there's no coverage in that case. I brought it into the store and they attempted to charge it but it wouldn't take a charge. I later spoke with an employee at the store that said they've had several customers with similar batteries fail, and he said this wasn't a good battery unless you drove the vehicle every day.

In subsequent conversations with the store owner I explained nothing has been changed about the vehicle nor my process of periodically charging the battery. Nothing electrical or mechanical has been modified recently that would cause a parasitic drain. I hooked up to 12V power to verify that no interior lights were left on, they weren't. This truck does sit for weeks at a time and is only really used for road and camping trips, hence the periodic charging being necessary. But the situation has been like this since I bought it in 2018, the only real variable is the newer, now dead starting battery.

Basically they are sticking to the "neglect, warranty void" line. Add in the general shiatty customer service and inconsistent statements from BP employees, and it's made me not want to do business with them again.

 

[outback97]

I have interstate agm from Costco in my Subaru, and whatever the walmart branded agm in the Xterra because costco told me interstate discontinued the 24f size.

We also have Interstate (Costco) batteries in our Subarus, not AGM though. I've had good experiences with them.

I have had no luck finding 24F AGM's at the local Costco's I've looked at. Store employees don't seem to be able to do a special order for one, at least I've had no luck when I've asked. The Costco / Interstate battery site still lists them. I just looked online, and it looks like you can order online and have it shipped to you for $20 more than the listed in store price:

https://costco.interstatebatteries.com/home/results?key=auto&ZipCode=84107&l=84107&Program=100500&choice1=2366143&choice2=2367575&choice3=2367618&choice4=2367619&choice5=2367620&Country=US

I have no idea how the core charge works if ordering online, nor is there anything that says when this would ship. And if stores don't stock these, it's not very convenient if you need to do a warranty claim. I might try to contact Costco and see if they have more info.

 

[xyoverland]

That sucks about Batteries Plus. Definitely BS. I’d definitely reach out to Costco. When I was looking for that exact battery the guy at our store said they could order it to the store, and even looked up where I could get one in person, but it was two states away at the time.

 

[outback97]

Kind of an unexpected update. I called Batteries Plus to verify they had my dead battery so I could fetch it and at least use it for a core charge on the next from somewhere else. Kid at the store can't find it but takes my info down and will have the owner call me. He does and explains that he had just picked it up from the East Penn distribution center. They were able to force charge it back up to 12.6V. After load testing it dropped to 12.5V. The BP store owner told me that he wouldn't expect long term greatness from the battery since it was so far depleted, but it appeared to be somewhat working again.

I installed it last night, and drove to work this morning without issue. I don't trust this battery for extended off grid trips but for in town I'll drive it for a while and see what happens.

 

[xterrapnw]

For my 2012, I bought the group 35 Interstate AGM from Costco online. Works great. Returned my old battery in-store for the core charge, no problem.

 

[Kira]

The "charging profile" of a vehicle is a real thing and changeable.
It's good if Xterras are programmed for AGMs.