How reliable Wal-mart battery compare to Sears auto?.

I've used Die Hards (Sears Battery) and Craftsman tools for years and have
always thought they were worth the little extra you pay b/c of their
quality and warranties. The battery that Walmart sells isn't a bad
battery if you buy one with the same or better specifications as your
original. The two numbers you will most likely see are the cranking amps
and the cold cranking amps, the latter being the important number when its
cold out. The higher the CCAs the better your battery will start when its
cold. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if it was me the extra
$10-$20 bucks for the Sears battery is worth the assurance you will get
from it for the next 3-5 yrs. Just my opinion, I would be interested to
see what others think...You also might want to check out optima batteries,
they sell them at Sears and are a little pricey, but if you look around on
the internet you can get one with free shipping and a reasonable price.

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 09:32:43 -0500, greenterror > wrote:
>I've used Die Hards (Sears Battery) and Craftsman tools for years and have
>always thought they were worth the little extra you pay b/c of their
>quality and warranties. The battery that Walmart sells isn't a bad
>battery if you buy one with the same or better specifications as your

Are there specifications relating to the quality of the platics used, the
methods of manufactoring the plates and the type and quality of the connections
and joints from the posts to the plates? A battery with a spec of 500CCA
means about as much as a $7 PC power supply rated at 500w that will blow if it
ever handled 200W continuously. There's more to a rating than the peak
currently handling of the weakest component. What good is 500CCA if the
battery will crack if it ever carries 50A for more than 5 minutes.

I'd expect every single one of walmart's batteries to be made in china and be
of substandard materials. I would not be surprised if case cracking and
broken internal connections were extremely common.

Fine for a project car that never leaves the city; not so great for a car that
might strand you somewhere in the middle of nowhere with hostile weather
conditions.

Every store is trying to make a profit, and compete with other stores.
Sure, many co. will go for the lowest bid on a product but quality is
also an important factor. Why would Walmart, or any other retailer,
consistantly sell crap? It doesnt make good $$$ sense.

They may skimp here and there, but the product must at least live up to
its waranty. Otherwise, two things will happen, the store will loose
their shirt on every returned product, and they will loose customers.

Sears also renegotiates their tool contracts on a regular basis as well.

On 15 Mar 2005 09:51:14 -0800, rich > wrote:
>Every store is trying to make a profit, and compete with other stores.
>Sure, many co. will go for the lowest bid on a product but quality is
>also an important factor. Why would Walmart, or any other retailer,
>consistantly sell crap? It doesnt make good $$$ sense.
Sure it does.
Choice 1: $90 battery
Choice 2: $45 battery.

People who look no further are likely to take the cheaper choice even
though the battery probably won't last a whole year.



>They may skimp here and there, but the product must at least live up to
>its waranty. Otherwise, two things will happen, the store will loose
Waranty: that's a good one. It would mean something if they weren't
pro-rated. $5 towards another crap battery isn't worth the effort.

>their shirt on every returned product, and they will loose customers.
They don't need repeat customers if there are enough new ones.

TCS wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 09:32:43 -0500, greenterror > wrote:
>
>>I've used Die Hards (Sears Battery) and Craftsman tools for years and have
>>always thought they were worth the little extra you pay b/c of their
>>quality and warranties. The battery that Walmart sells isn't a bad
>>battery if you buy one with the same or better specifications as your
>
>
> Are there specifications relating to the quality of the platics used, the
> methods of manufactoring the plates and the type and quality of the connections
> and joints from the posts to the plates? A battery with a spec of 500CCA
> means about as much as a $7 PC power supply rated at 500w that will blow if it
> ever handled 200W continuously. There's more to a rating than the peak
> currently handling of the weakest component. What good is 500CCA if the
> battery will crack if it ever carries 50A for more than 5 minutes.
>
> I'd expect every single one of walmart's batteries to be made in china and be
> of substandard materials. I would not be surprised if case cracking and
> broken internal connections were extremely common.
>
> Fine for a project car that never leaves the city; not so great for a car that
> might strand you somewhere in the middle of nowhere with hostile weather
> conditions.
>

YOu talk like stuff made outside China is of good quality. There's a
lot of crap made in the good ole USA.
Sears has a reputation for quality earned back when it was true.
Today, they justify higher prices based on this reputation and their
guarantee.
But the bean counters are still buying the cheapest crap that will not
tarnish the image too badly while maintaining peak profitability.

If reliability is your goal, buy two from different vendors. That way
you get two shots at the crap shoot.
mike

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TCS > wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 09:32:43 -0500, greenterror > wrote:
> >I've used Die Hards (Sears Battery) and Craftsman tools for years and have
> >always thought they were worth the little extra you pay b/c of their
> >quality and warranties. The battery that Walmart sells isn't a bad
> >battery if you buy one with the same or better specifications as your

> Are there specifications relating to the quality of the platics used, the
> methods of manufactoring the plates and the type and quality of the connections
> and joints from the posts to the plates? A battery with a spec of 500CCA
> means about as much as a $7 PC power supply rated at 500w that will blow if it
> ever handled 200W continuously. There's more to a rating than the peak
> currently handling of the weakest component. What good is 500CCA if the
> battery will crack if it ever carries 50A for more than 5 minutes.

> I'd expect every single one of walmart's batteries to be made in china and be
> of substandard materials. I would not be surprised if case cracking and
> broken internal connections were extremely common.


Your expectations are wrong. They have a lot of made in Mexico batteries
as well as other countries. Wet cell batteries are not rocket science
anymore. That Wal-mart battery you can give alot more money for at a
variety of different places. Same battery, different name decal on the
side...

You really have to be careful when you buy any product...read the fine
print.

Sears used to have good coverage, excellent quality, and and unbeatable
guarantee. They deserved a good reputation in those days, but it may not be
valid today.

I was in WalMart and Autozone yesterday and looked at the prices and
guarantees on their batteries. Neither battery line was particularly cheap.

WalMart offered batteries with 2 or 3 year free replacement. No quibble.
Autozone offered 90 day replacement, with a 'prorated' schedule after that.

*Prorated* often means that the cost of replacement does not compare
directly with the time you have it. You may have to pay nearly the new cost
if you are just a little into the prorata term.

I don't know how Sears handles it.

What most of us want is a dependable battery that will give a lifetime
related to
what we have to pay for it. This is often exactly what we don't get.
Someone posted earlier that 'you get what you pay for', to which I might add
'if you are fortunate.'

HLS wrote:
> "Steve W." > wrote in message
> ...

> A long time ago I worked in TV repair. We knew which TV sets were
crappo
> with respect to quality, durability, repairs. (And believe you me,
there
> were some of these sets that we didn't want to see coming. Fix one
thing
> and another would go bad. We couldn't win)
> CR regularly rated some of this trash very highly.
> And in later years, I have seen them repeat this 'cheerleading'.
> I can't bring myself to trust anything they print.

CR's quality ratings are separate from their reliability surveys, and I
believe they used to rate some RCA TVs highly even though they weren't
reliable. They've done the same with cars, but they won't recommend a
car with a high quality rating unless it was also average or better in
reliability.

HLS wrote:
> You really have to be careful when you buy any product...read the
fine
> print.
>
> Sears used to have good coverage, excellent quality, and and
unbeatable
> guarantee. They deserved a good reputation in those days, but it may
not be
> valid today.
>
> I was in WalMart and Autozone yesterday and looked at the prices and
> guarantees on their batteries. Neither battery line was particularly
cheap.
>
> WalMart offered batteries with 2 or 3 year free replacement. No
quibble.
> Autozone offered 90 day replacement, with a 'prorated' schedule after
that.
>
> *Prorated* often means that the cost of replacement does not compare
> directly with the time you have it. You may have to pay nearly the
new cost
> if you are just a little into the prorata term.
>
> I don't know how Sears handles it.
>
> What most of us want is a dependable battery that will give a
lifetime
> related to
> what we have to pay for it. This is often exactly what we don't get.
> Someone posted earlier that 'you get what you pay for', to which I
might add
> 'if you are fortunate.'

I have an AutoZone Duralast battery that included free replacement
during the first 3 years.

Dad had an AutoZone lifetime warranted battery, but AutoZone eventually
required him to show not only a receipt but also proof that he still
had the original car.