How do you rate walmart batteries? A clerk at auto zone said they are the are the same as the ones they said. A mobile car repair guy said they are no good. The one in the car is less then a year old. Has been tested and passed. It's my set daughter's car I just don't think she should run out and buy a new one. What's your thoughts. Thanks .Ray
They are great batteries. Had one last 11 years.
There are only a few actual manufacturers of batteries. Chances are the ones sold at Autozone are the same as the ones at Walmart, just 20%-25% more expensive.
Even though the same factory can make similar products sold under various brand names, it doesn't mean they're all created equal. Each contract has different requirements and price points. They may create higher quality goods for themselves or certain customers.
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For example, Del Monte will pack the center (best) portion of green beans into jars with their own label.
The end cuts go into different jars, destined for house brands like Walmart (Great Value) or Safeway (Town House).
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Sanyo pioneered rechargeable batteries, and held the secret to low self-discharge. When Panasonic acquired Sanyo, the FTC divested them of their monopoly, and Panasonic agreed to source batteries through a subsidiary to other companies to preserve market competition. Even though you will see Panasonic "re-wraps" under different names, they are not exact copies. The newest tech and latest generations are always sold exclusively under the Panasonic name, to ensure that they retain the dominant market position.
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Many other products are graded, sorted, and priced accordingly . Coffee for example, or semiconductor chips.
With that being said, many companies still do sell the same product exact product under a different name.
For example the only difference between Bosch and Varta is often only the sticker.
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Reminds me of how VW used to do engine covers on older cars...
https://youtu.be/9keB8luTHRo?t=25
https://youtu.be/Etf3yMznKN4?t=8
https://youtu.be/MJLmNjvxPFc?t=11
Like @chucktobias said, there are only a few battery manufacturers and Autozone, Walmart, and everybody else just buys them and puts their label on them. Three things that matter are;
1. Size
2. Cold Cranking Amp rating
3. Warranty
Usually a dying battery will give you some signs of nearing it's end of life. Some symptoms can be: starter sounds more labored and slower than it used to be, particularly in cold weather and gets worse over time; when the engine stops running, headlights are dimmer than they used to be; when you open the door to get in, the courtesy lights are dim.
Everstart is a battery brand Walmart sells. Some reviews I've read on the interent give them good ratings. I have them in a pickup, car, and riding mower and they held up fine. Good luck.
Walmart batteries are fine. Perhaps they even exceeded my expectations.
My '79 Catalina stalled two weeks ago, and it has a Walmart battery. Between trying to get it to re-start the day it died, troubleshooting, then checking the effectiveness of my repair, the battery died from extended cranking and no starts. I hooked it up to a battery maintainer Sunday night and it charged extremely slowly (almost 18 hours to full charge), and put it back in the car. The car started right up after the repair. If they can supply the current needed to spin starters on old carbureted cars for several seconds in a row, and do it over a dozen times at least, I would say they're quite reliable.
It will give indicators that it's going bad. The starter will sound weak, etc.
Some battery badge engineering found:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uwLX72YB_U
Back when I was younger and stupider I was working my way through college at a discount chain installing tires and batteries. When the manufacturer's truck dropped off the batteries with our branding they'd have countless other brands in the truck waiting to be taken to their respective retail outlets. (Back then batteries were delivered dry. One of my jobs was to fill them with acid. Those were the days!)