What is the difference between a good new battery and an ok new battery?

It can be hard to tell what a good battery is just by looking at the outside of it. Different manufacturers use different materials of various qualities. The end result is all of them work, but the good ones (like Century Batteries) work for longer.

Some of the differences include virgin or recycled lead, what material is used on the positive and negative posts that go down inside the battery, and what percentage / chemistry the acid and water is.

You can't always even go by which company has been around the longest, they do switch who is making their batteries for them at times.

So what can you do?

1. Start by shopping at an actual battery store. It's not like a big box outlet with a million products and they are'nt battery experts like Century Batteries in Abbotsford and Century Batteries is Port Coquitlam.

2. Understand you get what you pay for. While $120 can get you a very good battery for your Toyota Corolla, a semi truck battery twice the size for $99 isn't going to be that good.

3. Know the difference between types. An AGM, Gel or Lithium battery can work better than a regular battery in certain applications

4. Know that like everything, knock offs are out there. A cheap scooter battery is just that. Cheap. No it won't perform as well as the proper one.

5. Don't go only by the length of warranty. Most car batteries will live around 4 years. The good ones closer to 6 or 7. Most consumers will either not keep their car long enough, not keep their paperwork, or not know what pro-rated means in a warranty. The big box outlets EXPECT the consumer to not meet all the warranty criteria so typically will advertise a warranty longer than they ever want to give.

Century Batteries in Abbotsford and Century Batteries in Port Coquitlam has done the homework for who makes what batteries under what labels and where. We've received regular feedback from our customers about various brands, applications, types of batteries, and have a vast knowledge of what battery works and what doesn't and for how long. We don't expect anyone to know everything on how to care for their battery, and we are always happy to just give information rather than some sort of hard sell.

Call or come down and tell us your experiences, what you are using them for, what you would like them to do, and we will give you some options, tell you the pro's and con's, and recommend which battery is a very good battery at a very good price.