Opinions: Best Deep Cycle Marine Battery ?

Time to replace the trolling motor batteries. Seeking advice on best marine deep cycle batteries?

Thanks in advance.

Hands down the best “bang for your buck”: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Everstart-Maxx-Lead-Acid-Marine-Battery-Group-29DC/49988415

The Best? In my opinion, the best would be either Northstar or Odyssey. Both are $$$ AGM batteries, but have lasting power and long life. My last set of Northstar batteries were 6 years old and still running strong when I traded my boat. New boat has 3 group 27m Northstar, so I really believe in them. I have heard a lot of good things about the Duracell 31 AGM (made by Deka) sold by Sam's for about $180, but don't have any personal experience.

My personal opinion any marine battery , keep em secured , filled with distilled H2O and tricked charged soon as you get off water , 24 / 7 . .

Every time the date on my Walmart batteries are three years old I swap them out.

For me they are the best value in batteries.

I did some in-depth research to find the battery most used by the pros. I figured these guys would use the best battery possible outside of being sponsored by a battery company. I found that Odyssey was that battery. Since I have replaced all of my batteries with the larger size Odyssey. In two years I’ve had zero battery issues. I’ve fished 12 hour days and never drained them. One other note is that I matched them with the best Duel Pro charger. After storing the boat I plug it in and never have to think about it. To me batteries are just as important as graphs and other electronic. They may one day save my life if the big engine fails. A great battery is a great investment. It’s the best purchase I’ve made for my boat.

I may never run these batteries down. I am 64 and don't tournament fish so I don't tire batteries as much as I used to.

I bought a couple batteries that came out of a Honda FIT(bought used on ebay). The batteries are Toshiba SCIB cells assembled in series to make a 68 volt battery. 24 20ah cells in each battery. I am using two of these to make batteries for my boat. Two for a 28 volt trolling setup and one for a 14 volt starter battery.
They are very long lasting with some good specs compared to anything on the market.
Lithium marine battery's that are out on the market are LifePo4's. They are good for about 2000 cycles. Mine are good for ten times that and the specs I've read are that after 15000 cycles they still retain more than 80 percent of their capacity. I should never need another battery. The trolling batteries should be around 55ah and the starter should be 37ah.

They cost 390 per car battery so 780 plus the cutting and wiring plus putting them in a waterproof box will put them well under 900 dollars finished.
A big plus? All together they weigh around 75 pounds.

They will be the best if I never need another battery. Not so much if they go down but you roll the dice.

Right here all the time. Mine have 3/15 on them and still going strong for my Ultrex. Take care of them and they'll take care of you and best of all, there's a Walmart everywhere.

Agree on the Walmart batteries. I’ve had them last 4-6 years. However, those were made by Johnson Controls. The serial number will start with JC. Recently they have been using East Penn, those pretty much suck. The serial number will start with EP. Try to avoid those of you can.

I found that out the hard way in one week replacing TM batteries and an auto battery. I had 2 new batteries out of the 3 were bad when I bought them. There were manufactured by EP. Had to replace them again same day.

Otherwise Walmart has a good warranty, no prorated just replaced.

Totally agree!! Currently have 2 TM batteries dated 7-2015

Every battery on my rig is Auto Craft from Advanced Auto. No problem...

Duracell AGM 31 series from Sam's club for $179

If money is no issue Odyssey. But they are twice the Duracell (Deka)

I agree, they are essentially just a re-badged interstate/duralast, all the same

He said "best". Not "bang for the buck".

Optima blue top group 31. The best I've ever had.

Walmart......yep! It's a battery for folks that don't know batteries.

Did the recycler you bought them from say that would work? I was going to go the same way and was told by the large ebay seller that they would not work as I thought.

I have got one hurt battery in my 36 V setup, the other two test and charge fine. The batteries just 2.5 years old. What's the harm in replacing one battery and not all three?

I’ve been using everstarts from Walmart and have been getting 3 years out of every one. My starting battery actually went out on me yesterday while I was out on the lake and had to go get another one

Optima in mine and they are still working strong after three and half years. Expensive-yes but I've had other batteries and they all seem to poop out after the two year period. Blue top as Steez says.

I'll let you know how they perform as soon as I get some experience with them.
A friend who bought 4 of the same batteries and wired them up replaced his 8 battery setup (4 31agm and 4 24agm) in his offshore boat. He has a big stereo for sand bar fun and said the new batteries hold up better than his big Sears batteries. The voltage drop on the batteries with his agm's were in the low 11 volts at the end of the day while his new battery bank dropped to 12.9 volts. Saved 400 pounds of weight. They are still new to him.
They use these in GEM and golf Carts so I'm guessing they are capable although their designed purpose was for long term storage for large computer systems and solar banks. They are designed specifically to be discharged fully and maintain their capacity.

Interesting, can you post a link to the auction you bought? Being fully discharged and maintain capacity is the issue the recycler told me would ruin all the electric car auto battery cells he deals with.

Just had the same issue - I finally went with Duracell AGM 31's from Batteries Plus Bulbs - I've had more expensive AGM for a cranking battery that only lasted 2.5 years - compared them to the AGM 31 at Sams - different model numbers but couldn't find out what the difference meant but since I didn't have a Sams membership it came to $195 apiece with an 18 month replacement warranty - Batteries and Bulbs were $219 apiece (includes a 10% discount for ordering online but picked up at store) and had a 30 month replacement warranty so for that difference I liked the additional warranty.

East Penn Manufacturing makes Deka and some other labels that are common. They have a distribution center in Carrollton. They also sell to the public if you go there. Sometimes though you can get them cheaper at the big stores because of their buying power. If you’re close though it’s worth checking out. I got my last TM batteries there. I went with maintenance free over AGM, but I’ll never have regular lead acid again.

"Maintenance free" is the same thing as lead acid. The water caps are a little harder to remove ....that's all.

Not exactly true. Maintenance free do not require water nearly as often. Vented lead acid are more likely run dry if not monitored. I had it happen on an old boat and it can be dangerous.

We use Trojan batteries in our commercial floor care machines. The ride-on floor scrubbers run continuous for hours at a time. They get charged every night. I wouldn't have anything else in my boat.

Don't confuse "Marine" or Dual Purpose" with deep cycle. The plates are a little bit larger than auto batteries and will suffice for running lights and a stereo, but won't hold up to the deep discharges of a trolling motor If it doesn't say Deep Cycle on the case it's not. Walmart batteries are not deep cycle.

So you're the expert?

Optima blue top group 31 is a 75AH battery. Meh. I get 107AH out of my 27DC wet cell Wally World batteries.

Mine are Walmart battery's and may not be deep cycle but they are 3 yrs. old and run my Ultrex ALL DAY LONG. I'm good with that.

These are the best. Northstar and Oddyssey.

We've used the everstart Maxx marine 29dc from Walmart for years on flatbottoms and bayboats. Zero issues and yes it's deep cycle (DC)

IMHO there is Trojan and then there is everything else

Had pretty good luck with my Everstarts and not much with Continental or Trojan. Was thinking about trying some wet cell Deka's.

Deka marine master is a great wet cell

I know a lot of folks are Optima fans but I know of two new ones recently purchased that were bad from Day One. Not the same guy form the same store but still two bad ones. Not knocking them just stating a fact.

Agreed^^^

For the price there are some great options out there other than optima