It is and will continue to be a topic of much debate between consumers and those within the industry:
What is the best golf cart battery brand to purchase?
If you have ever had to replace your golf cart batteries, then we are sure you have asked your local dealer “Which golf cart battery brand is best?”. The funny thing is that you can talk to every dealer in the area, and they will all have their own opinion. Usually, their opinion may lean towards which battery yields them the best profit, but not always. However, battery preference is usually opinion based and is defined by their own unique experiences with different brands. So, we thought we would take the chance to distinguish some of the top battery brands by the numbers and also help people see why battery performance is not always linked to being the best brand.
Trojan Batteries
Time and time again, Trojan Batteries come up as one of the best battery brands for golf carts. They tend to come at a higher price though too, however you get what you pay for. Also, we have had some of the best experiences with Trojan as well. In addition, one of the best ways to determine if you are buying a good brand is based on the warranty for full replacement. Trojan has one of the longest we have seen at 2 years full replacement. Now, this type of warranty will not be offered everywhere, but if you call around enough, then you may find a dealer that offers it. This is not to be confused with a 4 year limited warranty though. A 4 Year limited warranty has fine print details such as hours of use and cycles attached to it in addition to a residual payout based on time. This means that if the batteries go bad after 3.5 years and meets the hours of use addendum, then you would receive 25% of the value you paid for the batteries back instead of a full replacement pack or equivalent.
US Battery
As the battle rages between Coca-cola and Pepsi, in the golf cart battery hemisphere, US Battery is either the Pepsi or Coke against Trojan. US Battery is known for being a worthy contender to Trojan and also appears to do a lot more marketing. However, marketing does not make it a better battery – performance does. US Battery typically has good warranties and in most regions of the country may have a lower price point than a Trojan but still offers an overall good quality. Once again, be sure to find out what the warranty offers and aim for free replacement.
Crown Batteries
Now, Crown Batteries is an interesting name to bring up since you will only typically find it on the east coast. They have excellent warranties and a good track record for performance. Nationwide though, US Batteries and Trojan hold the top placeholders. Crown has been around for a long time and have a loyal following with their customer base.
Article: Learn how to clean golf cart batteries here (Video)
Is it the batteries or something else?
When it comes to batteries, typically a bad experience with one brand or another will lead you to never trust that brand again. With batteries though, there are lots of other considerations. The number one cause of batteries going bad is poor maintenance. They must be maintained monthly and they also need to be regularly charged. Another issue could be the charger. Nowadays, we have smart chargers designed to charge based off an algorithm, but since so many batteries need to be charged differently, if you replace batteries with a different brand, then sometimes the algorithm needs to be changed to charge the batteries differently. With an improper algorithm, batteries could either get charged too much or too little affecting their life long performance.
Batteries to Stay Away From
“To good to be true” is typically a good sign of caution when purchasing batteries. The batteries found at Costco and Sam’s Club are generically cheap and are appealing, however, overall in the long haul, they will cost you more than a good set of batteries. Also, be sure to check the stamp date on the batteries. Batteries are like produce and the newer and fresher they are, the better performing over time they will be.
So there it is. Our overall thoughts on batteries and pieces of advice and wisdom to help guide you through your decision making process. Let us know if you have any questions, and we will do our best to answer.
Have knowledge you would like to share? We would love to hear your favorite golf cart battery brands in the comments below.
