I got my AGM (duracell platinum) from sams' club for around 140ish if I recall correctly? Is in 34/78 configuration for dual terminal. Spent a couple of days checking around locally to find that to be the best value
-edit- That was more for others that find themselves to this thread as it seems you already found your replacement. For your situation, I have thought about changing my main terminals to side-post setup so I can use the beefier top posts for accessories, but I am still working on acquiring said accessories...

https://www.samsclub.com/p/duracell-...p_product_1_10

 

RednRoll - great explanation but perhaps I missed on my intent with my message. What I meant was not to say they might be the best but to say could be the best value. What I mean is that if the battery lasted only about 60% of the distance of the best one then you pay around $150 for the Costco one and $400odd for the good one then you are $$$$ ahead by going with the Costco unit if you don't mind replacing the unit more often. You certainly made a lot of research for something most of us take for granted. Our batteries seem to last quite a while up here in the freezing cold weather no matter the brand.

 

Likely what was missed which I didn't go into much detail in my OP was some background history. The Sears Die-hard "Platinum" AGM was a very popular battery among the JK community in regards to value, and the reason was that it was the same battery as the Odyssey Extreme. Both were made by Enersys and had the highest performance specs among Group 34 AGMs but the Sears DH Platinum cost significantly less than the Odyssey Extreme. I paid $165 for my Sears DH Platinum compared to the $320+ price of the Odyssery Extreme and it's the same exact battery. Sears stopped selling the Sears DH Platinum, where many of us have been looking for a similar alternative replacement of getting the top of the line performance wise at a significant price savings. So that is the "value" part I was originally referring to.

I agree with you that the Energizer is a pretty good value, but if I use a similar definition of "value" as you have, where higher specs are not a priority but the lower price has more priority and you look at my chart, I think an even better value than that Energizer, is the Duracell Platinum sold at Sam's Club. The Duracell Platinum is an East Penn battery Which I've seen at Sam's Club for $120USD with occasional sale specials for around $100USD. So comparing the Duracell Platinum AGM at Sam's to the Energizer Max, the Duracell has slightly higher specs than the Energizer while the price is significantly less as well.

Duracell Platinum(East Penn) vs. Energizer Max (Johnson Controls)

 

The Duracell Platinum at Sams is the best value in regards to price for a group size 34 AGM, while disregarding the top available performance specs. That's actually the one I was going to purchase until I stumbled across the current deals going on at BatteriesPlus for the Northstar X2Power.

The best value in regards to top available performance vs. price is currently the PowerX2 AGM with the deals that can be found at BatteriesPlus.

Being able to easily identify both types of "value" was the intent of my chart.
I likely should have made my definition of "value" more clear in my OP.

 

All good, nothing but love fellow Michigander. IMO the more options we can post up for all of our definitions of value the more it can only help future folks scouting around and stumbling here off of Google

 

Just watched that video yesterday. It was disappointing seeing him start off testing standard lead-acid Group size 27 batteries and then shifting to Group size 34 for AGMs. He kind of glossed over that and said "Unfortunately I was unable to find Group size 27 AGMs, so I got Group 34 instead." That negated any tangible comparisons between the Standard Lead-acid batteries and the AGMs in my opinion since the size of the battery is most important when doing comparisons. So he had really conducted 2 separate tests in my opinion.

Although similar, Group size 27 has a larger volume than Group 34, thus more battery material can be put inside a Group 27 container. Here's the actual data I have in regards to volume capacity.


I also made a comment questioning his source of information because he had indicated that the DieHard "Gold" is an Enersys manufactured battery where my sources have all indicated the Gold series is made by East Penn instead but as we all know, the Die Hard "Platinum" was made by Enersys. Most of my research, I had gone to the store and grabbed the specs and read the fine print of who manufactured it and I do recall visiting Sears for the DH Gold series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7rT...77396522199755

 

FYI, a set of these did the job for my secondary front post accessory connections.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060YHLJ8...v_ov_lig_dp_it


They carry them at Meijer, was like $3.80 each.

 

Great thread, thank you for all the information and consistent debate JK-Fam

I'm starting to look at replacing my Lead Acid battery before we get into summer down here in FL.

 

My brother, you know Meijer exists ONLY in the greater MI/IN/OH with a couple outliers in IL and MAYBE WI? The rest of us have to suffer with WalMart

 

LOL! Ok, didn't know that but I also included a link to the same one on Amazon...which had a lower price than Meijer on the exact same Schumacher brand as well. Walmart also carries one, which costs less....I think it was like $2.25 when I was shopping there, but the reviews weren't as good as the Schumacher brand, so I splurged and spent the extra $2 on the Schumacher brand at Meijer.