[GTO]

Am a total Amaron guy and all my cars are running Amarons, except for the AGM in the German.

Exide left a bitter taste in my mouth as I owned a few that failed exactly when the warranty expired. It's as if the battery was engineered to fail at that point.

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Nothing more than maintaining the fluid level and not letting a deep drain.

Also a trickle charger (Ownership Review: Bosch C7 Battery Charger) in these pandemic times, if you are lucky enough to have a power socket close to your parking spot. My 5-Series & Jeep are now on trickle as the two lockdowns & limited outings due to Covid hit their batteries hard.

[AG-D]

My Alto K10 came with SF battery. It was a low use car. Still the battery lasted for almost 7 years. Towards the end of life the performance was fading away, like intermittent weak cranking. It didn't completely die as such. Got it replaced with Amaron battery. It is still going strong in its 4th year. The car was left unused for 4 months when we visited hometown. When I came back I was prepared for jumpstart. However, the car started at the first crank.

Both SF and Amaron served me well however Amaron seems to be a more popular choice with added advantage of the dealer shop near to our home.

Can't vote but Amaron takes my preference at this time.

[VRJ]

I’m associated with one of the above brands, so I’m going to refrain myself from voting. My sincere advice is to stick with either Amaron or Exide. They’re both good brands. Apart from the quality of the battery, it’s the service that matters the most. It’s rare for a new battery to be defective, but it does happen. Sometime it can also be a fault with your bike/car. Happens a lot with bikes. Get the contact details of the distributor from the company’s website and find out where their service centre is and how long they take to replace a battery. Generally, a 2W and 4W battery should be replaced between 2-3 days (Max 4). A tubular battery might take a day or two longer. Sfsonic is owned by Exide. It’s their budget brand. Amaron owns PowerZone and ACDelco, which are their budget brands.

Speaking from experience, don’t believe what your mechanic tells you. The battery field has cut throat competition. All it takes is 50Rs for the mechanic to change sides. The same mechanic who told you Amaron isn’t good lately will tell you Amaron is the best if he’s given the right incentive. It’s the distributor on the top who supplies to multiple dealers and these dealers sell to customers and mechanics. In most cases, a Distributor also has a retail shop with a service centre attached to it. The distributor gives stock on credit to a dealer and the dealer either sells to a mechanic on credit or cash depending on their relation. If the mechanic has a friend who owns an Exide shop and he gets credit and freebies from him, then he will tell you for sure that Exide is the best out their. If his friend owns an Amaron shop, then you know what the mechanics recommendation is. The mechanic only installs the battery on your vehicle, he’s not responsible for the service. That’s where the distributor/dealer comes in to the equation.

Cheers!

[Sentinel17]

AMARON seems to be really good.

7 years ago,our battery died in the middle of a trip.The nearest shop selling batteries had a stock of Amaron.We were so done with the day since we had to spend much more time than anticipated in the sweltering heat.So we just decided to go with that(without doing any research).7 years since and we haven't faced a single issue.

[SideView]

I went ahead with Amaron (was adamant to the workshop guy), got a july/2021 batch.

This thread atleast from my end can be closed.
Mods can take a call if the want to keep it open for better representation of the forum.

Thanks again everyone for their inputs.

[frewper]

Always bought Exide. Only reason: The dealer is 700m away from my house. But they never lasted more than 4 years for me.

Used Amaron once and that too only lasted 4 years.

So similar experience for me.

But going forward I will be going with Amaron because for some reason Exide is pricier and gives no indication that they are going to fail. My Amaron only one cell had failed and somehow did crank the engine after a couple of tries.

[viXit]

Just spent 7500 on an Exide battery for the iDtec Honda city (66month warranty). Definitely a ripoff since I paid even lesser for the bigger safari storme battery from amaron.

Always have had amaron batteries in the car unless the car came from the factory with something else. And have had great reliability.

Related question, went to a battery shop in my neighborhood when the Honda City battery was dying, he didn't want to top it up with distilled water, said it's useless. He used something he called battery acid or gravity acid if I remember correctly.

What is this? can anyone throw some light on this? Don't be afraid to get technical, I'm a chemistry student right now.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by viXit

Related question, went to a battery shop in my neighborhood when the Honda City battery was dying, he didn't want to top it up with distilled water, said it's useless. He used something he called battery acid or gravity acid if I remember correctly.

What is this? can anyone throw some light on this? Don't be afraid to get technical, I'm a chemistry student right now.

He probably referred to the specific gravity of the acid.

https://wiki.anton-paar.com/in-en/de...cid-batteries/

Knowing the specific gravity of the electrolyte in batteries gives insight into the level of charge. Due to chemical reactions during discharge, the density of the sulfuric acid electrolyte (or its specific gravity) decreases. Measuring the density of the battery acid therefore gives information about the concentration of H2SO4 and the charging status of the battery. Depending on the result, the operator knows whether the battery needs maintenance or needs to be exchanged. To detect and maintain the weakest cell(s) of the battery, a regular density check is mandatory.

[drivingmelody]

Would suggest to go with Amaron. That's what I did when my stock batteries on the car died after six years of use. The Amaron battery is going good after three years of usage.

Also had used Exide battery on a bike, It had died within one year and was replaced under warranty. It took the dealer one month for replacement, the dealer did provide a backup battery for that period of one month. The friendly neighbor (dealer) always helps.

[Arun_S]

Recently changed the battery for Alto800.

Personal experience don't go for AMCO, horrible one, 1st one failed within warranty replaced it with a new one, which also failed within 1 year.

As mentioned by another BHPian Mechanic's recommend what they get more incentive from, AMCO was recommended Suzuki Authorized Service Center now they recommend a different one.

This time toss up was between Amaron and SF Sonic, as the dealer was pushing Amaron a lot, went with SF as they replace the batteries little faster here.

[whitewing]

I'm not sure if any there is a significant difference with any of the major manufacturers.

Based on my experience, I tend to think it has more to do with on the usage pattern. On my Santro, the OEM battery(think it was a SF) gave up after 7-8 years - was frequently driven(>10k kms/year). On my swift, the battery died after 9 years (low usage <5k km/year). The batteries were checked & charged/topped up if need be, every year.

Need to observe if the newer batteries have a "kill switch" encoded, to kick in after the end of warranty :-)

[Reinhard]

I voted for Exide. I have never been let down by one over 16 years of car ownerships now. They tend to last around 4 years - which is all that I have come to expect from batteries now given my city dwelling and very low highway running. I regularly top-up the batteries with distilled water, even if it says "maintenance free". I also have a slow-charger at home which I have never had to use. Fingers crossed.

I have always heard of Amaron being good - and the vote also shows the tilt towards Amaron. But since I have never been let down by Exide & the dealer network and service has been good in my area - I don't see the need to swing just yet.

[anumod]

Irrespective of the brand, look for these two conditions
1. The dealer approachability . (If the dealer is a known one and will sustain for some time )
2. Pickup a brand that gives you the longer warranty at cheaper price. (Nowadays, I always pick a battery with at least 5 year warranty )

I have used all three of these brands, I have never faced much issues. Currently in my inverter the battery is Exide. In last battery when it failed before the warranty period, they changed it free of cost. (That was the only premature failure I had in that inverter in the last 15+ years )

Another point to be noted, please see which dealer is giving you the best net price. Some of the dealers don't take your old battery, but may give you a cheaper price for the new battery, but with the exchange of the old battery, you may get a better deal as well.

As I don't have any special affinity / recommendation to any of these brands, I haven't voted too.

[MaheshY1]

My first choice is Exide but I wouldn't mind Amaron either. SF Sonic is not even on my consideration list.

I bought an SF Sonic battery for my Beat diesel when it was 5-year old and the battery started giving problems even in the first winters.

Unfortunately for me, the problem was never so bad that I could officially blame it on the battery. It always started after a few attempts. But that was the only variable. I have left my car for more than a week out in the open cold and it never gave me any problems with the OEM Exide battery.

But with the SF Sonic, if I left it unattended for a week in covered parking during winters, then it wouldn't start in one go. And if I left it in open during winters for just a night, then again same starting trouble. Once I cranked the car and ran it a bit, it worked alright for the rest of the day. So, I had trouble explaining the problem at the battery shop as the battery had enough charge when it arrived at the dealer.

I don't think my Beat's SF Sonic battery will survive another winter.
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A brand can make a reliable + durable product and lose the customer for several years.
OR
A brand can make a poor product and lose the customer forever.

[Aravind_M92]

Had always been using Amaraon / Amara Raja. Yes both are same companies with different names. Deep down everything is same.
SF Sonic is a subsidiary of Exide. But there seems to some manufacturing variations which give dealers to get better deals. Maruti stocks are SF SONIC. Cost cutting!
The Amaron batteries may have Flo, pro and other terms. But the batteries are the same. Its for the warranty periods which the name varies.