The same outfit that delivered me the Lifeline GPL-31XT directly from the West Covina factory/warehouse, also delivered me a Crown1 Group31 AGM that was ~2 months old. It was reading 13.02v and its amps tapered as expected, and quickly, when I hooked it to 14.4v, so I assume it was put on a charger before delivery. I did a few initial tests with this battery( which had NO CCA rating) and found its voltage held under a 435 watt load was not impressive, but that could be a good thing, in terms of the number of deep cycles achieveable.
When I bought the Northstar in a distributor some 30 minute drive inland, I brought my voltmeter and chose the one off the shelf with highest voltage. At that same time I was returning a relabelled crown group31 marine battery that performed horribly voltage wise when depleted 50% of its rated Ah capacity the night before. I brought a bathroom scale when weighing the USbatteryG 31, and this screwy31 did weigh nearly 10Lbs more than the Crown Marine battery.
The salesmen thought I was just another customer, and when I returned with fire in my eyes he hid in the back and sent out the manager. The manager was compliant with my wishes and did not just repeat that 'A marine battery is a deep cycle battery' over and over.
But the outfit which delivers fresh batteries to my address for exellent prices, will likely get all my future business as long as he can get the battery I want.
And If My Northstar AGM failed today, I would buy another one, but it will not fail today, and voltage held under load is still impressive, but the almost scary quick cranking amp gusto is nowhere near what it was, when it was newer.
Not having a carbon pile tester, and not trusting any distributor's machinery, I think if i were really wanting to irritate the salesmen and/or manager I would bring my 800 watt inverter with short fat alligator clips, and an 800 watt resistance heater or similar, and a scale, and a multiple decimal point voltmeter, and stopwatch.
