No More Kirkland Batteries!

Interesting info on auto battery manufacturers:

http://www.jgdarden.com/batteryfaq/batbrand.htm#e

wa8yxm wrote:

Fredzo wrote:
Went to Costco last week, and found that they no longer had Kirkland batteries.

Duracell in the flashlight aisle, and Interstate in automotive.

anyone know the scoop?

Do not know about Duracell.. Well, they have always had that in the flashlight isle.

As for Interestate, a product of either US-Battery or Johnson controls.

Kirkland,, Same manufacturers. Johnson Controls in the east, and I believe US-Battery in the west.

In short, The same battey, different paint job.

Kirkland = (now) Interstate (by Johnson Controls)

I'm almost as far West (So. CA) as you can get in the Continental USA.
Costco automotive batts here are Interstate.
Really tough to find any battery that is *not* mfg by Johnson Controls or Exide. (IMO - Exide is almost done).

Costco have always been great - with excellent warranty.
(two currently in my diesel pickup)

BTW - most (automotive) are *all* now hecho en Mexico.

As far as small batts AAA, AA, C, D etc - - never bothered with anything except Duracell.

.

I am posting this from Costco in Irvine CA......they have a full pallet of Kirkland brand batteries in all of the popular sizes....

One reason for carrying the Interstate battery is ease of warranty replacement. There are many more Interstate dealers than Costcos. And if all else fails there is an Interstate distributor in almost every large city.

I stopped buying Rayovac batteries a long time ago, habitual leakers, wrecked my Mag Lite 5 cell flashlight.

opnspaces wrote:
Don't know about the automotive batteries, but their flashlight batteries are absolute JUNK. I have never had batteries leak and corrode in devices like these Kirkland batteries.

They must have been made by Rayovac as that is the exact experience I have had with their products. Ruined a great flashlight I had in the RV for years.

I believe Costco in general stocks premium products at a good value price. However with batteries Costco may have slid down the slippery slope of offering the low end of batteries in the last few years and possibly the warranty claims have come to bite them.

I think it started when the 208 Ah GC2 replaced the 232.
JMHO

Interstate is fine but which GC2 does Costco now sell?

I never found ANY so called discount warehouse to actually save me money....depends how you shop.

wa8yxm wrote:

Fredzo wrote:
Went to Costco last week, and found that they no longer had Kirkland batteries.

Duracell in the flashlight aisle, and Interstate in automotive.

anyone know the scoop?

Do not know about Duracell.. Well, they have always had that in the flashlight isle.

As for Interestate, a product of either US-Battery or Johnson controls.

Kirkland,, Same manufacturers. Johnson Controls in the east, and I believe US-Battery in the west.

In short, The same battey, different paint job.

ABSOLUTELY WRONG. Each battery distributor has batteries built to THEIR specifications. That is why there is a big difference in various battery prices from different brands. Doug

hypoxia wrote:
Also, the Interstate battery warranty from a battery bought at Costco are not covered by any Interstate store, just Costco.

Costco has a lot of stores, but no where near as many as Walmarts and tire chains like Discount Tire. We don't have Costco membership but we've been with Sam's Club for years. But for tires and batteries, we're moving toward the outlets with more stores. Bad to have tire or battery fail and find the warranty's in the next county, state...