Same here--now that I have boasted about the Duralasts in my truck being old 10 years ago and still working,even when I left it sitting months at a time for several of those years--they will be certain to fail immediately now..
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I've had "cheap" batteries last a long time,the original Mopar one in my parents 1993 Caravan lasted 11 years before it died,they had me replace it with a new Duralast ,and I recharged it and used it in my 79 C10 for another year before it finally expired for good..usually factory installed batteries are the lowest priced and quality available,and your lucky to get 3 years out of one..
I never had much luck with the Delco "gel" batteries they had in the 80's,they went dead once,and would usually never recharge again--just stink like rotten eggs and get hot!..had some decent Motorcraft batteries,a guy gave me two out of his boat that were 2 years old,he threw away any that were older than 2 years ,for fear of being stranded out at sea,they lasted me 7 more years..
We used to sell Johnson Controls batteries at one store I worked at,they were labeled "Astro" brand..they also made the "Ever-Start" for Walmart,but I hear lately Exide now makes them..they made Die-Hard for Sears too,and probably 100 other brand names..but like anything else I'm sure they make some to lower quality specs for certain stores,they are not all created equally..
When I was about 20,I had a job working for a guy who did demolition of old buildings and scrap hauling--I had a 56 chevy pickup then,and he had me go to all the auto parts stores to collect the core batteries and "defectives" ,he had a contract with at least a dozen stores in a city of 100K people..many times I would load my truck up higher than the cab with batteries,I had to make side boards to hold them in the bed..one day I hauled over 200 batteries to a scrapyard 20 miles away to cash them in ,and had a tire pop about 500 feet from the gate at the yard,and the other one blew just as I limped onto the scale--the truck had over 4000 lbs of batteries on it!..
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That was a long day,I had to climb to the top of a heap of crushed vehicles and take two tires off another truck at the top of the pile,so I could drive home!..was 90 degrees out in the sun too..I got over 2500 bucks cash for the batteries,and I thought the other scrappers in the office were going to jump me as I walked back to my truck,some really seedy looking degenerates!..
I got quite a few "good" almost new batteries when I had that job,often the parts stores would warranty a battery for someone,then they would return a week later with another "dead junk" battery,and the vehicle was found to have a charging defect..I kept a tire iron hany when I loaded the newer looking batteries into the truck--if they threw a good arc when I shorted the terminals,those went in the cab with me,and I'd recharge them at home,most turned out to be good,so I never had to worry about batteries then..I also sold a lot of them cheap to friends too..
