Does anyone have a recommendation for battery brand/type for small buggies? I need yet another battery for the Carter Talon 150. I know battery technology has come along way recently so thought I would check to see if anyone has good experience recently? I have tried cheaper batteries from Walmart, more expensive from Napa and they just seem to be like disposable batteries. I get maybe one year at best. I installed a battery disconnect switch and a maintainer to try to get the battery to last. I'm less concerned about the cost of replacing annually as I am the PITA when we get ready for a trip and find the battery dead. Appreciate any input.

I have run the same sealed 14Ah battery in a GY6 scooter since 2008 without issue. This scooter has an 8-pole stator and larger rated rectifier (like what you find on DC powered CDI setups). The scooter is not on an maintainer but does get run at least once month.

So you atest your battery life to the stator and rectifier and not the battery make/model?

I think you need a quality battery. But if you do not have sufficient charging, your battery will not last long regardless of quality. Conditions are little different with the scooter - It sits in the garage at home or in my enclosed trailer when not being used and does suffer the shock of off-road use.

The small car battery I had in my '08 SV250 lasted 7 years before it died. I contribute its death partially on a failing rectifier. The battery had such a large capacity reserve, that it covered up the charging symptom but eventually killed the battery due to deep discharge cycles.

My advice is to keep the batteries stored above freezing and fully charged to get the most life out of them. If you use a trickle charger, make sure it is smart enough to not boil out the little battery once it is fully charged. If you stay with a flooded cell battery, make sure you keep the water level above the plates and only use distilled water - My scooter battery is buried under fragile plastic panels which is why I went with a glass mat absorption sealed battery. If your buggy has parasitic draws on the battery when it is off, install a cutoff switch or disconnect one of the battery leads - I use small dash mounted solar panels on my truck and car to counteract this since they sit outside.

I average 7 or 8 years out of the batteries in my RV's, vehicles and power toys. There are exceptions where I had a battery fail after 2 years, but I also have one still going at 10+ years.

Hi, yep battery's will vary in life. I just became a dealer of chrome pro batteries. Check them out for yourself but they put out a nice gel battery with a built in digital volt meter and other features. So far I am happy with them

Thanks Budrizer. Maybe I'll give one of these Chrome pro batteries a try. Not a ton of reviews out there but what I found seems favorable. I'll let folks know how it works out and holds up.