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A few years back, I had a small 12 volt fridge aboard a sailboat, and bought a deep cycle battery to operate the fridge while under sail, keeping the main battery for engine starting. The deep cycle battery cost $115 plus tax. It came with a one year warranty, and only lasted a couple of seasons. Since a regular marine battery at the time could be had for about fifty dollars, and came with a three year warranty, I decided that was a better buy. It did the job of keeping the fridge going quuite well, altthough I was careful not to fully discharge it. In view of that experience, when needing a battery for the electric trolling motor on the dinghy, I just went to Walmart and bought a $39 battery. It worked fine - again, I didn't fully discharge it, and always recharged it immediately after use. I don't know if there is a lot of difference in quality beetween batteries, it seems that the extra price for better or premium batteries is just to cover the extra warranty period. I purchased a top of the line Canadian Tire battery for the car, and it failed after only a couple of weeks. They give me a hassle over it, claiming there had to be something wrong with the car's charging system, but finally replaced the battery after their tests proved it was a dud. Then, on the replacement battery, they reduced the warranty by one year from the original! I had to complain to head office to get the warranty restored. So, I'll take my chances with the Walmart cheapo's, and if it dies after a year, just buy another. It still works out cheaper. If you really want first class, there is a new battery out, which is shaped like six round cylinders glued together, it supposedly has more capacity and longer life than anything else. Sorry, can't recall the
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