For those of you that don't know, in addition to my R51s, I have a 2003 Frontier SVE, which has the VG33ER engine. It takes the same battery as my R51s, a group 24. Anyway, the battery has past its life and it was time to replace it. Due to the price (usually around $100), warranty (3-years full replacement plus 2-years pro-rated), the consistently good reviews by Consumers Report and the fact that Walmart is practically everywhere, I usually get the Walmart Everstart Maxx, which I believe is now made by Johnson Controls. To my surprise, I cannot find a group 24 Everstart Maxx not only in my local store in Farmville, VA, but, it's apparently out of stock in the whole state of VA, according to Walmart's customer help! I'm not sure what the reasoning is of this? Anyway, after some price and warranty comparison and a little research, I ended up going with the AutoCraft Gold battery from Advance Auto Parts. Purchasing online and using discount code TRT41, it knock the price down to $82 (not including tax) and earned $5 in Speed Perks awards. Based on what I researched online, this is likely also made by Johnson Controls and is comparable to the Autozone Duralast Gold (which some say is the exact same battery, although pics show subtle differences in the case design...which may or may not mean anything). The warranty is 3-years free replacement, similar to the Duralast Gold, which was $38 more expensive.
I looked at other options. The NAPA 7524 was $20 more expensive if I reserved online, had 50 less CCA and only 18-months of free warranty replacement. Tractor Supply has Exide batteries; the Exide 24S Nascar Select had similar ratings, but only a 30-month warranty and was $7 more expensive. The Exide 24X Nascar Extreme had 100 more CCA and a 40-month warranty, but was unavailable locally. The best price I could find on that was $84 at the Home Depot that's an hour's drive away. There are no Sears less than an hour away from me, so the DieHard wasn't an option and they were a lot more money. And, as much as I would have liked to get a nice AGM battery, they were priced out of my pocket-money range, most $150 and up. I really didn't want to put that much into a battery that is going into what's basically a back-up vehicle and work truck.
I would like to know what's going on with the Walmart batteries, but I guess we'll find out in time! I just didn't have that much time to wait!