Walmart's Car Batteries Underperform in Incredibly Detailed Evaluation

      Project Farm on YouTube

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      It's easy to opt for the least expensive choice, especially as wars and tariffs drive prices up for everyday products. However, there's always the chance that you'll receive precisely what you paid for, as highlighted by a comprehensive evaluation of car batteries from Walmart and O’Reilly Auto Parts by the YouTube channel Project Farm.

      Host Todd approaches his work with diligence, and this battery test was no different. He collected nine brand new Group 65-rated batteries—four from Walmart and five from O’Reilly. The selection included one absorbed glass mat (AGM) battery from each brand, while the remainder were conventional flooded lead-acid types. Walmart fulfilled its reputation for affordability, with prices ranging from $79 to $189, compared to O’Reilly's pricing of $100 to $260.

      Project Farm on YouTube

      Todd commenced the testing by assessing voltage, amperage, and state of health at ambient temperatures using a multimeter and battery analyzer, revealing unfavorable results for the Walmart batteries. The four lead-acid batteries exhibited relatively high internal resistance, indicating that current could not easily flow through them. This is a significant issue for a component designed to store and release current, potentially reflecting inferior manufacturing quality. The lead-acid batteries from Walmart showed a state of health between 84% and 88%, which is concerning for fresh batteries.

      Next, Todd connected all the batteries to a carbon pile load tester to evaluate their performance under load, chilled them to zero degrees Fahrenheit to test cold cranking amps, and assessed their reserve capacity against what was stated on the label. The lead-acid batteries from O’Reilly outperformed their Walmart counterparts in the load test, although Walmart’s AGM did surpass O’Reilly’s AGM in this instance.

      I'll Never Buy Another WALMART Battery!

      The AGM battery from Walmart performed adequately in the cold cranking test, but the O’Reilly lead-acid batteries excelled even more. The base model $100 O’Reilly Super Start Value registered 827 amps at zero degrees Fahrenheit, which was 302 amps higher than the least expensive Walmart battery, priced only $20 less.

      In overall scoring, O’Reilly batteries secured the top two rankings, with all O’Reilly lead-acid batteries surpassing their budget Walmart counterparts. Although Walmart’s AGM battery outperformed O’Reilly’s, priced at $189, it still came in at $79 less. However, it tied for third place with one of the O’Reilly lead-acid batteries, falling short of expectations.