Northstar Battery

Odyssey doesn’t make the red top...

 

I'm thinking optima lol. Odyssey and Northstar are pretty comparable

 

Never heard of Northstar. What makes them so good a battery?

 

I'm also interested in this answer - I'm about to pull the trigger on a replacement before mine bites the dust vs. getting it replaced under warranty for another battery that I won't be able to depend on... Northstar seems to make solid batteries and they are the same $300 price tag as an Optima. But I've never used their products...

 

Do you have to do any modifications to a 3rd gen to make a 27F fit? Looks like 24F is the recommended replacement size.

+2 on this would love to know as well

 

I was always under the impression that you need to use a 27f Battery Tray from a 2nd Gen which would have been a V6 with towing package. I guess you could use the stock battery tray but then the battery will probably hang over the tray.

 

All you do is take out your 24 tray and cut the little lip off of the left side and the battery just extends over the tray and that way water won't lay in the tray since it can just drain out the side!

 

Terrific. Thanks for the info

 

FYI, Northstar produces the X2Power battery brand exclusive to Batteries Plus. Not surprising given the housing looks almost identical to the Northstar batteries. I replaced mine over the weekend will report over the long-term. The X2Power carries a standard 60 month free replacement warranty where you just stop in a batteries plus location (they are all over the southeast) and get the swap done on the spot. At least 2x heavier than the stock one I replaced it with. Also of note, my 1 year-old stock battery was leaking and had a lot of corrosion building up around the terminals and housing and while it still cranked it was taking longer and longer to spark and only holding about 9volts.

 

Still, nobody has explained why north star is better than other brands of battery. I’d really like to know what makes it a better battery.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy4p1l55Qds

 

Did you confirm that they are the same battery? Or is the X2 a cheaper version built by Northstar. It looks to be around $30-40 cheaper. I am going with one of these in 27F size. The video, they loaded both to 1000 amps and they still recovered.

 

They are the same battery, just branded as X2Power for Batteries Plus. I couldn't buy a Northstar branded from a brick and mortar and for something like batteries I prefer being able to go to the shop and get the replacement hassle-free vs. messing w/ shipping... Heck if you search for X2Power batteries, the Northstar site shows up as well as several articles citing the same.

 

Happy to hear the comparisons on the batteries. I'm getting ready to replace my stock battery for a dual setup soon and was looking at the Optima. This is really helpful and pushing me over to Northstar.

 

All I could find on the Optimas led me to the realization that they are manufactured by Johnson Controls (which is the same mfg my stock battery way FWIW) and made south of the border. My TRUCK was made south of the border so I'm not saying that alone means the quality has degraded but there are a ton of reports on and off the forums about degradation of Optimas legendary quality which led me to the X2Power / Northstar which was about the same cost as a Yellow Top.

 

I can be a sucker for popularity if I don't know any better. This is the first comparison I've read regarding Optima and Northstar. Facts are awesome!

 

Good point about being able to replace quickly if you need to. Did you go up in size or stay with 24?

 

The X2 power batteries look great. And since I can't buy northstar from a brick and mortar store near me either looks like I will go the X2 battery route from Batteries Plua as well. When you use their website it says the 27F is the direct replacement for a V6 2016 Tacoma. I thought you had to modify the OEM battery tray to get a 27F to fit?

 

I am pretty sure you need to get a battery tray from a 2nd Gen V6 with towing package to fit a 27f correctly, otherwise I guess you can cut the side off the current tray so that the new battery can overhang flat.

 

Yeah that's what I thought. But when you use their battery finder function from the first page, it sends you to a 27F. Strange.

BTW..looks like Batteries Plus has a 10% off running right now if you buy a battery online and have it waiting for your to pick up in store.