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This topic came up in another forum also here is some info from Paul Shibata, he really knows his stuff. I will second his opinion and say from my research and personal experience North Star hands down is the best. Yes they are expensive but do yourself a favour and at least look them up. I hate CT batteries but CT has the Nautilus Ultra XD group 31 which is a rebranded North Star but its still expensive from there as well. Here is the post:
the recent onslaught of electronics and multi pump livewells, a lot of anglers are finding out the hard way that their cranking battery fails them at the end of the day. So many of us run a short distance with the big engine then fish the rest of the day using the TM exclusively. Doing so never provides the main engine an opportunity to recharge the starting battery despite the fact that our electronics including our livewells have been draining non stop since early in the morning. Most cranking batteries have a unique design to create huge current for a very short burst (1000 amps for a few seconds) but the gas tank for low current draw (electronics etc) is really small. Worse yet each time you drain a cranking battery down till the point of being dead, you take a huge chunk of it's lifespan away.They were not intended to be deeply discharged like a deep cycle. The only battery design which I have found that satisfies the manufacturers requirements for 1000 mca's and also has a decent reserve capacity are the newer absorbed glass mat batteries (AGM). This style is maintenance free (no fluid to be added) and spill proof. The electrolyte (battery acid) is contained within the fibreglass sponge encasing the lead plates. This is the style which I have been using exclusively for the past several years and I have never heard the tournament ruining "click-click" at 3:50. Those that know me recognize that few others put as much draw on their batteries as I do. Lastly AGM's do not have to be of the spiral type (optima). The spiral design is in fact an AGM but from my research you get better value from the conventional design AGM's. As expensive as they may seem to be ($270) they will guarantee easily twice as many cycles which more than equalizes the price. Some of the newer agm's boast as many as 1000 cycles which means that if you use your trolling motor batteries 100 times a year the battery will last for more than 10 years. From my research the absolutely best agm batteries are manufactured by Northstar and are available from Total Battery.
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