What is the best battery to buy for my 2003 Chevy Blazer 2 door with 4WD ? Not modified or taken off road. I have access to AAP, AZ, O'Reilly's and of course Walmart super center.

 

"Best" is going to be subjective. Everyone has their personal favorites and opinions on other brands.

I'm quite fond of my Optima yellow top. Deep cycle, so if it dies it can be recharged without harming the battery. Plenty of amperage. The dual side and top post is a must for my setup as well; I run the factory positive and negative leads, winch, and off road LED lights to the side posts, and then my sub amp 0 gauge, electric fans, and direct ground to the winch off the top posts.

They're pricey for sure, but they've never let me down. Have only ever had to jump the Blazer once, after letting it set for a little over 2 weeks, and I blame my Android radio which is always "on"...

I stumbled on another one at the salvage yard and grabbed it for a spare. I keep it topped up with a battery maintainer in the garage and it usually gets used to run a pair of high quality industrial sign wave power inverters in the case of a power outage (has gotten us through one hurricane, and I'm going to be counting on it if and when we loose power with the storm on it's way to Florida right now)







I have one in our little Hyundai Elantra as well

 

I like your conversion to a top terminal versus the GM side terminal. To me the side terminal was a bad GM design from the start,,,,,,,, like the Dex Cool 5 year coolant. I have been using the Battery Tender, Junior to maintain a charge on my cars without overcharging them. It works well, and with a top battery terminal like you have, you can install an adaptor plug to allow you to easily plug in the Battery Tender, Jr. without the clumsy alligator clips. They are on now sale for $24.99.

 

In my comments about the side terminal batteries, I forgot to mention that they make poor electrical connections and often will cause hard starting or no starting. But the worse thing is they leak acid and that is why so many battery trays are eaten up prematurely. Dorman makes a replacement tray for only $14.50 at Rock Auto. Currently out of stock! Under the battery tray, is some critical 4WD controls that are affected by the leaking acid.

 

I'm actually utilizing both the side and top terminals in my case.

I've seen more issues with top posts and corrosion than I have with side posts personally, but I think that's just because the terminals are that much closer to the caps on the top of typical lead/acid batteries.

 

In my opinion for your needs as just a simple daily use battery, just get the best warranty you can find that's easy to swap if you have issues. Walmart would be a good example of this. They have a good warranty and if you have an issue its easy to find a Walmart to get a replacement.
If you really wanted one of the best batteries, look into Diehard Platinums. They are made by the same company as Oddessy batteries just rebranded and less expensive.

 

I am also thinking I will stay with the conventional Lead Acid battery. When you put in the make, model, and year in the retailer's fitment charts, it comes back with Group 75. I would like to see if I can upgrade to the Group 78 for my Blazer 2003 2 door. They are both the exact same price for a Walmart Everstart Maxx.
The dimensions for the standard Group 75s are in inches: 9.1x 7.1x 7.3. The Group 78s is 10.2x 7.1 x 7.3. So the only size difference is the 78 is 1.1 inch longer than the Group 75. The reason is the 78 has 650 CCA and the 75 has only 550 CCA, otherwise they are the same price, warranty, and so on.

 

I have the o'Reilly's brand agm 78 group. It does well, I got it for 45, from a guy who sells them. I also have a deka warehouse in nashville, so I can get second line batteries agm for cheap also. I know that Sam's club and Costco have good deals on batteries.

 

When I buy my new battery, I will try the Group 78 instead of the 75 recommended for the S 10 Blazer. My current 75 Auto Craft in there is 9.1 inches in length. I didn't remove the batt. and measure the batt. tray. but it looks like it may accept a 10.1 inch long Group 78. I should buy a new Rock auto battery tray just in case I have to modify it. Yes, I am trying hard to get the 650 CCA versus the 550 CCA for the same price. But the S 10 Blazer battery tray is Out of Stock.
Thanks to 03 jawja for saying that he installed a 78 size battery in his SUV. I am assuming it is a S 10 Blazer/Jimmy.

 

The best battery for me, just above cheapest one I can afford.... have tried the top ones... and never had a problem...