Battery tester
 

I was thinking about getting a tester but see that there are many in the several hundred dollar price range and higher, which I'm not willing to spend for the convenience.

There are some more affordable alternatives. Wondering of they are any good or a waste of money?

Things like this:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cbc-bt175

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cbc-bt453

Thanks.

My Chicago Electric load tester (from Harbour Freight) has worked flawlessly for 40 years. Yeah, it's big and bulky, but I prefer the honest loading of the old fashioned carbon pile resistor.

That sounds awesome. Now, if only Harbor Freight sold a time machine for me to go back and get one!!. LOL.

:D

Sometimes you can find a Sun VAT-40 tester on ebay cheap. They were almost indestructible and worked great.

Don't know if this is cheap. Not mine.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276336438152

I used to have one of those conventional battery chargers;
I hated that thing.

Luckily, several years back I was given the following Snap-On battery tester - I love this thing:

Snap-On EECS500

I also got from "that jungle website" an off-short smart/pulse repair chargers - other than the chords being covered in the cheapest "rubber" (it cracks in the cold weather that I need to use it in) it was great;
I replaced the plug in chord with one salvaged from an old electric device.

Between these two devices, I'm now covered.

The Snap-On tester is actually (I believe) a discontinued tool that has been superseded with a newer/smarter device - so you may be able to find one for a reasonable price on the secondary market.

Well, I joked about needing a time machine to find a carbon pile tester like yours, but it turns out I just needed Amazon. I found this one which has several reviews on Youtube and it's not very expensive so I'm gonna give it a shot.

Thanks again for the advice.

https://www.amazon.com/Clore-Automot...p?ie=UTF8&th=1