Do Trickle Chargers Really work....

[check]

Is your power outlet powered when the key is off? If it isn't, that charger won't do anything. I have a Battery Tender Plus for gel cell batteries: Amazon.com: Battery Tender 021-0156 Battery Tender Plus 12V Battery Charger True Gel Cell Model: Automotive If I park the Lotus for more than a few weeks and I've forgotten to plug it in, I'll have a dead battery. If I have the tender hooked up, it's ready to roll anytime. I didn't have a tender for the first few years I had the car and I replaced the battery every spring because it was dead and I couldn't resurrect it. Now, the battery seems to last forever.

Went to this website, and there seem to be an awful lot of negative reviews, particularly the recent ones. There seems to be a theme of "used to be good but is no good now", and the blame seems to be on the fact that these things are now made in China where as before they eere not. Might be another case of where there is a great product that is developed and gets a good reputation, and then the company is sold to someone else and quality drops dramatically. Now I am not so comfortable with the Battery Tender Junior that I just bought.

 

[k0ua]

Went to this website, and there seem to be an awful lot of negative reviews, particularly the recent ones. There seems to be a theme of "used to be good but is no good now", and the blame seems to be on the fact that these things are now made in China where as before they eere not. Might be another case of where there is a great product that is developed and gets a good reputation, and then the company is sold to someone else and quality drops dramatically. Now I am not so comfortable with the Battery Tender Junior that I just bought.

The Battery Tender Juniors seem to be good, and they do have a 5 year warranty.

 

[skyhook]

Here's a link to the one I have, works great, its priced at 29.98, WallMart.

Walmart Canada

 

[Parkanzky]

Went to this website, and there seem to be an awful lot of negative reviews, particularly the recent ones. There seems to be a theme of "used to be good but is no good now", and the blame seems to be on the fact that these things are now made in China where as before they eere not. Might be another case of where there is a great product that is developed and gets a good reputation, and then the company is sold to someone else and quality drops dramatically. Now I am not so comfortable with the Battery Tender Junior that I just bought.

I just looked, and there are 285 total reviews. 267 of them are four or five stars. 11 are one star. The average rating is 4.7 out of 5 stars. That's pretty fantastic. Online reviews tend to skew negative, because there's a much greater probability of someone taking the time to write a review if they're upset about something. Most satisfied customers don't bother to tell anybody.

 

[check]

I just looked, and there are 285 total reviews. 267 of them are four or five stars. 11 are one star. The average rating is 4.7 out of 5 stars. That's pretty fantastic. Online reviews tend to skew negative, because there's a much greater probability of someone taking the time to write a review if they're upset about something. Most satisfied customers don't bother to tell anybody.

Yes, I saw that as well. However, it seems that the latest reviews are quite negative, and I am concerned that it might be because Battery Tender is now made at a substandard factory in mainland China, and thus is much less reliable than the old Battery Tenders.

 

[Parkanzky]

Yes, I saw that as well. However, it seems that the latest reviews are quite negative, and I am concerned that it might be because Battery Tender is now made at a substandard factory in mainland China, and thus is much less reliable than the old Battery Tenders.

I'm still not seeing it. I sorted all the reviews by "most recent first" and 44 of the last 50 reviews are five stars. Five are four stars. One is one star. Those reviews were submitted between August 30 2014 and today.

I hear what you're saying, but the data doesn't back it up.

 

[DFB]

Yes, I saw that as well. However, it seems that the latest reviews are quite negative, and I am concerned that it might be because Battery Tender is now made at a substandard factory in mainland China, and thus is much less reliable than the old Battery Tenders.

That seems to be a common trend in many online product reviews as of late. A once good product seemingly becoming inferior. Very seldom do you read the opposite..past negatives superseded with glowing new reviews.

 

[Parkanzky]

That seems to be a common trend in many online product reviews as of late. A once good product seemingly becoming inferior. Very seldom do you read the opposite..past negatives superseded with glowing new reviews.

I'm a scientist, and I'm always wary of sentiment trumping data. This seems like a good example.

Check posted a statement about there being a lot of negative reviews, especially lately. Let's look at the data:

There are 268 reviews, with 11 total one star reviews. That means that a bit over 4% of the total reviews have been negative. One out of the last fifty has been negative, or 2%.

The data does not support the idea that the product reviews have gotten worse, but we're still talking about the phenomenon as though it's fact. Confirmation bias in action!

 

[DFB]

Confirmation bias in action!

I did read your analysis when you first posted and I agree

First thing I do is try to weed out the poor reviews from other factors beyond a defined failure of the product itself. Some purchasers many have a wrong expectation of performance or limitations of the item or just don't understand how to use it. Clamp on multi-meter reviews for reading current amperage, laser temp guns, and digital RPM meters all come to mind to me. People's dissatisfaction with the seller/packaging or shipping performance also sometimes skews reviews

I do see a bias in a lot reviews simply anti Chinese rants

 

[TomSeller]

I would be afraid to put a battery tender in my barn with a 1000 round bales, all the tractors and equipment and have the cheap battery tender go poof. Just too much to lose if something caught fire. As it is, I cut power to the barn most of the year. I use deep cycle yellow top Optimas and don't worry about sitting for a few months. If I had parasitic drain I could not find and fix, I would disconnect the battery while it sat.