Product Review: Northstar AGM Batteries

These are the trolling motor batteries your fishing trip has been missing out on.

It was a peculiar sight in Four League Bay. The air did not move and one could hear a pin drop if it were to happen.

But the scene was not completely still.

Near the shoreline was a lump of aluminum, slowly crawling along the bank and on the front, atop a ladder-like apparatus stood a man.

He was perfectly still, so much that he appeared frozen from a distance, like some kind of statue floating across the air.

Then, in a single fluid motion, he came alive, as if reanimated, and made a short cast towards something in the water.

There was a disturbance. Then nothing. The cast was a failure and no fish materialized on the other end of the line.

Reeling his line in the man became motionless again, face angled downward, inching across the water, forever focused on what was immediately in front of him.

He would get his chance again.

Northstar AGM Battery Review

I'll never forget that day scouting Dularge for an upcoming tournament. I had spent all day running across vast swaths of marsh, checking water for clarity, presence of baitfish and more.

Being hardheaded is a virtue of mine and I will grind out a shoreline just because I want to be 100% sure there are or are not any redfish there. This was a shoreline covered in river water from Atchafalaya and I covered a good deal of it.

At the end of the day I had covered 120+ miles of water, both on trolling motor and my Yamaha outboard.

I don't think anyone in the marsh relies more on their trolling motor batteries than those anglers sight fishing for redfish.

We spend all day on the stand, eyes straining into the water and the trolling motor beneath us calmly humming away.

When most people rarely use their trolling motor, sight anglers are beating them to death across mats of grass, oyster beds and endless shoreline.

A sight angler will uncover every weakness in trolling motor batteries through his extensive use of it.

I know I have. Here are a few problems I have come across.

Weight

Trolling motor batteries need to be as light as possible. If you've lifted one before you know they weigh as much as dumbbells at the gym!

Boats really need a trolling motor battery to weigh as little as possible so they draft less in the water.

Yes, there are lithium polymer batteries out there that weigh significantly less than their lead acid counterparts, but they costs thousands of dollars.

This is a huge one and probably the most important. What's the point of a trolling motor setup if it is just going to die halfway through the fishing trip?

Acid Leakage

A poorly constructed battery will eventually leak acid. I had one such trolling motor battery leak on me and, on a ride in the back of my truck, the acid ate away the carpet. It's obvious you don't want this getting on your clothes or skin.

The Solution

I have been through a lot of different batteries and I will say that Northstar's AGM batteries have my vote of confidence. I have ran them for a year now.

Here's why I use them on my boat:

Lightweight

Look, these things are still trolling motor batteries, but they are lighter than other brands.

This makes installation and moving them about the boat much easier.

That they weigh less is great for the boat's performance as I have that much less weight up front (I have them located in the bow, near the trolling motor).

Battery Life

With a 24 volt trolling motor I am getting 2-4 sight fishing trips out of my batteries depending on conditions and how much shoreline I have to cover to catch my redfish.

Acid Leakage

None! These batteries are tough!

I have beat the tar out of them going across choppy water (keep in mind, this is in an aluminum flatboat) and they never leaked.

I even had my homemade battery tray come apart on a particularly rough day. The screws holding the tray together were exposed and the battery was bouncing on top of it for the rest of the day.

I had no idea this was the case until I did an inspection about a week later. The tough casing of the Northstar batteries didn't fail.

What makes these batteries so great?

It's their design.

Northstar uses advanced tech that stands out from any battery you'd buy off the shelf. Northstar batteries incorporate an absorbed glass mat (or AGM) design that holds battery acid on lead plates, rather than letting it free flow like conventional batteries.

These aren't car batteries with a marine label slapped on them.

That is why these batteries are essential for marine applications because they are spill-proof and vibration resistant.

It's not a matter of if, but when you get into some rough water.

Do want batteries that spill acid as your boat rocks back and forth? Or do you want something safer?

The advanced AGM construction also means no water to refill or terminals to clean. It also lends to shorter recharge times and reserve capacity cycling ability. This means the batteries last longer and recharge faster.

Where can you get these batteries?

You can buy from Amazon at this link and support my business with a small affiliate commission that comes at no extra cost to you. 

Tight lines, and thanks for reading!