Thank you all for your advise. I dug a little deeper into the generic branded batteries that most of our original fleet consists of and found out they are un-labeled Reaco's which are actually CROWN's V-line batteries. They have a standard 5 year full warranty and have typically held up well at our facility. I just didn't realize what brand they actually were. We have been typically getting 7+ years from them. We had originally made the switch to GNB (EXIDE) because we changed vendors. I think we are going to try the CROWN V-lines again. I know the watering/maintenance service we received in the past wasn't optimal and we still received many years of service from the Crown's. The vendor we are switching to shows a lot more promise on their watering/maintenance ability (and knowledge). I don't think the DEKA's are an option for us at the moment.

MILLDOG...you wouldn't happen to have a copy or link of the 3M study do you?