There are differences for sure.
I've had good luck, over the years,with C&D & GNB.
For batteries, the best piece of advice I can offer, is to shy away from the yuasa products, especially HUP.

(I base this on ~20 years of fighting and repairing them.)

Chargers are a little greyer. The most important thing, is to make sure that the chargers have high enough output to properly charge the battery.(too little will cause sulfation)
The next most important thing is the charger controls. The charger needs to to use DV/DT (difference in voltage/ difference in time) to properly detect battery charge state.
Some chargers simply look for a peak voltage, then start a 3 hour timer to shut-down. (ie. hup auto1000's) These will work fine, only so long as the battery is in perfect condition.

All that being said, make sure you can get parts and service for the equipment.