Lithium Dakota vs Amped

thinking about upgrading to a lithium battery for Marcum lx7. Found information on both Dakotah and Amped Outdoors battery. Looking for thoughts. Amped is less expensive, is this a good choice.

I have not heard of the Amped brand but Have a Dokotah Lithium I am pretty happy with. Has not had lots of use, have the 10 amp hour that along with ice fishing, I use as a backup for my electronics battery in my boat. Have had the big group 31’s fail and fishing flowages at night and backwaters on the Mississippi, it makes me feel good about getting back to the landing.
I expect the lithium batteries are like the lead acid ones, had problems with cabelas gel batteries then broke down and got an Odyssey, cost more money but it has outperformed the cheaper batteries not to mention saved lots of lost fishin time

Can’t say anything about the Dakota as I do not own one. I purchased the amp 16ah battery (1.5″ wider than a 9ah lead) for the power box I bought from them and am very happy with it. My (BIL) purchased there 12ah (same size as a lead 9ah) battery as well for lighting in his portable. Amped is cheaper and is a bigger battery Amp hour wise, seems like a winner to me. The owner of Amped is very good to deal with as well.

I have the Amped Outdoors 12ah battery. It is great! Have been using it all year and haven’t had one issue. Lasts for like 40 hours on my vex and around 16 hrs on my Helix 7 and that’s when the screen is at full brightness.

I don’t imagine you’d have problems with either Amped or Dakota as people seem to really like both. I believe Amped is around $10 cheaper though.

Another vote for Amped. I have a 12 amp one that I’ve used both with my Vexilar and my portable Lowrance I take on fly-in trips in the summer. The Lowrance (Elite 4) ran on two days before the volts even got close to 12, whereas I never felt comfortable without charging my regular 7-9 amp batteries every night.

I have both and am pleased with the performance of both. Just make sure to get a charger rated for Lithium batteries.

The only thing negative I can say about Amped, he’s changed the charger options a few times. The first charger i got is the better of the ones I’ve seen more recently. My buddy got one that looks downright jenky, but is 4a. I heard he has new 4a and 8a on the way, so maybe better again soon?

I have two 5ah from dakota/clean republic that are pretty old and have always worked great.

Amped jigs are pretty nice if you want to add on to your order.

I went with a 6ah amped batteries. Didn’t last quite as long as I hoped with an FLX-28, I get just over 20 hours. Still a great battery for the price and I really like them. Glad I grabbed a couple LA bats from EPG, I forgot my charger on my last trip!

Are both of these using the same type of lithium ion cells? I believe I read somewhere that Amped wasnt using the same type and wouldnt perform as well due to this in cold temps, etc.

______________ wrote:

The only thing negative I can say about Amped, he’s changed the charger options a few times. The first charger i got is the better of the ones I’ve seen more recently. My buddy got one that looks downright jenky, but is 4a. I heard he has new 4a and 8a on the way, so maybe better again soon?

I have two 5ah from dakota/clean republic that are pretty old and have always worked great.

Amped jigs are pretty nice if you want to add on to your order.

Agree with this, the jigs are really nice for the $$ and he’s great to work with so I’ll be buying a 12ah through him in the future. I’m not too worried about the chargers changes because I got a Tender Jr 800 that is both SLA and Lithium rated and will use that. Hope this helps, good luck.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Are both of these using the same type of lithium ion cells? I believe I read somewhere that Amped wasnt using the same type and wouldnt perform as well due to this in cold temps, etc.

Nope. They are both lifepo4 batteries. The norsk lithiums on the other hand, are not. It’s the same battery technology as your phone or laptop. How well do those hold up in the cold?

The main differences: 2 year warranty with amped, one with Dakota. Far more options with amped. 5ah all the way up to 55ah.

I have 2 Amped, 1 Dakota. No difference in performance between the two and Amped’s owner has been very responsive to questions. I’ll stay with him in the future.

I bought 2 12 amp batteries and 2 chargers from one of these companies this fall for my Helix 5 G2ns. So far one battery is failing. After full charge cycle the failing battery has given me 12 hours (first few outings), 8 hours (second few outings) and now only about 5 hours (Most recently) prior to dying. Unit was running at 6 backlight level at all times.

I got at least 10-12 hours on my SLA battery, same sonar settings. I am not going to say the brand as I am giving them an opportunity to fix the issue.

Considering the amount of money invested on these batteries I do expect very fast and satisfying service. I am going to let them respond and then report back here on how this was handled because I think every company can have a lemon. The way they handle it is a better gauge of the quality of the company.

wormdunker wrote:

I bought 2 12 amp batteries and 2 chargers from one of these companies

Dakota doesn’t have a 12ah.

oops typo?

What are you guys using those power boxes for??

If you can recharge every day is there a reason to buy more power or pay more?

johnksully wrote:

What are you guys using those power boxes for??

I use mine to charge phones, has a glow puck to light up jigs, has battery terminals if I want to run my helix off of it, cigarette plug to charge my shuttle if I am off the grid for the weekend on the ice in the hub, could also bring portable dvd player to plug in cig adapter too if things got slow during the weekend. looking at buying a string of dimmable led lights that has a usb plug in for the power box if its cheaper than buying otter lights. Also plan on using it next fall in the duck boat to power the helix there aswell so I have gps to my spots, just to lighten up the load.
Was even thinking about getting an inverter for it, so if my dad wants to spend the weekend out on the ice in the hub we would have 120v pwr for his cpap machine.

Sylvanboat wrote:

If you can recharge every day is there a reason to buy more power or pay more?

Battery should last longer which is fine but the weight reduction is awesome if you hole hop a lot or walk a lot.

I have the Amped 12ah and it’s great. Iirc it’s 2 more amp hours and ten bucks cheaper than the Dakota. No brainer. The weight reduction alone is worth it. I bought a 12 V cig adaptor for my Helix so now when I’m in the house no battery required. Or if I bring the genny when in the portable no battery required.
I like to have more power options than what I need when on the ice.

12ah amped is a solid performer for me. Steady draw, well made.

iTinker wrote:

12ah amped is a solid performer for me. Steady draw, well made.

X2

I didn’t think the lighter weight would be a big deal, but it’s sure nice!!

Just got an amped outdoors 12V 12ah lithium battery for my helix 7 g3n. When I go to look at the voltage reading on the helix it reads 0.0. I know that they battery level always reads 100% on a lithium battery but is the voltage reading supposed to read 0.0?

Walleyeguy34 wrote:

I know that they battery level always reads 100% on a lithium battery but is the voltage reading supposed to read 0.0?

It should give an actual value; a fully charged lithium should start close to 13.6volts.

What does the battery level indicate – is it 100%?

I purchased the 10 AH, 12 volt Dakota Lithium in January 2018. It died this January with less than 20 charge cycles on it. It was charged after every use and kept inside when not being used and I topped off the battery in the summer months. As was said before it has a one year warranty even though their website eludes to an eleven year warranty. Time to try a different brand for me.

Bought 2 12ah Amped batteries and charger last week. First time out was in a wheelhouse last weekend and about 9 hours of use, the voltage dropped .2 volts according to my LX7.
They will get a good test on Winnipeg and Clearwater this year.

______________ wrote:

The only thing negative I can say about Amped, he’s changed the charger options a few times. The first charger i got is the better of the ones I’ve seen more recently. My buddy got one that looks downright jenky, but is 4a. I heard he has new 4a and 8a on the way, so maybe better again soon?

I received my 12ah Amped and 4a charger yesterday.

The charger seems pretty good. Does not look like the picture on the website.

Only one indicator light on it that goes from amber to green and the unit has an internal fan.

Charger automatically shuts off when battery is fully charged.

ETA – The difference in weight between the Amped and stock SLA battery is crazy. I love how it lightened up my helix unit.

Walleyeguy34 wrote:

Just got an amped outdoors 12V 12ah lithium battery for my helix 7 g3n. When I go to look at the voltage reading on the helix it reads 0.0. I know that they battery level always reads 100% on a lithium battery but is the voltage reading supposed to read 0.0?

I charged my amped 12ah last night.

This is what it just read.

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+1 for Amped. I personally use the 18ah. Great battery so far.

Justin Laack I sent you a pm.