Just to update this thread with another option. At your local Walmart in the automotive batteries section, you should be able to find a
Schumacher Battery Companion. It only costs about $20 and worked great for me. I left one of my cars in the garage for a month and came back and it started up like a champ.
The connectors and overall quality of the charger is not quite as nice as my Battery Tender plus but it works great. The charging concept is the same as the Battery Tenders, charges and then switches to float mode monitoring. Stay away from that cheap Harbor Freight crap as this charger is just a tad more but way better.
I saw Malibu Rapper's post and decided to check this out at Wal-Mart. I also decided to check out Lowe's (based on an earlier post he made).
Here is what I found:
1. Wal-Mart carries the Schumacher Battery Companion for about $18. Not a bad unit, but a little big. Note: This is not the Schumacher on-board model. It is bigger.
2. Wal-Mart also carries a unit branded Black & Decker for $18. Smaller than the Schumacher Battery Companion. Same features, better connectors and longer cords.
I bought three of each; not knowing which one I wanted to keep (three of my cars don't go out much).
Then I went to Lowes to check out the Vector brand that Rapper mentioned. Lowe's had the Vector unit for $22.
It turns out that the Black & Decker branded unit at Wal-Mart is the same unit as the Vector brand from Lowe's. Black & Decker bought Vector Manufacturing in 2006, so I'm going to keep the Black & Decker units. It offers the ring terminal, battery post and cig lighter (which won't work on Hondas from what I recall) connectors, is small, is only $18 and is a smart charger that float charges. In addition, the Black & Decker and Vector units let you switch between 1 or 2 amp charging.
I also picked up a regular charger similar to the one that NSXTASY showed in an earlier post (the Vector one). Again, from Wal-Mart; branded Black & Decker. For $27. It's a 2/4/6 automatic charger that float charges in addition to regular charging.
You also get a FIVE year warranty on the Black & Decker units. I'd say it's a good package overall.
Now for some pics:
Schumacher Batter Companion @ Wal-Mart for $18 (it looks bigger here than it really is):
Vector trickle charger @ Lowe's for $22
Black & Decker branded version of the Vector trickle charger @ Wal-Mart for $18:
Vector regular charger that also works as a trickle charger
Black & Decker branded version of the regular charger that also works as a trickle charger @ Wal-Mart for $27. I got one of these as well.