Thanks for ALL the great info and tips! After a long day multitasking in the garage/yard/driveway, I ended up getting a same day delivery CTEK MXS 5.0 and immediately noted that it began charging at 14.0V while the old CTEK never hit 13V. After a several hours it did reach 14.4V and plateaued there. I was quite happy, but wondered if it was supposed to hit 14.7V. However, after reading opinions here and agreeing that I should have trusted that gut feeling I had when I asked about that 1/21 date, I called the store back and asked what dates the other stock had- all the same. I told the sales guy that it was 12.0 when I got home, and he had zero resistance in accommodating my request to order a new one. It will arrive in 2 days. No problem. Now- I did unhook the charger and over 2 hours that 14.4V dropped to 12.6V (not connected to the car). So I'm glad I have a new one on the way.
So in the end, I think I had an old, worn out battery but also a bad charger. The new charger seems to be doing its job, but I'll look at those others suggested in this thread since I have some time now.
Thanks again, everyone.
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