Battery poll, is Optima all that?

[BroncoMama]

We have had 6 red tops and 1 yellow top and are pretty pleased. One red top bit the dust after 6 months on a piece of equipment, it was replaced with no questions asked. The other 2 we've had to replace were free replacement and they pooped out due to a bad cell which came from an alternator on the fritz. All in all, I would have to give Optima's a solid 2 thumbs up!

 

[Milner]

2 stingers in the PSD, 2 redtops in the EB, 1 Redtop in the Libby....

 

[Cherokeester]

There was a really long thread about red top Optimas not too long ago. Also, Consumer Reports recently did an article on car batteries. The Optima red top was second, the only battery that they rated better was the Diehard Platinum 50090 http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02850090000P?vName=Automotive&keyword=50090
This might be worth a try, but it is considerably more expensive.
I've had four red tops over the years in different vehicles and only one problem. I've had three Excide Orbitals with two failures. I bought an Optima for my newest project.

I like the looks of that Diehard. It has a heck of a warranty.

 

[RockMonkey]

I like the looks of that Diehard. It has a heck of a warranty.

Yeah, I might try one of those on my next project. Sears has sales all the time, I wonder if they ever apply to batteries?

 

[RockMonkey]

I'd love to see some facts behind the 50%/80% failure rate... seeing as I have put in service a couple dozen Optimas, and I've only experience one failure, it was in my Cruiser after 6 years. I put a new one in it and put the old one on the bench. I then read a thread here on RME about charging Optimas in parrallel with another battery, I tried it and low and behold the discharged Optima came right back to life, its now living under the hood of my FJ62 (I had stolen the Optima from the FJ62 to put in a customers rig). DesertDino sold tons of these batteries at his shop, I'd be interested to see how many he saw back. When I was working retail auto-parts we saw a couple come back, but nowhere near the amount (per capita) that we saw come back of regular Duralast batteries.

Yeah, that guy's experience doesn't seem to match with anyone else's. My guess is he's selling something different. If the median life of an Optima was < 12 months they would have a terrible reputation and everyone would hear about it. So his suggestion to me is to put a regular non-sealed battery in my Jeep. I don't think that's a good idea for me...

 

[Caleb]

I've had several (4 or 5) red tops and no failures, granted these were all from a long time ago so maybe they were before the change of quality. I've had several (4 or 5) Exides and all but one has failed me in less than a year. I never had a problem getting them replaced but it's the inconvenience of having to go swap them out that sucks. Personally I will likely be going with the tried and true optima for any future battery needs.

 

[scramble this]

I had a red top in my scrambler when I bought (so i have no idea how long it was there), had the scrambler for over 8 years, drained it completely numerous times, jumped it and it was fine. Never charged it and it never left me stranded. Also held up well when I tossed it of the battery tray at dump bump

 

[SLC97SR5]

I've been through a Red-Top that lasted about 5 years and I'm going on my 3rd year with my D34M Blue-Top.

I will be running dual Orbitals in the '84.

 

[Johnny4X4]

Where I work, We use the red top optimas in all of our equipment, they are fantastic -- unless-- you let them drain down to far, the batteries actually have to be "Jump Started" by over charging for a few minutes to get them to recharge up.

i was so impressed by them that i bought a red to run my jeep -daily driver- and a yellow to run my winch, and accesories. took some creative wirring to charge both the way i wanted to, but they are working great for me

 

[Verceingetorix]

optima

I have been really happy with my Optima Red Top it finally died after 7 years and it went dead all the time in the winter due to my bulit 350 with 10 to 1 compression and manual choke in my CJ-7 not liking to start in the cold. I then sold the Jeep and used it in my Samurai which had a Warn 8000# winch that I used repeatedly. I killed the GM altenator in the Sammi before the battery and the altenator was a new one not a used or a rebuilt one. It was a 120 amps or somthing like that.
So from my experiance I will continue to run the optimas. It is by far the best battery I have ever used.