I see many posts saying "Optima is the best", "Optima for teh win", "Well worth it" and so on. What I have not see is why. Why is Optima so much better than a regular Sears or Autozone battery? The way I see it is I can buy four Autozone batteries to cover me for 20 years for about the same cost as one Optima. What do I gain by spending $100 more on a battery? Any Optima owners care to show me the light on this issue? Thanks.
i have the red top in my car. the advantages are a full replacement warranty for 5 years on certain batteries. they are sealed gel batteries and have more capacity tahn standard batteries. plus they just look better.
When they die though.... there's no warning, they're just dead. On the other hand, I drove about 40 miles round trip at night with the headlights on and dead alternator and didn't know it until I was nearly home. Even then, the only indication was that my battery discharge gauge had swung to the right. I still started it up the next day and went back and forth to the parts store for a new alt. The only other indication that I had (it only occured once) was when I stomped on the gas and got a backfire while in boost. It didn't make sense at the time but I wasn't getting proper spark to the plugs with all the other accessories running. It all made perfect sense once I'd discovered that the alt was dead. So there's my good and bad for the Red Top. Hope it helps.
So do you just take it back where you bought it and get a brand new one? If so, I'm going to buy one for sure when my battery dies. One time, one of my brothers friends gave him a red top but it was reading like 11.4 volts. I tried to charge it but it did nothing. Are they un-chargable because of the gel? Maybe just a bad one ....
Mine is only a few months old with less than 100 miles on it. My car sits right now and is not being driven. I put a full charge on it and if I don't fire it up in a week, it's dead. Not sure if I just have a bad one or maybe the cold weather is too hard on it. It does look good but all that extra money just for looks...?
That's what I'm seeing so far. There's nothing amazing about them to justify the 3x price. I think I'll go for an Autozone special. Even if I have to buy another one in 3-4 years, I'm still way ahead on cost.
I've read quite a few posts on here about Optima batteries, and the consensus seems to be that they are more problematic then typical ordinary, wet-cell batteries. There seems to be good and bad comments, but the bad comments seem to take majority. People seem to get them for several reasons: A) Fall into trend that they are significantly better batteries (when used without heavy duty accessories such as a stereo etc.) B) Like the look C) Need the extra power for accessories That is what I've gathered anyways, FWIW. Matt
if i had a stock stereo/alarm etc i'd stick with a regular battery...i went optima to see how good they were. I'm on my 3rd one in 7 years. 2nd one only lasted 1 year and was replaced under warranty thus why i'm on #3...the first one lasted 5 years with no problems but the 2 newer ones don't seem to be of the same quality as my first.
A question I can answer. I studied batteries and the technology. I even wrote some papers on it. In short, the Optima is good if you are running juice draining accessories like a big amp, coffee maker, microwave, or washing machine in your car. They can deep cycle like a sonava****, and come back from the brink. Regular lead acid batteries never fully recharge. The gel batteries also last longer, are more stable, and if you roll your car, the battery can be taken out and put in your next car. They do not corrode things like a conventional auto battery. The big problem is when the battery overcharges. An overcharged gel cell is junk. Basically when the plates inside get overcharged they; (note: keep it easy and short) well it gets a dead spot. So you end up with less juice. A voltage reading is not the best way to test a battery. The ideal way is to submit it to tests while in the car, under various loads. Just cause you got some volts doesn't mean you got some amperes. A home multimeter won't handle the few hundred amps a battery is producing. You gotta throw down a couple of G's for something that can do that. Also an Optima weighs a crap ton. Unless you are racing, want to keep the battery tray in mint collector condition, or just like colored batteries, I wouldn't get an Optima. Regular old Diehard's and the like are great for everyday use. Take a used battery to an auto shop. Most of them have the equipment to test a battery properly.
If you do get an Optima, be warned: you have to modify the stock battery tray to make it fit. I run the yellow top, but I have a lot more voltage draining accessories than most people do.
I only have the stock Mach 460 in my car. The sweet sweet exhaust note overpowers the stereo so I hardly turn it on. I don't drive around at night with my fog lights on. In my case, I see no reason to spend the money on an Optima. Thanks for everyone's inputs.
My stock battery has lasted 7.5 years, I'm getting another one just like it. $65.89 from the dealership.
Don't regular batteries vent gases though? Optima or other brand gell batteries don't and can be used without a vent tube. I got one when i pickup my battery relocation kit. Still have yet to install it so we shall see.
Wow, there's some bad info floating around randomly in here. The Optimas are so special, because they are spiral cell. That's why they have the round bulges. They are coils of plating one inside of the other, rather than standard rectangular plates like a standard battery. This gives them more surface area inside. They are gel-filled, so you could mount one completely upside down, if you so desired. Vibration does not hurt these batteries. They are also preferred because of their massive reserve capacity typically. I run these batteries in alot of industrial equipment at work. The only downside, is you can't test the cells individually in the same way you could test a standard battery, but who does that anymore these days. You can still load test the cells the old way. Autozone does this for free. If you have an old 65 series battery, an Optima produces twice the cranking amps and reserve capacity, for damn near half the weight. The 58 series batteries are pretty close to the same weight. As for some randomly dying; they did have a large batch that came out bad. Of course, that's why they have such a huge warranty. My last one I bought about 6 months ago is still going strong, in a car that's only started once a month or so.
