Optima Batteries

"rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S" (rb1971)
02/28/2015 at 11:00 • Filed to: None

Do people generally like these? I'm not sure I've had a better experience, but I tend to use them in older cars that might have electrical issues in any event.

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DISCUSSION (6)

crowmolly > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
02/28/2015 at 11:02

Never ran one because I heard from a couple of good sources that quality has gone down in the past 4-5 years.

Might give them another try when my current battery goes out.

wabbalosthiskey > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
02/28/2015 at 11:26

They are junk. The changed about 6 years ago and have been terrible since; I have removed dozens and dozens from cars where they went or were going dead and could not be brought back. I ran a set in my truck for a couple of months and saw so many failures that I pulled them out ($400 in new batteries!) and threw them away before I got stranded. There is no reason you'd put one in something with "electrical issues" anyway even if they were good, which they are not. Did I say stay away?

Autofixation > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
02/28/2015 at 11:40

I was working at Advance Auto Parts when a guy brought in a Red Top to return. He was bitching up a storm saying that it was junk. He said that he had it in his mud truck for a year and now it was junk. I sold him a store brand lead acid battery and took his "junk" Optima.

I put the Optima on the store's charger for a week then tested it, it tested just fine. I then swapped it out for the one in my car and it has been there since and never let me down. I even left it in my car for three week without a charge doing the winter while I was doing a clutch job and some other stuff to my car. When I finished the work it fired right up. I since bought another car only to have the alternator and battery go bad. I had kept the old car with the Optima for a parts car and so decided to go grab the alternator and the Optima out of it. I swapped the Optima into my car after it had sat for about a month, fired right up.

I know some people have had bad experiences with Optimas, but I think I will forever have one in my car. It astonishes me how well it works, it just won't die. This is the third car the battery has been in.

XJDano > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
02/28/2015 at 11:45

I had a red top that went bad, replaced that one I think it went bad, now I have a yellow top a few years old. Not sure how it's doing as I haven't started my jeep in over a year. I did pull the battery and trickle charged it.

I have also used it to jump start the metro a few times, so I would assume it still works

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
02/28/2015 at 12:15

More often than not they can't be brought back one they've gone flat. If I needed a high-powered, deep-cycle style battery I would spend my money on an AGM or VRLA. I've had Optimas in the past that worked fine until maybe the second winter, then nothing. Probably got 3-4 warranty replacement batteries, they would never take a charge after dying, high amperage or trickle didn't matter. I frequently see VRLA batteries last 10+ years. I've worked on a lot of off road and expedition trucks and those guys almost always ran Odyssey and swore against Optima.

NJAnon > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
02/28/2015 at 18:47

I've had one once. The battery worked as intended. And the person behind the counter explained the details. It worked better than the base batteries I had purchased. The only reason I didn't buy a 2nd one was because they are expensive (but this is car world so everything seems expensive)