what's your choice for batteries.

wvracer821

wvracer821

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Its almost time for me to pick up a couple batteries for my truck. what is everyone using these days? I have seen many reports of Optima failures and it seems the quality on them has gone down recently so I am hesitant on buying them.
 
I had 2 Odysee's go bad this year that were a little less than 2 years old. Both just sat too much but Odyssee won't warranty anything that has less than 10 volts. Optima's warranty is still better, not 5 years like it use to be but I didn't see a minimum voltage.
 
I always hear of Optima issues but never have problems. My first one lasted like 12 years, I have a maybe 5-6 year old one from my old truggy in my car now and a year old one in my new buggy.
 
arse_sidewards said:
I just use Walmart batteries. They work fine.
Click to expand...

Same idea for me, but usually Costco instead. But, cheap flooded-cell lead acid batteries work great, seem to last just as long as more expensive ones for me, and even if they don't I can replace them more often and always have "fresh" batteries. :)
 
ive had great luck with o'reilly's agm batteries. Also, advance auto parts recently picked up die hard batteries again, which i've always liked the platinum agm. Surely its just a rebadging, but still a good battery.
 
2 most common are flooded cell lead acid (stock OEM) then AGM absorbed glass material (Optima, Odyssey and many others). Every big parts house chain has their own private labels mostly made by the few big manufacturers. Their is only so much magic you can put into a lead based battery, then it comes down to warranty, availability and mounting/shape. Optima has hands down been the go to shape and availability. For years you have been able to buy pre-made mounts and find drop in replacements at most all auto parts stores. Other brands have changed shape over the years and private labels come and go so battery mounts might need to be more universal and availability is a further drive or you have to switch brands. Warranty around 3 years is common and also when many batteries will start to die. Some have better warranties than others or prorate. Warranty is a form of insurance not so much an indication of life expectancy.
For life of batteries it really depends on how you take care of them and how much you use them. Optima is the most common performance battery so it is being used more than others and in non oem electrical systems living a hard life. More batteries out there = more claims of them going dead. Percentage might be on par will all the others. Combine that with a long history and you have more claims than anybody. The new brands also have a good 3 years to look good and have minimal failures and get their name out there as the best thing ever before age catches up with the brand and their reliability is just like all the others. The beloved Northstar Platinum from Sears lived this short life until Sears got so many warranty claims they discontinued the battery. Not the batteries fault, it just had too good of a warranty for the sale price and alot of poorly maintained or wired vehicles they went into.
Use of chargers and maintainers is a must for any battery that sits for an extended period of time or doesn't have time to recharge in the vehicle fully. Undercharged batteries and small drains are probably the biggest killer of batteries within our sport. My dual yellow tops are about 10 years old now and still good, but I maintain them. I had a yellow top die in my daily driver after about 4 years. About the same time I got a new daily driver and the factory OEM battery died at 2 years and I replaced it with a yellow top. In my wife's stock Grand Cherokee I just dropped in the third battery in a 8 year span. OEM AGM lasted 5 years and the O'reillys AGM lasted 3 years. I replaced it with a Napa AGM as they were the only ones who had one that would fit. Jeep decided to mount it under the passenger seat so it is a special shape that is hard to find so I get whatever I can find.
So decide whatever plastic Tupperware shape you want the battery holders to be and factor in the warranty and you are set.
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
2 most common are flooded cell lead acid (stock OEM) then AGM absorbed glass material (Optima, Odyssey and many others). Every big parts house chain has their own private labels mostly made by the few big manufacturers. Their is only so much magic you can put into a lead based battery, then it comes down to warranty, availability and mounting/shape. Optima has hands down been the go to shape and availability. For years you have been able to buy pre-made mounts and find drop in replacements at most all auto parts stores. Other brands have changed shape over the years and private labels come and go so battery mounts might need to be more universal and availability is a further drive or you have to switch brands. Warranty around 3 years is common and also when many batteries will start to die. Some have better warranties than others or prorate. Warranty is a form of insurance not so much an indication of life expectancy.
For life of batteries it really depends on how you take care of them and how much you use them. Optima is the most common performance battery so it is being used more than others and in non oem electrical systems living a hard life. More batteries out there = more claims of them going dead. Percentage might be on par will all the others. Combine that with a long history and you have more claims than anybody. The new brands also have a good 3 years to look good and have minimal failures and get their name out there as the best thing ever before age catches up with the brand and their reliability is just like all the others. The beloved Northstar Platinum from Sears lived this short life until Sears got so many warranty claims they discontinued the battery. Not the batteries fault, it just had too good of a warranty for the sale price and alot of poorly maintained or wired vehicles they went into.
Use of chargers and maintainers is a must for any battery that sits for an extended period of time or doesn't have time to recharge in the vehicle fully. Undercharged batteries and small drains are probably the biggest killer of batteries within our sport. My dual yellow tops are about 10 years old now and still good, but I maintain them. I had a yellow top die in my daily driver after about 4 years. About the same time I got a new daily driver and the factory OEM battery died at 2 years and I replaced it with a yellow top. In my wife's stock Grand Cherokee I just dropped in the third battery in a 8 year span. OEM AGM lasted 5 years and the O'reillys AGM lasted 3 years. I replaced it with a Napa AGM as they were the only ones who had one that would fit. Jeep decided to mount it under the passenger seat so it is a special shape that is hard to find so I get whatever I can find.
So decide whatever plastic Tupperware shape you want the battery holders to be and factor in the warranty and you are set.
Click to expand...

This hits it's pretty good. I can grab a group 34 Optima at almost any parts store, it makes it hard not to justify running one.
 
I put Deka Intimidator AGMS in both my trucks. 1 a stock truck the other an offroader with a winch and a small alternator. Been almost 2 years now and no complaints. Ordered from Rock Auto quite a bit cheaper than an optima.
 
I put a Duracell AGM into one of my rigs that tends to sit for long stretches. After a year, it still starts like new.
 
Bad Karma said:
I put a Duracell AGM into one of my rigs that tends to sit for long stretches. After a year, it still starts like new.
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I am also running Duracell AGMs in several cars, they have been great so far. Sams has great prices on them.
 
A/C Delco in both my pickups. I get them at cost from work which helps, but they've also got a good warranty I've never had to use.
 
I'm running a ton of optimas in all of my trucks and will even use optimas in my backhoe once those batteries die. ya I had a couple go bad a few years ago and ya, I've talked my share of shit about them. but they seem to work for me

I'm currently evacuated from the fucking cameron peak fire and long story short they are treating this fucking thing like covid. excessive 'safety' anyways... I'm offgrid and have several solar arrays. One of those arrays has 6 optima blue tops that are about 4 years old. due to the all the smoke and the fact that I left some stuff on when I evacuated, that array took a beating and discharged down to 11.1 volts before the inverter powered off. then those 6 blue tops sat there for several days in the cold while discharged.

I'm giving these 6 blue tops to a friend who lost everything. Maybe I'll post in the future and report the results of how they perform...
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
Optima is the most common performance battery so it is being used more than others and in non oem electrical systems living a hard life. More batteries out there = more claims of them going dead. Percentage might be on par will all the others. Combine that with a long history and you have more claims than anybody.
Click to expand...

kinda sounds like Trump.. as you say, more batteries out there, etc.. more problems.. kinda similar to more tests for covid more positives..
 
I had several Optimas die on me (yellow and red tops) over the years. I then ran DieHard Platinum's for a long time, until they stopped selling them. I switched over the X2 Power and have been happy (I have two in the Taco now.. group 27 and 31). I put a group 31 Odyssey in my off-road trailer and the dang thing died in 6 months. :mad3: What sucked was that I got it from AutoZone for a really good price, then they stopped selling them at AutoZone so I just got money back. I am looking for a new battery for the trailer now and I am eyeballing the Advanced Auto DieHard Platinums, not the same as the Sears one but the price is decent. I will be looking into these further over the next month or so before I pull the trigger. I won't be doing a group 31 again, don't need that much tongue weight.
 
I really like Osgood and Farley.
 
Red tops always lasted 8 or more years here. Mine recently died and looking at the specs went with a yellow top this time. The dual posts is a must. I separate my winch from the rest of the rig.
 
Costco doesn't even test your battery when you bring it in. I exchanged the 2 year old on my wife's subaru that she killed by repeatedly leaving dome lights on. Cost me a $9 difference in price between when I bought it and now. 3 year warranty started fresh too. :smokin:
 
After killing a few Optima red tops I gave up on the brand. The last Odyssey AGM I had was awesome, and I've never heard anything bad about Deka AGMs.

I currently have an "X2Power" AGM from Batteries Plus because I was impatient and wanted something local instead of waiting for shipping. It's a rebranded Northstar AGM and has been 50/50... I killed one by letting it sit off the charger for too long, but that's probably my fault, and they gave me a new one under the 5yr warranty. Otherwise it's a good AGM and I remember to keep my Battery Tender Junior on it now.
 
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