Well, my red top just died, I think it may be the original, 11yo battery. Probably cause I was down to driving VX once every two weeks, heh. Since I have a proton, why not get a yellow top to replace it? Any reason not to? And where does the collected wisdom recommend I get it in order to save some mullah?
Before you buy an Optima do a search. Optima batteries are no good anymore. They just die for no reason, sometimes within weeks. It's happened to some of our own members. The change in ownership of Optima ruined them.
Google "what happened to optima" or "optima sucks" or stuff like that and read all the comments.
"...When the Swedes owned optima, they paid us well and quality was foremost of all at all cost. JCI is the company that KILLED optima batteries, we always had 99.99 pure lead until JCI bought optima. The first thing they did was: fired all of the on staff scientists, then fired all of the PHD's, then fired the chemists, then dismantled the chemistry lab, then dismantled the prototype lab, then got rid of the pure lead and replaced it with lead with higher tin content, then JCI brought in their genius engineers and re formulated the lead acid paste, then replaced the AGM paper with lower grade paper, ex cetera, ex cetera. All of this was done within the first 2 years of their ownership! We had to fight like hell to prove that what we had when they purchased us was superior to what they had done.
we finally convinced them to begin returning to some of the successful methods Gates had originally designed, but only after making them think that it was their idea. When the U.S. plant shut down, we were using pure lead, similar to original paper and similar paste formula, however, there were many, many other changes they had made in the manufacturing process that negatively affected the optima but produced higher volumes. In my opinion, the Enersys Odyssey is, by far, the very best battery on the market today. I am aware of some of the mfg practices being used specifically on the optima in mexico, and they are not conducive to quality!"
Mark
As much as I hate to hear this, I too was told by a store that stopped carrying them, that they had numerous quality issues since production was moved to Mexico, and had replaced so many of them under warranty, that they decided to stop carrying them. Can't be sure it's accurate info since the store sells their own brand, so they have a vested interested in poo-pooing the Optima.
That said, I have a Red Top in the VX 28 months, and a Yellow Top in Dave's FJ for about 7 months...it just went through the coldest winter here in a long time, and his sits outside, no problems.
I've read lots of good input on various car forums about the Odyssey brand, it's the newest "best" AGM battery now. Has a slightly longer warranty than Optima too, IIRC. Think it's 4 yrs, vs. 3 yrs. They're even more $$ than Optima. I'm going to check them out now, for Group 27 I need for the Lexus.
TIP-
I ordered a Blue Top thru Amazon for our RV with free shipping....it came damaged, plastic corner was dented in. Very minimal packing material! Can't return hazardous material, so Amazon shipped us another ( and it had tons of padding). Just last week I started shopping for an Optima for the Lexus...and read many reviews on Amazon....MANY people have had the Optima damaged in shipment from Amazon.
TIP- buy a battery in person somewhere, pay a little more if you have to, avoid hassle.
p.s....COSTCO sells Optimas and many other brands...great prices. ALso, MANY here recommend the Sears Platinum AGM battery.
i had an optima blue top which is the same construction as the yellow top. had it for 4 years with no issues, i replaced it with a diehard platinum when there was a good sale though because my optima was down to about 75% of its original power, but i still have it in my workshop for testing 12v equipment.
I have had no bad luck with optima but i have heard bad things since JCI took over.
I will say that JCI used to make the die hard platinums, and we had a couple of quality control problems with the dual terminal batteries. about 6-9 months ago East Penn Manuf. took over and we havent seen problems with any of them.
Go Walmart!! Might not be the best batteries, but your probably safe to have a store nearby if a warranty replacement is needed. I had three new batteries in three years. lol
I just bought an Optima from Amazon, free shipping, arrived with no problems. We'll see how long it lasts. Optimas are odd ducks though, lotsa times when people think they are dead, they can be revived. They just don't act like a conventional battery.
I had a redtop optima in my proton up until last year when it died. Replaced it with a 'yellow top' (to match the proton, of course) Duralast Gold Series battery from AutoZone. The color is pretty close too! Great battery with 800 CCA's (one of the highest cca's i could find) and 8-year warranty w/3-year free replacement (if i remember right!). Kept on trickle charge over winter months. I use a battery-minder with desulphation feature. Good investment for all my batteries. The battery is AutoZone's best battery and it cost about $79 +tax. Not bad!
I had a yellow top in the VX and it lasted a little over 2 years and then just died for no reason. I had a red top in there this last time and it made it 3 years I believe. Now I installed an Autozone Duralast gold top (because the numbers were the same or better in every category and it was way cheaper).
Thanks all, for the advice. I went with Bee Venom's recommendation and got the Duralast Gold at autozone.
Gosh, Osteo-- since you're spending all that money on top quality items for your VX (new tires, proton-colored new battery, etc), then I guess you've decided to keep your VX afterall and not sell.
:confused:
I can give a hardy thumbs up for Odyssey batteries. They really are best but also most expensive. The avg. Life expectancy is 8-10 years. So when you figure that's about dbl. any other battery the cost is less of a factor.
I have Duralast from Autozone for the past 2 years and seems to be working good with no problems.
thanks BV...think i'll pick up one dem pups
very rarely see people come in with bad duralast batteries, although Ive never had one myself.
one thing to note is the duralast gold battery is an entirely different construction type than the others talked about in this thread..
it is a standard lead acid battery, where as the optima, diehard platinum and odyssey batteries are all agm batteries which have a few advantages, they dont (cant) leak, they are less affected by temperature change and they can come back from a full discharge much easier (with the exception of the optima red top)
No discussion of Exide orbital batteries? They have the same cylindrically wound plate construction as the Optimas and are AGM as well.