I give a big thumbs down on the Blue Top Optimas. For the past several years, my VX has become more of a weekend vehicle than a daily driver, so I thought it would make sense to purchase a battery designed to hold a charge for a longer period of inactivity. The Blue Top was supposed to be the best available.

Apparently quality control has dropped considerably because I've heard many great things about Optimas purchased over 5 years ago - many are still in use today and working out great. My experience has not been so good - my first one died after a little over a year, and was replaced under warranty. The second one died a little over a year later, shortly after my original two year warranty ran out so I decided to go with an Autozone Duralast. This battery also seems to die on me in the dead of winter, every winter, but Autozone's 5 year warranty gives me a fresh, brand new battery every year at a much better price. So do the math - two batteries in two years for what, about $130 (Optima) vs. five batteries in five years for about $80 (Duralast). Same reliability at $65 per battery, or $16 per battery? I'm in the Zone.