Which Optima battery for me?

I personally wouldn't buy another optima. The spiral wound cells aren't an efficient use of space IMO (lots of dead space between cells and weight reduction = less capacity).. Granted, I like capacity for my batteries in order to use off grid. Plus, my old 31 yellow top leaked and lasted about 25 months. It was 1 month out of warranty when it finally crapped

 

If you drive a Brabus these batteries cost shouldn't be an issue lol. Personally I run two Odyssey batteries, one performance and one extreme.

I personally have never had issues with the optima I have in another vehicle I own, but from what I understand optima moved their factory to Mexico and there's less quality control.

 

It was a perfect scenario. Woke up and got ready to go help a friend work on there car. Went to leave and found out my battery was dead. Jumped it and went over to my buddy's to work on his car and get another battery for my car. Worked out well since we had to go to Autozone to get him new brakes anyway so we got it all done in one visit.

 

It's actually the cheapest way to save 20 lbs. All other weight reduction methods (carbon fiber hood, forged wheels, etc.) are several times more expensive. Don't really care about longevity - I replace my battery every five years. My experience is that batteries can fail suddenly with no prior indication, i.e. it'll crank strong in the morning and go completely dead in the afternoon.

 

yes it is! but very good quality! plated posts, built in handle, sturdy case, and LOTS of lead. The more lead the better. Golf cart batteries take a beating and last because of the lead in them. I don't think Northstar is cashing out many warrantee claims honestly.

My stocker went 6 years, but when it died is was sudden. I went out one cold morning and just got a weak buzz.

 

I just replaced the stock battety in my 2012 with a Northstar 27f. First battery ive ever replaced before it died.

 

I have an optima red top. Has started my truck in some pretty cold Ohio weather. No complaints.

 

I've had optima, orbital, and whatever O'Riley's sells. They all fail eventually.

A lot of people who have AGM batteries fail early have charging systems that aren't delivering the proper bulk charge to the battery. Our trucks have temperature compensating alternators, and when the engine bay heats up, they drop voltage. Standard lead acid plate batteries do better with this type of charging. The best thing to do for your battery's life is every so often hook a QUALITY high freq charger to them and let it set overnight+ to desulfate the battery and deliver a proper bulk charge.

$141 CTEK Multi US 7002, 12V Battery Charger for Cars, SUVs and Trucks, All Weather Smart Charger, Battery Tender Charger, Battery Desulfator, Battery Maintainer, Power Supply Mode and Reconditioning Mode

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000FRLO9Y is a really good inexpensive charger.

The next step if you're running a dual battery setup with a voltage sensing relay is to get rid of the voltage sensing relay and go to a DC-DC charger so your second battery is being properly charged. You can still run a manual solenoid between your systems for winching/emergency starting, (You put a relay in to disconnect the charger when the system is linked) The temperature compensating alternator gives a quick 14.4 charge when you first start up intended to bulk charge your starting battery. When you increase the Ah rating, you no longer have the same voltage over time to properly bulk charge your starting battery AND the secondary battery.

This short cycle also doesn't deliver enough voltage over time to properly bulk charge an AGM and we see shorter life out of them.

I LOVE when people return Optimas to our local store. I buy them used / as-is for $20 and put them on a good charger for a couple of days. I only have had one I couldn't recover, and it was very old and abused.

 

Interesting. I have a CTek MUS 4.3 mounted on the garage wall, for when either my Taco or my Subaru sits more than a week.

 

Have to agree here. I've used optima for my last 2 off-road vehicles. My land rover had the same batteries for its entire life. Finally had to replace the red top after 14 years and about 160,000 miles. The yellow one never did die - sold the truck with it still working hard.

 

Mine is pushing 6 years and with the cold mornings lately I'm just now noticing my truck cranking a bit slower than normal. Time to start looking for a replacement before it leaves me stranded at work.
Since the stock battery lasts so long, why not just buy a replacement from Toyota?

 

What brand are they? I think it's YMMV with those. A friend of mine had a better replaced under warranty on his 15 in about a year. He said it probably could have lasted a bit longer, but he didn't want to get stranded when it went out.

 

OP, here come all the optima haters. There are a lot of them here.

I've had 3 red tops in different vehicles. All lasted the life of the vehicle. My current one is going on 5 years.
1 half the size of all others.
2 gain lots of room in engine bay
3 weighs almost half of the others ( hence crunching your core support if you off road at all)

 

Same here. And yellow top.

 

The last Autozone battery I got was about $150 and lasted less than 3 years. I can get the Optima 34R for the same price with a 3 year warranty.

 

My oem is going on 5 years and still starts fine. I replaced it with a Northstar simply because of the group buy price. I am running more lights now, bUT I really just wanted the best battery I could buy.

 

Stock battery is made by Johnson Controls. Walmart EverStart batteries are also made by Johnson Controls and are often less expensive. Call your dealer and compare prices.

 

Thanks. $100 for the Everstart 24f vs $250 (after 10%off and $30 rebate) for the X2Power 24f (rebranded Northstar) from Batteries Plus, makes me wonder if 2.5 times the price is worth it. I really want to purchase the better battery, but $150 more? Don't know if my cheap-ass can justify the price difference.

 

Optima is also owned by Johnson controls

 

I have not run one of the Walmart batteries in a vehicle in many years but was happy with the one I bought 12+ yrs ago.

I have used them a bunch on motorcycles though and been very happy. I have a lot of electronics on my bike, and would constantly leave something on and run the battery down and eventually kill the batteries. After installing a fuse blok for all the accessories I have had the same battery for 4 yrs vs 1 per year.