Do we like Optima batteries?

The Rollerskate needs a battery tray and a battery to go with it. Right now the battery is basically sitting loosely on a perch in the trunk, and that's not going to fly. And yes, apparently they came like that.

I looked at nice battery mounts from Summit etc and they mostly seem to be for Optima batteries - as in, they have rounded edges on the tray/cut out and don't look like they'd easily accommodate a standard size 34 battery.

I don't mind spending extra on the battery, so the additional cost of the Optima isn't that big a factor. I just vaguely remember that people reported they had trouble with Optima warranties when they bought batteries off certain large retailers and the warranty coverage was denied due to the retailer not being an authorised retailer (allegedly).

I guess the alternative is getting a cheapo plastic mount that I can hopefully also mount halfway securely in the trunk and stick with the stock battery.

I do not.  Never had any luck with them lasting

10-15 years ago they were great, but I've heard almost completely negative feedback on quality and customer service in the years since.

In 2006 my corolla needed a new battery and my wife went to a local battery supplier/store to get one. They happened to have a new blemished optima red top available for $50. I had wanted to try them out because they were supposed to not spill in a rollover and I was heavy in to autocross at the time so I told my wife to get it. That battery lasted 10 years. I was kinda sad when I had to replace it because it had served me so well and I didn't want to spend another 250 bucks to get a new one, so I got a regular battery. My ancedote aside, I know one other person that has had one and his blew up on him a year into ownership and they wouldn't replace it under warranty because they claimed he was racing with it, which was probably true. 

My experience with three of them over the years is they are utter total junk. I wouldn't accept one as a gift. I think the longest one lasted was about 18 months. 

I've only had the one in my truck for six months or so, but it's been great so far. Doesn't seem to mind sitting a month between drives. 

after 5 years I finally killed mine lol. have one in the race car and it's constantly going flat. toss on a charger a week before the race and she was good to go. I liked it so much I bought another one. 

I've had 3 yellow tops.

One died in less than a year, parasitic loss drained it dead, I put it on my Schumacher charger (it doesn't have an AGM setting, not sure if that was the problem?) I couldn't get it to take a charge.  Internet said to hook a traditional lead acid battery to it to trick the charger into recognizing it.  That seemed to work.  I left it on the charger at 2 or 4 amps, for 48+ hours.  The battery still wasn't charged and the top was bulging.

I took it back to Advance where I bought it, they replaced it no questions.

I originally bought a Viking AGM charger from HF, but it has a safety feature that turns it off after 24 Hrs, there's no way to turn that feature off.  24 Hrs isn't enough to trickle charge a completely dead yellow top.  I returned the Viking, and bought a NOCO Genius charger with AGM setting, it works great!

The replacement, and the other yellow top have been great.  I've used the heck out of the winch on my Wrangler, and am glad I have the yellow top.

I also put together some solar float chargers to keep them topped up on infrequently used vehicles.

Thanks - one thing I should've pointed out is that whatever battery I put into the Maxton will be on a Battery Tender. Pretty much all of my cars that are not daily drivers have Battery Tenders hardwired.

I have never bought an Optima, but I got a spiral-core Exide knock-off for the theater to pair with an inverter for mobile power.  It takes a beating.  Heavy draws, deep cycles, sometimes months without use, high-amp chargers, and lots of all the things that are supposed to kill a battery but it keeps working.

Here in the shop with the kind of cars we see (classics, driven infrequently) Optimas are the single most problematic item we encounter. From 30's Packards with twin 6 volt batteries to 70's sports cars, generator or alternator charging systems, whenever we have any charging system issues or "battery is dead after a few days of sitting"  problems it is always an optima we find at the end of the cables.  The AGM/Gel charger will charge them up to about 95% before failing with a "bad bat" display.

I am under the impression they simply don't deal well with sitting for months at a time, even in cars with battery disconnects that isolate them from any potential drains.

In the early 2000's i bought 2 yellow tops. One for each of my trucks. One lasted about 8 months, one lasted about 12 years. 
 

i now buy interstate batteries because i get them at wholesale cost through my employer. 

We have the same problems with Optima 6v batteries that Trent stated, they're junk.

Buy an Odyssey.

I bought the Goldwing sized Odyessey about 12 years ago to use in my racecar. I quit racing and shelved it for a couple years. Lent it to a friend to try out in his drag race 455 powered Catalina. Started that thing reasonably well (very small battery). Put it back on the shelf and used it in my Tacoma when that battery died. Two years later it was cranking slow so I replaced it with the proper battery and put the Odyssey back on the shelf again. Three years ago I finished restoring my Moto Guzzi Lemans and put the Odyssey in that.

Last month the Guzzi started cranking slow. I'm going to buy a new Odyssey.

They do not tolerate being completely discharged, and then recharged quickly.  You'd almost have to put them on a super slow trickle that would take two weeks to charge them.

They seem to self-discharge, so are a bad idea for vehicles that sit a lot.  Guess what seems to be the primary location of an Optima... race and classics.  Which sit a lot.

They also do not tolerate anything over about 15v.  Breaks them down internally.  Have seen one bulge and start jetting black smoke from the vents.  THAT was a fun day at the shop.  A surprising number of non AGM chargers, even trickle chargers, will go over 15v.

We sold Optimas for a while. They used to be solid, then IIRC they moved their factory and the failure rate skyrocketed. Not just charging problems, we had some that appeared to have internal wiring problems. An Optima rep mocked me in this forum for our return level which did not help my opinion of the company. We ditched that product line and never looked back.

Another vote for Odysseys. I've had a bunch of them. Most of them are on cars with kill switches, and they'll happily sit for months and months waiting for their chance to shine.

I would recommend a good charger no matter what. I have a couple of CTEK 7002 chargers and they play very well with AGMs.

Tom Suddard said:

I've only had the one in my truck for six months or so, but it's been great so far. Doesn't seem to mind sitting a month between drives. 

This has been the usage pattern for the RX-7, and the Red Top I put in it over five years ago is still alive.  I recently put my new Schumacher charger on it and it literally took three days to fully charge and give me the much anticipated green light.  I have impressive qualifications when it comes to killing conventional flooded lead-acid batteries.  AGM batteries tolerate long rests between uses much better than conventional lead-acid batteries. 

So, one Red Top.  One good experience.

I have a yellow top in the race car since 2013. The car has a battery disconnect, I can leave it sit for 4 months and it cranks up. Then I had a red top in the Speed3 that barely lasted 3 years. Towards the end I was putting it on the charger if it was going to sit for more than a few days, if not it wouldn't crank the car.

I guess I got a lucky or pre-production-move unit.  I have had an Optima yellow top in the Manic Miata for 5+ years with no issues.  It gets driven fairly sporadically from March to November, and never gives me trouble throwing the car over, even with the blower.  I do try to put it on the trickle charger some time in January before it goes too flat.  If I forget, I jump the car to get it running and after a few minutes hook up the tender and have no trouble with it charging in a week or so on the trickle charger.

They don't all fail, but their mortality rate is such that you are taking a gamble. Given the fact that alternatives exist (albeit with less marketing muscle), it's not a gamble worth taking. 

When they were first released they were manufactured in the USA and they were fantastic. I had one that lived through for cars and 13 years. Around 10 years ago they moved production to Mexico and cheapened everything about them and have been riding that initial customer goodwill since. If I come across an old USA one I will buy it, but the Mexico ones are garbage. 

As usual, this forum delivers. Thanks for all of the input.

Right, let's see what mounting options are available for Odyssey batteries. I've had those before - usually on ABS equipped BMW motorcycles that are very sensitive to voltage drops - and never had a bad experience with them.

I have never used them, went from lead acid to odyssey and never looked back.

Just this past spring I replaced the Optima in my 74 REPU with another one after getting 14 year out of the first one. I've since read that they suck now, but so far(knock on wood) it has been fine.

I have one that is a decade old in my rx7 racecar.  It is awesome.

I have another one that is 2 years old.  It has been replaced twice.  The suck.

Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:

When they were first released they were manufactured in the USA and they were fantastic. I had one that lived through for cars and 13 years. Around 10 years ago they moved production to Mexico and cheapened everything about them and have been riding that initial customer goodwill since. If I come across an old USA one I will buy it, but the Mexico ones are garbage. 

My experience was with the US made ones back in the 90's.  Still utter crap and will never buy one again.