Optima...YAY or NAY!?

[4rnr]

Wow ...... 214 bucks!?!? The odessey is cheaper?!

They are 199 in Sears. They ARE cheaper, with a better warranty, and nation wide brick and mortar support. Im not sure what Odyssey you found but I suspect it is not a platinum equivalent.

The XS battery is 20% smaller than the one I'm looking at for the same AH rating, but almost 3x the Craigslist price I'm looking at.

What battery are you looking at for 40-50$? Or am I not following you? EDIT: or, chasing your AH #, are you forced into the big XS's??

The numbers on the XS batteries are not very impressive, and that was part of my frustration with them. They claim to have a different/more realistic system of rating....the problem is they dont explain s***. So, numbers wise, you can get an acid batt from wal-mart for peanuts and have the same "numbers." But if you read the testimonials there is definatly something different about them. People torture those things and swear by them. It seems in the competition car audio world XS is to them as Longfield is to us....no substitute.

 

[chicago]

Chicago, where did you find a cheaper Odessey ?

I recently did the battery search and of all I picked the P2.
For the 214 you get more battery than the optima. It is just a hair bigger. I have a blue top optima for 10 years and it was going good. I moved the old optima to aux. duties and put the P2 in as main batt. The P2 is heavier than the optima by quite a bit. It is dry cell. The cranking amps and amp hours are better. Soooo, after alot of research IMO the 214 for the P2 is decent. Show me where you found an odessey of equal specs for 214 or less ??? Plus, find a vendor that has stock of odesseys that is rotated, NOT, those things sit on shelf for years. Plus Sears warranty is killer. I think it was 12 bucks for the lifetime replacement and it was 7 years IIRC they will replace it at no charge.

Odyssey Batteries: Free Shipping - BatteryMart.com

Here is the link to the site that I found the oddesy batteries at.
Ill have to admit...Im a little LOST as far as all this is concerned. More so today than yesterday after reading all this crap, so I dont know weather or not they are comparable or not. Frankly, I was looking at the prices.

Ive been reading on CCA, CA, res. cap, deep cycle vs starting and Im even more confused than EVER.
I have NO IDEA what I need, all I know is I WOULD LIKE it to be small and light, but NOT at the expense of overall performance of powering the motor and MINIMAL accessories.

 

[chicago]

They are 199 in Sears. They ARE cheaper, with a better warranty, and nation wide brick and mortar support. Im not sure what Odyssey you found but I suspect it is not a platinum equivalent.



What battery are you looking at for 40-50$? Or am I not following you? EDIT: or, chasing your AH #, are you forced into the big XS's??

The numbers on the XS batteries are not very impressive, and that was part of my frustration with them. They claim to have a different/more realistic system of rating....the problem is they dont explain s***. So, numbers wise, you can get an acid batt from wal-mart for peanuts and have the same "numbers." But if you read the testimonials there is definatly something different about them. People torture those things and swear by them. It seems in the competition car audio world XS is to them as Longfield is to us....no substitute.

Without knowing any better...these sound GREAT! small, and light. They carry em at summit too.

fawk Im confused.

Like it better when I gave the guy at the counter the make and model and they would hand be a battery and Id install it and be done.

Never dreamed there would be such a difference.

Can anyone put this into "SHORT BUS" english so I could understand it?

 

[fj40charles]

Got my Odyssey batteries from West Coast Batteries. Very fast and reasonable shipping. They gave me a better price for buying 2 batteries.

Odyssey Batteries - High performance deep cycle AGM Odyssey battery

Installed a PC1500DT in my junk and my tow rig. It is little bigger size than the red top.

http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc1500series.htm

 

[Fast Eddy]

What battery are you looking at for 40-50$? Or am I not following you? EDIT: or, chasing your AH #, are you forced into the big XS's??

Someone's selling new 100ah AGM batteries they were going to use in an EV on Craigslist for $75 ea. The cheapest I saw the 100ah XS was about $215.

Anyone else want one while I'm going to pick it up? If we buy four we can get them for $60. Problem is they're 16" long.

 

[4rnr]

Ive been reading on CCA, CA, res. cap, deep cycle vs starting and Im even more confused than EVER.
I have NO IDEA what I need, all I know is I WOULD LIKE it to be small and light, but NOT at the expense of overall performance of powering the motor and MINIMAL accessories.

I went through the same crap too. Maybe Im an idiot, but I found it hard to determine what batt to go with. I dont really care about the CCA or the amount of power a batt put out, cause honestly Ive ran absolute garbage batteries with great numbers and I couldnt tell the difference until a few months or a year later as that battery took a s***.

IMO Performane<Reliability!!! And there just isnt a "stat" for reliability so I went solely based on testimonials.

 

[kling-on]

love my Redtops gotem in trail rig and DD hell patches only got used 4x's a year and she got beat ... never failed even rolled my self back over twice ... I know a few years ago we go alot of bad ones to but it not as oftern any more ... me I have 4 of em and they run great

 

[chicago]

I went through the same crap too. Maybe Im an idiot, but I found it hard to determine what batt to go with. I dont really care about the CCA or the amount of power a batt put out, cause honestly Ive ran absolute garbage batteries with great numbers and I couldnt tell the difference until a few months or a year later as that battery took a s***.

IMO Performane<Reliability!!! And there just isnt a "stat" for reliability so I went solely based on testimonials.

LOL...Glad its not just me then.
Ive been considering getting CLOSE to the numbers with what ever battery that is used for the applications for the motor from the factory and basing the decision on what would fit the best in the bay AAAAAAND is reasonably priced. The other thing to consider at the point Im at in the build, get what I NEED to make this bitch run right with the most bang for the buck so to speak.
At running time, it will be MINIMAL accessories and the main motor function stuff. I dont even have a winch yet...that'll be down the road and I can burn that bridge when I cross it.

love my Redtops gotem in trail rig and DD hell patches only got used 4x's a year and she got beat ... never failed even rolled my self back over twice ... I know a few years ago we go alot of bad ones to but it not as oftern any more ... me I have 4 of em and they run great

Some good and some bad...
Go figure. Its all kinda starting to sound like motor oil choices at this point.
Im the type of personality that CAN nit pick the fine details to DEATH.
Ive kinda narrowed it all down to what fits, what is required for power and minimal cost (after reality set in)

That being said, there has been some GREAT info and opinions on this topic.

 

[Mace]

L
Im the type of personality that CAN nit pick the fine details to DEATH.

No kidding huh??

 

[chicago]

No kidding huh??

Yeah, yeah, yeah...
Im TRYING to get BETTER at this, though. Especially since the build is SORT OF winding down and Im flat getting TIRED of building and NOT wheeling!

 

[peesalot]

You really can't beat an optima from costco. price and return policy are stellar. I go tthe P2 from sears cause where I live the sears auto store is easy to get to, not busy, and all the batt's are right in front of you so many choices it is really a good place to take a field trip for batteries. They got all the kids power wheels batts, motocycle batts, rv/boat batts, huge commercial batts, all right in front of you. Measure your battery tray and head to sears auto dept.

 

[bsilva132]

What ever you end up getting, might as well pick up a battery maintainer/trickle charger with float control. That way you can just hook up the battery while it is parked and keep it at full charge. I have a pig tail/quick connect hooked to the battery and just set the charger on the fender when the 40 is not in use. Keeps the battery fresh.

Works great until one of your kids slides the switch from 12v to 6v and kills one of the cells and the battery dies mid-wheeling trip.

 

[woody]

With all these horror stories about Optima Batteries, I decided to track down my FJ40 and see if my battery was as worthless as I keep reading it should be...

Truck was left at a friends shop in mid-December, on my little car trailer. I had to unload if off the trailer around Feb 17th so I could load the TLCA FJ40 for it's trip to VA. In order to start my FJ40, I had to dig the snow out from the pedal area so I could find the brake and gas...it also had 3 completely flat tires.

To clarify, I'm too lazy to disconnect or remove the battery...

It started...not happy about running, and took 4-5 tries to keep it running, but the Optima did it's job. I then drove 'er off the trailer, winched the TLCA FJ40 onto the trailer, and parked the 40 against the fence.

Tires still flat.

I went there again this morning...figured that worthless Optima would have zero chance of starting the rig...after all it's been 7 weeks...

Took three tries to keep it running, but it started easily each time...and ran 'ok' considering it hasn't moved 30 feet since December.

and yes, the tires are still flat...

 

[woody]

Yep...there she sits...battery is under the drivers seat...

guess I coulda run the winch rope in while I was there...ah well, next time...

 

[Mace]

At least the snow melted

 

[chicago]

With all these horror stories about Optima Batteries, I decided to track down my FJ40 and see if my battery was as worthless as I keep reading it should be...

Truck was left at a friends shop in mid-December, on my little car trailer. I had to unload if off the trailer around Feb 17th so I could load the TLCA FJ40 for it's trip to VA. In order to start my FJ40, I had to dig the snow out from the pedal area so I could find the brake and gas...it also had 3 completely flat tires.

To clarify, I'm too lazy to disconnect or remove the battery...

It started...not happy about running, and took 4-5 tries to keep it running, but the Optima did it's job. I then drove 'er off the trailer, winched the TLCA FJ40 onto the trailer, and parked the 40 against the fence.

Tires still flat.

I went there again this morning...figured that worthless Optima would have zero chance of starting the rig...after all it's been 7 weeks...

Took three tries to keep it running, but it started easily each time...and ran 'ok' considering it hasn't moved 30 feet since December.

and yes, the tires are still flat...

Im HEARIN ya Woody! Point is coming through.
Ive narrowed it down to the optima red (great price at Sam's, right by the house) and the XS 925 comparable price, get it at Summit and the size and weight would be perfect and its a combo deep cycle/ starting battery.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

My latest Optima story...Went to move my Optima equipped 40 and it was 100% dead from setting for 3 month. Put the charger on the battery and set it for 40amps manual. 6 hours later the Optima has swollen up and was smoking out of both sides were the top has separated. The battery must have been over 150° because I could not even disconnect the cable. Once I was able to remove the cables I tested the voltage (14.1v) and so I started the 40 and moved it out of the garage. Today it still is starting off the same battery. Im sure the life has been shorten because of my stupid move but it has the Costco warranty and I will revisit Costco prior to the free replacement date. Go Optima!

 

[Mace]

my 60 currently has a costco red top in it. gotta love their warranty..

 

[ColoCruiserJeff]

I agree with the nay on the Optimas.

I've run some Interstate batteries for 5 years....winched the hell out of 'em in Moab and Colorado.....and never once wished I had a better battery!

Plus they're guarantee is awesome - not that I've ever had to use 'em.

I put a set in all of my semi trucks, and all of my local delivery trucks have Interstate batteries.

They're just dependable!

 

['74 UA FJ]

With all these horror stories about Optima Batteries, I decided to track down my FJ40 and see if my battery was as worthless as I keep reading it should be...

Truck was left at a friends shop in mid-December, on my little car trailer. I had to unload if off the trailer around Feb 17th so I could load the TLCA FJ40 for it's trip to VA. In order to start my FJ40, I had to dig the snow out from the pedal area so I could find the brake and gas...it also had 3 completely flat tires.

To clarify, I'm too lazy to disconnect or remove the battery...

It started...not happy about running, and took 4-5 tries to keep it running, but the Optima did it's job. I then drove 'er off the trailer, winched the TLCA FJ40 onto the trailer, and parked the 40 against the fence.

Tires still flat.

I went there again this morning...figured that worthless Optima would have zero chance of starting the rig...after all it's been 7 weeks...

Took three tries to keep it running, but it started easily each time...and ran 'ok' considering it hasn't moved 30 feet since December.

and yes, the tires are still flat...

Red, yellow, or blue?

My red doesn't like the 8274 I just installed. Maybe it's because it's 7+ years old. Probably I should throw it in one of my other vehicles and get a deep cycle for the fj40.