optima batteries never again

[BLUNT]

im so tired of these pieces of crap. i dont abuse my batteries. they are on a quality tender all winter in a heated garage . this is the 3rd optima and this one appears to have gone south also. its 1.5 years old. i think i can get another on warranty but i dont even want one. i have to pull my entire rear brace to get it out because of the stupid design of my rear bar. i should have listened to otis. i know there will be guys who have had great luck with their optimas but i sure as hell havent.,...

[BillWilliams]

what words of wisdom did Good ol Otis tell you?

[m-racer]

Wow. I have had great luck with mine. Even run them (marine version) in my motorhome and truck. The first one I bought is still working in the Alpina B9 I sold a few years ago. IfI had your experience, I wouldn't even think about another. Sure the tender is working correctly?

[BLUNT]

what words of wisdom did Good ol Otis tell you?

he told me to always keep a stack of ones in your pocket because you never know where youll end up. oh , you mean about batteries? he told me optimas were junk and to get some fancy schmancy battery he recommended but i forget the name now. i will ask him again. tim, i believe the tenders good. it works on my t bird and M3 and other stuff. i just came back from chicago a couple weeks ago and it was fine. it wouldnt bother me so much but its a real bitch to get that bar out.

[BillWilliams]

he preaches the "stack of ones" thing quite a bit....

[bobthomas]

he preaches the stack of ones thing quite a bit....

And it's a sermon well worth heeding.

[c.d.iesel]

gee..... last I heard (and haven't heard )

the BMW 66AH battery in the trunk of my old

car is still ticking 8 ...9 years on!

I Love Original BMW Teile

[ingraham]

I went through three Optimas (2nd & 3rd supplied under warranty) on my '95 Suburban. Optimas in a couple other cars were fine. YMMV.

If you put a non-sealed battery in the trunk or cabin, DON'T FORGET THE VENT TUBE.

[peteinjp]

I'm going for a braille battery next time- great luck with my odyssey pc925 too.... They are both smaller than the optima and much lighter. both are sealed.

[gwb72tii]

i yanked the POS redtop from the 325i we sold

less than a year old and it wouldn't hold a charge

[roadhog0]

I personally being a cheap guy am running the $50 Costco special... It's worked for 6 months now with no problems. But thats interesting the Optima's are going south with ya, I have a friend who has a tractor with a Red Top which he has never charged since he bought it 8 years ago... Thing sits in a cold barn all winter and gets run maybe every other week for short amounts of time. Hope your luck gets better!

[pureaudio]

I have had nothing but bad luck with Optima and nothing but good luck with Wal-Mart batteries. I used to compete in sound competitions and our shop team used them in a lot of cars. Later started using Kinetic but unless you want a battery that weighs as much as an M10 I wouldn't go with that.

[DonP]

I wonder why some have good and others bad experiences with the Optima? Could it be issues with the electrical system?

I have had mine for 5 years now, and every winter when I store the car, all I do is unhook the battery and leave it in the trunk. Come spring I just hook it up and it starts every time.

[dubois]

Just reporting here, 3 years and no problem with my Optima.

[Jim_75Sahara]

Mine is from Wal-Mart & I'm very pleased with it.