AutoZone Optima Battery

[peobryant]

Well it's about time the 'Ol bird gets a new battery and I've always heard great things about Optima Red Top batteries so I think that's the direction I'm going to go. My question though, is are the AutoZone Optima batteries the same as you'd get from other places? The reason I ask is because I know there are several manufacturers (not necessarily for batteries) that will "de-tune" so to speak, or use cheaper parts in certain products for places like BestBuy, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and such. Does anyone know if Optima does the with Autozone?

As I'm sure you know money is very tight and I don't want a junk battery.


Thanks for the help guys.

[CumminsPower59]

I have bought three red tops over the last decade from various places, and they have all worked the same. Even the one that is in my Suzuki Samurai, it's the oldest, and still works great! I believe they are all the same, regardless of who the retailer is.

[ellis93]

IMPO I'd pass. I don't think they're worth the money. I buy 31series batteries with 1100ca and come out way cheaper. In my experiences they last just as long.
Why do you need a dry cell battery anyhow,you going rock climbing in the dually

[bmoeller]

I had 'em in one of my dually trucks. The old batteries would leak when out driving in the farm fields (lots of hills), and they were leaking. Didn't like that at all. But, when I pretty much quit doing that (mainly in a big truck and not hardly helping with the farm work now), I put some higher CCA Everstart batteries from Walmart. Everstarts worked MUCH better and less than 1/2 the price of the Optimas. Optimas lasted just as long as other wet batteries do.

Got a battery in a Case skidloader that lasted 8yrs before it puked. Properly maintained batteries can last a long time!

[Begle1]

I buy Optima's just because they corrode less. The weight reduction is a bonus.

If I wasn't in sunny warm California and actually had grid heaters still, I might have a different opinion.

[peobryant]

IMPO I'd pass. I don't think they're worth the money. I buy 31series batteries with 1100ca and come out way cheaper. In my experiences they last just as long.
Why do you need a dry cell battery anyhow,you going rock climbing in the dually

Heh, no rock climbing just daily driving. Honestly I've just always heard fantastic things about the Red Tops and since I'm due for a battery I figured I'd go for what other have had good experiences with. My current battery is 950cca just like the Red Top at AutoZone and I haven't had any problems in winter so I don't think I'll need any more cca than that.

[Mark Nixon]

All I know about Optimas is I'm impressed!!
I got one in some junk once that the guy SWORE was junk, said it had sat for 3 years and was discharged, which it was.
I trickle charged it for a day and now, 3 years later, it still cranks over nice and strong.

It's day is coming, no doubt, but it was already 5 years old then, so it's far outlasted it's service life by quite a lot.

Mark.