I have never had a Optima Battery, and I've been reading a few good things about them, but also a lot of bad things. My 03 VIII needs a new battery, and I'm stuck between buying a regular O'Reilly 550CCA battery or an Optima redtop 720CCA. I have always used the regular batteries in my other cars, and had them last anywhere from 3 to 5+ years. This is my first battery change in an Evo, and I need your opinions/recommendations on what to get, why i should get that specific battery, and what you personally use. Car currently has a regular 35 550CCA battery and is at 47k miles if that matters.

 

I've had an advance auto gold series battery for 3-4 years now and never had an issue.

 

I'm running a redtop and have ran Optimas in 3/4 of my last vehicles with no issues to report. My last one sat on the floor of my garage for 9 months while I was deployed and when my dad put it back in my truck he said the truck fired right up. Prior to that it never had any issues either. My current one has been jumped off probably 100 times due to some issues I had with my Evo last year where the only solution most of the time was to jump off the car to start it, but the issue was unrelated to the battery. Through all of that and through this winter still no issues with it. It fires up.

 

I tweaked with it a bit and got a yellow top to fit my VIII. I have had a red top in my daughter's X for 3-4 years and it has been fantastic. Also have a red top in my DD Toyota work truck. Great batteries. They truly stand up to some serious use and long-term neglect w/o skipping a beat.

 

I always had redtops and NEVER had an issue.

 

autozone gold stuff. never had issue, fits my budget plus that warranty
i have also had friends with optima batts last a yr and dead. cant explain just dead. to each their own.

 

ive used optima batteries in all my cars for the past decade (a couple transferred from one car to another). all my cars have had an extensive sound system too so ive always used a yellowtop in all my applications with no issues whatsoever.

 

I had a choice of the optima and the diehard platinum battery. I have been reading about optimas quality going downhill after another company bought them out. I went with the diehard platinum, and have read it's basically a rebadged odyssey battery. I have had no troubles in the year and a half I've had it in the car. starts right up after two weeks of sitting. cheaper than both the optima and the odyssey batteries also.

 

I've had my redtop for 5 years with no issues. As heavens turbo said there have been talks on several forums that the quality has gone down recently. I still plan to buy another red top when this one goes so I guess I will find out first hand.

 

Maybe I'm just a blessed Optima owner but I've had 3 and none of them have given me any issues. In fact, I've never met a single person who has had an issue with an Optima but on this site in particular guys say all the time they have or have seen Optimas just go bad. This is the only forum where I've seen anyone say they've seen them go bad. Not saying they are infallible batteries but I'm betting there's more to the story than just I put a brand new Optima in and wham a year later it just stopped working. They probably didn't tell you they left their headlights on every night or had a short or a poorly wired stereo amp, etc.

 

i bought a red top for my '86 subaru gl wagon. I bought the car to drive around while i rebuild my evo and i figured i'd just buy a red top for it and put it in the Evo after i finish building it. I've let the car sit for a month and a half and it cranked over no problem. Not to mention my driver door doesnt always close correctly and the lights stay on all night, but the Red top doesnt care. It just goes and goes. Working in a shop i would usually just buy the cheapest battery i could because i always had access to a jump box or i could warranty my battery and get a new one for free. But with my red top i AM the jump box now.

 

I've had 3. All 3 died under a year a piece. The only reason I had three was because the warranty kept getting me a new one. I switched to a diehard and haven't had an issue in 2 1/2 years.

This may be the only forum you've seen issues in, but there is definitly a problem.

 

I have a red top in my Mustang, before that is was in another Mustang and before that it was in a Grand National. It was purchased in 1999 and still going strong. Can't say for the quality of the new ones but the one I have has been around a while.

 

thinking ab getting a yellowtop for my evo due to the security system.. seems like optimas are pretty hit or miss lately, but seems like the best suited for me. any recommendations otherwise?

 

In my experience, the people that have had issues with optimas had purchased them thru ebay. For everyone else, their optimas have been perfectly fine. Take from that what you will.