optima red tops are shit.

stock battery in my truck lasted 8 years. top of the line 150 dollar optima red top a year and a half. won't hold a charge in cold weather. in the summer its fine but in the winter since it was new it would reset my radio on cold days and trip my check guages light for not enough voltage for a couple seconds after start up. never had that problem with the stock battery or the mid grade 80 dollar autozone battery i just replaced it with.

there are a lot of hit and miss story's on red tops on my truck forum so ill just say, stay clear of optimas. they don't live up to the hype. i wish i got an odyssey instead. just found my receipt for the red top so I'm gonna take it back and see if they will give me store credit instead of another optima cause they have a lifetime warranty i think.

oh and the last 2 days i had to jump start the truck twice so thats what made me finally get rid of it. alternator is fine. its only 2 years old, it would run the truck just fine once i jumped it, the battery just wouldn't hold a charge if the truck sat for over 3 hours.

I had a yellow top in my '68 Firebird and it fired right up everytime I started the car. Even in the cold when I had the car stored in my yard. I dont know the difference between the yellow and red but maybe look into the yellow.

That sucks Jon.

My '02 Intrepid still has the original battery. I know I'm on borrowed time.

HiPwr wrote:

My '02 Intrepid still has the original battery. I know I'm on borrowed time.

yea, but don't fix what aint broke. my factory battery powered my truck fine for 8 years. 5 of those with powerfull MSD ignition, 2 10in subwoofers, 800watt amp, and in dash T.V. i also used to run a inverter and an original xbox in there too.

I had an interstate battery in my 96 Tahoe. It just finally died a few months ago. It was the original battery that was in the truck when I bought it back in Sept of 98.

How good are the OEM Charger batteries?

liljoejoe54 wrote:

How good are the OEM Charger batteries?

i dunno but i never hear people bitching about them. im on my factory one and the car sits all winter with no battery tender. fires up every 3 weeks or so just fine when in storage.