New Battery Time..No more Optima Red Top! Hello, O'Reilly AGM? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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New Battery Time..No more Optima Red Top! Hello, O'Reilly AGM?

Stic-o

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City, State
Lake View Terrace, CA
Year, Model & Trim Level
'91 Navajo '99 X '19 Rngr
So I needed a new battery and my Optima Red Top from 2005 finally kicked the bucket. Zukman gave me a loner red top which got me through the last t-haven, but with his being only a year newer then mine.....it didn't last long.:(

With Optima not being what they use to be, and the fact that they are over $200 now:eek: I paid $129 for mine in '05 from Costco.

I looked at other alternatives including the Excide Orbital AGM's. But Manik brought up a good point at T-haven. What happens when there is a failure? He use to buy the Excide Orbital's and liked them, but no one carry's them anymore but Amazon. He had gone to a Sears Diehard AGM, but these were still around $200.

So one day last week, I walk into a O'Reilly's just to see what they had. What do I find? There own AGM called Super Start Extreme for $149.99. :thumbsup: After a little research I find out Deka/ East Penn. is making the batteries for them. Deka has a great reputation for batteries, and there made here in the USA!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

So I picked one up today, and here are the stats.

Optima Red Top
Cranking Amps-910
Cold Cranking Amps-720
Reserve Capacity-90 min
Warranty-3 year
Price- $200+

Deka/O'Reilly Super Start Extreme AGM
Cranking Amps-955
Cold Cranking Amps-775
Reserve Capacity-120 min
Warranty-3 year/ 84 mo pro rated
Price- $149.99

I'll update over time with a status.:JP:
 

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...Subscribing to see how these last..:popcorn:
 






nice , i might have to see who carrys them around me , i need a good deep cycle !
 






Hi Stic-o, I'm sorry to hear your RedTop no longer works. I was wondering if you could tell me what the voltage of that battery is and the circumstances surrounding it's demise? As you've now noticed in the increased price of batteries, lead prices have more than doubled since 2005. Using virgin lead that is 99.9% pure is also significantly more expensive than using recycled lead, but it does provide a significant advantage over the life of the battery.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
 






Hi Stic-o, I'm sorry to hear your RedTop no longer works. I was wondering if you could tell me what the voltage of that battery is and the circumstances surrounding it's demise? As you've now noticed in the increased price of batteries, lead prices have more than doubled since 2005. Using virgin lead that is 99.9% pure is also significantly more expensive than using recycled lead, but it does provide a significant advantage over the life of the battery.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries


Hi Jim,

The battery was not holding a charge. The truck simply just started getting hard to start and the battery would not hold a charge. If I remember correctly the battery would drain down to around 10 volts, with in a few hours after trying to charge. I normally used a trickle charger (Battery Tender) on this battery, and it gave me a lot of great years of service. I really thought I had a open circuit or something draining the battery. I still have the battery if you'd like it back for testing:thumbsup: Maybe to help you with your product feedback.
 






Hi Stic-o,

What you described sounds like the characteristics of a 7 year old battery at the end of it's useful life. Good luck with your new battery! If you find yourself battery shopping again within the next 7 years, I hope you'll give us another look.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
 






Jim, it was good meeting you at SEMA last year. Always good to put a face with a name:chug:
 






Hi Stic-o,

What you described sounds like the characteristics of a 7 year old battery at the end of it's useful life. Good luck with your new battery! If you find yourself battery shopping again within the next 7 years, I hope you'll give us another look.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

Thank you Jim, the optima served me well, but unfortunately it really came down to price for me now in this economy. A red top has almost doubled in price in that 7 years. it's hard to swallow now. I only hope I will get the same longevity and reliability with this new battery.
 






Rick, it was a pleasure meeting you as well! Stic-o, I do understand the pressures the economy places on everyone. Frankly, when I look at where lead prices have gone in the last ten years (not to mention fuel prices), I'm surprised battery prices haven't tripled to keep pace.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.twitter.com/optimabatteries
 






You think over $200.00 is expensive??? I priced out a battery at work from Exide (as we are a dealer for them) and almost crapped my drawers!

click here ---> http://www.northstarbatteries.com/batteries/nsb65m.htm

Our cost was $428.00 cdn for this battery! Needless to say, I won't be supporting where I work or Exide for that matter.

OptimaJim: How does an Optima D34 or D34/78 Yellow top measure up to this one?
 






You think over $200.00 is expensive??? I priced out a battery at work from Exide (as we are a dealer for them) and almost crapped my drawers!

click here ---> http://www.northstarbatteries.com/batteries/nsb65m.htm

Our cost was $428.00 cdn for this battery! Needless to say, I won't be supporting where I work or Exide for that matter.

OptimaJim: How does an Optima D34 or D34/78 Yellow top measure up to this one?

Appears to be another AGM Odyssey (Enersys) battery. Compare specs.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...hP2hDw&usg=AFQjCNHs9EP2QCprXwzJ3CyLVXrMs_FOaQ
 






The Northstars are another Odyssey/EnerSys in a different color case. It's obvious by the case appearance though.
DieHard's AGM Platinum is a much better deal for the same EnerSys battery at ~$200.

As for the Optima, if anyone wants those still, Advance Auto Parts has online coupons for $40-50 off, making a $179-199 Red Top in line with the $149.99 prices.

Good to have another AGM option though, will be interesting to see how this one fares.
 






Unfortunately, though they say they ship to Canada, they also state that "not available for international shipping". My other hurdle for Sears batteries is that Sears pulled almost all automotive from the Canadian market.
 






The writing's on the wall for Sears, just a matter of time before they're history.
 






F150hybred, the battery in your link is a Group 65 battery, which is a different size than either the D34 or D34/78. I'm not allowed to comment on other specific manufacturers or retailers, but I would encourage anyone considering a battery purchase to read the warranty terms and procedures of any battery they are considering, before making a purchase. You can read our warranty here. Online purchases are often required to be shipped back to their original retailer for warranty service and some warranties are voided if batteries are found to be discharged below specific voltage levels or if a vehicle's charging system is not operating within a specific range set forth in the warranty.


Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.twitter.com/optimabatteries
 






F150hybred, the battery in your link is a Group 65 battery, which is a different size than either the D34 or D34/78. I'm not allowed to comment on other specific manufacturers or retailers, but I would encourage anyone considering a battery purchase to read the warranty terms and procedures of any battery they are considering, before making a purchase. You can read our warranty here. Online purchases are often required to be shipped back to their original retailer for warranty service and some warranties are voided if batteries are found to be discharged below specific voltage levels or if a vehicle's charging system is not operating within a specific range set forth in the warranty.


Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.twitter.com/optimabatteries

by measure up, I was referring to physically... nothing with durability, customer relations or warranty.
 






Physically, Group 34 batteries are slightly shorter length-wise, slightly narrower width-wise and slightly taller height-wise, when compared to Group 65 batteries. This link provides general measurements for most of the BCI group sizes on the market. We can probably blame automotive engineers for the sheer number of BCI group sizes.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
 






Well i've got a 5 year old optima blue top in my explorer and an orielly's super start in the ol lady's durango. Both work awesome. Now to talk her into letting me put a winch on that heavy dog and take it wheelin to
 






I went through several optima batteries and will never buy a single one every again... My first one lasted a couple of years and then got warrantied ... The second one lasted about a years or so and the third one lasted 2 yrs and died.
 



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My battery failed to start mine this morning (gotta love having that backup vehicle!).

I looked into the Duralast Platinum. It appears to be the same battery as the Oreily- some internet research even claims it's made by Deka. BUT, autozone offers a 3 year warranty and that's it. No pro-rated warranty to follow.

My old lead/acid battery is just that- old. Not sure off hand how old, but I remember being a little concerned when I bought the truck over 2 years ago. Some time on the trail has caused some of the water inside to splash around and leak out of the top.

I'm going to probably pick up the Oreily battery sometime this week.
 






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