Battery Replacement

#1
As most of you know I primarily drive a Sport Trac( with more "Gadgets" that any one vehicle should be allowed), Over the past several months I have been dealing with the gradual demise of the battery(glad its a straight drive). I have been putting off replacing it due to not really knowing what I want to replace it with. With the cooler temperatures I know it isn't going to get me through the winter. I know what i do not plan on going with: any battery from Walmart or other "Standard" Part Store batteries. I was talking to a few people about Optimas, I know larry has one in his Sami that started life in his Explorer like 4 years ago and still running strong. I was told optimas they are basically junk now. I got lead to the Odyssey brand name through some surfing. I was very impressed with what i found. I was then excited to learn Sears sell a "rebranded" Odyssey battery in their Die Hard Platinum Series. Now my question, Has anyone either ran a Odyssey or a Die Hard Platinum? I'm a little hesitate on the Optimas now....
 

LBarr2002

LIFETIME
SUPPORTER
#2
My optima went in the Explorer probably in '07, has been killed several times, sat for months, and keeps coming back. I saw somewhere that they changed their manufaturing facility a few years back and have not been as good. I use Autozone's top of the line battery in everything now because they have a good warranty and are easily available....
 

WolfGT

LIFETIME
SUPPORTER
#4
That's a long *** post. Anyone that reads it all, post up a summary. I jumped around and it just looked repetitive.
 
#6
Been running optima red and yellow tops in all of my jeeps and blue tops in my boat for about the past 10 years. Currently have a yellow top in the TJ and a blue top out of the boat in the JK. Haven't had any issues from either, which are about 3 years old if I remember correctly. Now the batteries in my duramax are another story. Went through 3 pairs of red tops in a matter of about 6 months, come to find out that I had a power drain coming from my glow plug relay. This would drain the batteries down in about 48 hours and they would not take a charge afterwards. Ended up returning the red tops and bought a pair of sears diehard platinums, which are just rebadged odyssey batteries. Changed out the relays controller and all has been good to go every since. Only down side to the diehards/odyssey batteries is the cost, as the you're looking at $200+ a battery in comparison to $160-180 a battery for the red tops. Anyway, just my 2 cents.


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#7
Ran across this post.
x2 on the Deka Intimidator. Everyone who has used 'em has nothing but praise, and they cost less than Optimas and MUCH less than Odysseys.

Also, the X2 sold by Batteries Plus is just a Deka Intimidator with BP's label on it. I bought a pair, and they work great.
called BP (have a corp account)
http://www.batteriesplus.com/produc...port-Trac/2001-to-2005-V6-4-dot0L-650CCA.aspx
$162 any thoughts on the Deka Intimidator/Battery Plus X2?

Die hard Platinum 4yr $219.00
X2Power 3yr 162.00


O or this one.... LOL....Right
http://www.amazon.com/Braille-Batte...d=1349713112&sr=1-6&keywords=group+65+battery
 
#8
Ran across this post. called BP (have a corp account)
http://www.batteriesplus.com/produc...port-Trac/2001-to-2005-V6-4-dot0L-650CCA.aspx
$162 any thoughts on the Deka Intimidator/Battery Plus X2?

Die hard Platinum 4yr $219.00
X2Power 3yr 162.00


O or this one.... LOL....Right
http://www.amazon.com/Braille-Batte...d=1349713112&sr=1-6&keywords=group+65+battery

just for comparison we should include the cost and warranty of the comparable optimas for research purposes.

Whats Odd is that Advance Auto has both the Red AND Yellow tops listed at $205. The Yellow used to be more expensive I thought. The Red has a 3 year warranty and the Yellow has a 1 year.
 
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#12
In the same boat. Both of my Optimas, after 10 years, are done. I've got a brand new whatever battery sitting in my garage that I'm about to put in there. I liked the Optimas because I KNOW my rover did everything to kill them. If nothing else the vibrations are brutal.

I'll run the new battery for a couple years and will be checking on it. I know of other old rover owners that just get the wal-mart special and haven't had any issues. Also this time I'm going single battery instead of dual. The dual Battery setup hasn't really justified itself since the headlights are the only thing pulling significant power (looking at replacing all my bulbs with LED units and if I can find a set of LED headlights that aren't $500 bucks I might even go for that).
 
#13
I think I paid $190 at Oreilly for my Yellow top in the buggy. I have had two Optima's die on me but both were used when I got them. I can't really complain with that though as all vehicles they were in had a draw at some point in time and were also driven very little. Your asking a lot of a battery in a vehicle that sits as much as my Camaro or buggy does. I would have gone with something differently if I had other options but I needed a battery the day I wanted to crank the buggy and there are so many mounting options for the Optima. In a DD, I wouldn't spend the coin for one.
 
#15
So my Red top is getting slow to crank on these slow mornings, I'm have a feeling I will soon be in the market for a battery.

Red or Yellow Top from Advance is $156 with 3 year Free Replacement

Die Hard Platinum at Sears $208 with 2 year Free Replacement from Sears, Supposedly 4 years from the Manufacturer.

Should I spring for the the Die hard or go with the red top again? This would be my 4th red top in 10 years
 
#18
I got maybe 3 yrs out of my red top, I would never buy one again. The odyssey batteries are what I would get, Chris runs one in the buggy that looks like it belongs in a lawn motor and is super impressive.

So if it were me I would get the die hard platinum.
 
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