Battery OPTIMA or Deka
I'm a fan of Optima, I run them in all of my vehicles. I live in sub zero winter climate. Once I left my car sitting for an entire week during -40F windchill. Everyone else needed jump starts, my car turned right over and came to life. I've accidentally left interior lights on overnight with no issues starting in the morning. On top of the performance is the longevity, the battery lasted a decade with no issues.
My Optima same model as that, is on its 11th year . Yes, non-corrosive. I switched to AGM because I was tired of batteries coming apart at the top seam and leaking acid into the engine bay. I have never had corrosion on the Optima terminals, either. Recently made Optimas have lost their good reputation however, so if you buy one, make sure you can return it if it dies prematurely. I have switched to another brand AGM on the basis of those bad reports.
My current dead battery is a Deka - lasted 3.5 yrs, can't complain.
My TT has an OPTIMA YELLOW TOP. Battery put in service date 12/2006 9 years on a battery in this heat...un freakin heard of! Very good value for down here.
Been running an optima in both my cars for years. Best decision ever.
Me too. Using a Deka ETX20 right now. Scooped it for $85 shipped from Tri-State Battery. I just got my car back on the road, so I haven't seen how well it holds its charge without running the car every day though.
Great thread. I have used lightweight batteries in all of my builds. Dont buy Braille or any high end BS. They are all rebranded Deka. Ended up grabbing a etx14 power sports battery from autoquest for $70. Same as the Deka ext14 just rebranded.
The only advantage to Optima batteries is if they are used in an environment where they experience very high vibration or need to be mounted in unusual positions. The longevity of them is no better than a good quality lead acid battery, so unless you're hardcore offroading or need to mount the battery upside down for whatever reason, they really offer no benefit.
I had an Optima that behaved like this and took it back to AutoZone, they swapped it out without much hassle.
I've owned an optima before. Will never buy another one. I used one in my 4x4 to listen to music while camping, play it until the sub cuts out, get a jump, charge it and repeat. Ended up damaging the battery and it would never hold a charge and struggled to start the truck after a weekend of camping. Tossed it out after 2 years.
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