Battery Q

My rig is 100% stock. Minus the stereo system. Today I had one of my customers come in. He was driving his vette and asked me if I knew anyone that wanted to buy a new Optima 78 series battery that had been sitting for a year. He said it was tested and was still solid as new. He got it for free from a buddy of his. Has never been installed. I looked at the autozone battery selection and noticed it was 130 bucks.. He said he would sale it for 75 bucks... hmmmmm? I was eyeballing a battery at AZ in their gold series for 70 bucks and something like 950CCA'a 8yr warranty with 3yr free replacement. I have yet to use an Optima.... but I did call around and some of the local battery places that sale them said they get some back each month under warranty issues. So whats the reliability of the Optima's these days?

I've got the Red Top. No problems. Are you talking about their gel batteries or their regular bat.s?

I have had a yellow top battery for at least 3 years. It was in a vehicle that was a back up, not driven or hardly started.
For those reasons it finally started having issues. I took it to where I bought it, they sent it to Optima to check, and I had myself a new battery. It was prorated some due to age. Optima seems to take care of their customers fairly good according to the place I went to.
I would recommend them.

I have three red tops, one in the XJ and one each in our two TJ's. Coming up on a year and no problems. I went to a MS seminar in NJ last friday and somehow left my headlights on in the underground garage. The seminar started at 8am, finished at 2 and I went to the movies to see skycaptain in the same building, got out around 430 or so, it was not until then as I was walking up from behind that I noticed my lights were on. Figured I was dead meat but it fired right up just like normal. Impressed the heck out of me thats for sure...
I bought ours on sale at autozone for $99, I see them go on sale every so often there. Guess they get an overstock and want to get rid of the older ones so they have a sale. At $75 and relatively new why not...

As a safety measure I wouldn't buy the one from your customer. You don't know the battery's history. Best to spend the extra money at a retailer who will provide a receipt at least. What happens if the battery craps out shortly after you shake hands on the deal?

I might just get that 70 dollar battery that AZ is selling. It has an 8 year warranty with a 3 year free replacement and is like 900+ CCA's. Its also a dual post so I might use the extra post for stereo and lights.

Just my 2 cents, I have had an interstate for 100,000 miles. I have had countless long days of tailgating with a 600 watt system cranked up, and who knows what else. Still cranks like new. I will never have a different brand. It was $70 from big 10 tires, and came with a warranty. Forget the cranking amps and all that nonsense, go and buy a top brand name like interstate and you will get a battery that lasts a long time and can stand up to a days use without the engine! Heck mine has maybe 460 cranking amps, and I bet it has beat most bigger batteries out there.

If you decide to go with the duralast gold battery I can say they are good batterys. They will take a beating and still last I had one in a van that had a system in it, and I played it for hours at a time while camping or at partys. Even run it dead a few times, and it still lasted a long while. I dont like auto zone stuff but there batterys are good. My dad likes Intersate [I think that is the name they have a green top] batterys for the tractors they have a little higher CCA and are better at starting diesels than the duralasts. He gets them at the local tire shop so I dont know where you would be able to find one of them.

Ive usd the Interstate battery before. Bought two went thru three and sold the truck right when it started to act funny again. All in all they lasted about a year each. These were the Interstate Workaholic series. Even with some issues I would still use an Interstate battery. Last one I bought was a couple years ago for an 85 4runner I owned.