Optima Blue Top Long Term? Review

[MOAK]

I haven’t been too scientific about this, I do know the battery has never been discharged below 12 volts which is 50% discharged. It has been used as a house battery in my dual battery set up. When parked at home I have a smart charger keeping both batteries topped off. My solar charger is dialed in for AGM charging. In short, I’ve been very proactive about the care and maintenance of my AGMs. The battery, a 27m is now 3-1/2 years old. Sitting without the smart charger hooked up it has discharged itself down to 12.03 volts, or 50% discharged in 3 days. Interestingly enough, it is about 7 months out of warranty. Meanwhile, the Odyssey AGM battery, used as a starter battery, is still chugging along holding steady at 12.5 volts after 3 days while still hooked up to the cruiser. I gave Optima a sincere benefit of doubt and was willing to use their product. Next up? I’m picking up a new Exide AGM 27m deep cycle marine battery with 100 amp hours. I’ll give a review of my thoughts after we return from the NWT this fall.

 

[smritte]

In early 2k when Optima was sold to another company (don't remember who), their quality went to nothing. Me not knowing this bought one and it didn't last two years. Popped onto the web and holy crap. It was so bad, they hired a PR guy to answer questions on forums (Optima Jim). He basically told you it was your fault. If someone smart disagreed, he never replied again. Some forums he got banned from. This went on for several years. One of the major auto parts stores quit carrying them due to the failure rate. Several years later they changed the design and put some of the quality back.

Now everyone has forgotten the about the fiasco. Back then I switched to Odyssey and never went back. When we would be out on a run and someone's battery failed, the first question was "Is it an Optima?". 99% of the time, the answer was yes and its only two years old.

 

[shortbus4x4]

I ran a couple of blue top Optimas for years, they were awesome. Picked them up in the early 2000s sometime for my 86 Chevy crewcab dually 4x4. Ran dual batteries in it for making 24 volts when I jumped started heavy equipment, ran them for several years in this rig. Sold the dually and one went in my Tundra to just start it and move it, not fastened down so I forgot about and drove up our mile long dirt driveway and the battery tipped over and got a big hole worn in it and arced out. Scratch first battery.

Second battery was used for starting and moving dead vehicles around. Got put on the charger once or twice a year. It was rode hard and put away wet for years. Finally after about 13 years it wouldn't hold a charge like it used too. Finally after 14 years of good service I had to regretfully retire it.

 

[MOAK]

I ran a couple of blue top Optimas for years, they were awesome. Picked them up in the early 2000s sometime for my 86 Chevy crewcab dually 4x4. Ran dual batteries in it for making 24 volts when I jumped started heavy equipment, ran them for several years in this rig. Sold the dually and one went in my Tundra to just start it and move it, not fastened down so I forgot about and drove up our mile long dirt driveway and the battery tipped over and got a big hole worn in it and arced out. Scratch first battery.

Second battery was used for starting and moving dead vehicles around. Got put on the charger once or twice a year. It was rode hard and put away wet for years. Finally after about 13 years it wouldn't hold a charge like it used too. Finally after 14 years of good service I had to regretfully retire it.

Yup, back before Johnson Controls bought them out they were great batteries.

 

[Kevin108]

I had a 2009 red top just as a starting battery until 2022, when it stopped holding a charge.
I had a 2015 yellow top until 2020, when an accident destroyed it.
I had a 2020 yellow top until now, which needs to be replaced.

YMMV

 

[chartgpa]

No experience with optima but my next set for my f250 will be ether xs power D6500 or Odyssey ODY-65-PC1750T

 

[MiamiC70]

Used Optima batteries for decades until Johnson Controls ruined them.
I just put a NorthStar NSB-AGM24M (X2Power is the rebranded version) in and have been very happy with it. It’s both a deep cycle and starter in one and carries a 4 year warranty.