Which battery to go with?
- Thread starter Eddie Greenlee
- Start date
Yes, though it's worth pointing out that these were clearly shared as anecdote and came after professional experience or knowledge.
I'm also not making claims of quality control, cost-cutting, or manufacturing issues due to some arbitrary or erroneously-quoted corporate realignment
Last edited:
It comes from personal experience, experience of friends, and loose verification from customers on forums like this one. My first Optima was purchased around '04 and lasted ~10 years. The next one was purchased around '16, and lasted a few months outside its 36-month warranty. Friends of mine had similar experiences, and strangers online started bitching about the same thing around the same time.
Sure, for various customers with varying specs and tolerances. A brand name is not a guarantee, just name/image recognition. Do you think the quality of Craftsman tools is the same now as it was in say the '70s?
Fair enough, though I tend to point back to the "Fram Filter Phenomenon" - where they weren't an issue until people thought they were an issue. Also worth noting that the OP's battery was MFG'd smack in the middle of the alleged "drop in quality". I guess my point is that there is anecdote everywhere. It's one thing for someone to say "I won't buy Optima" - it's another to say that "others shouldn't Optima either". Maybe I'm just reading this wrong...
Edited to add the prevalence of survivorship/confirmation biases on forums is astronomical, especially on car/technical pages, and especially so with the rise of social media (see Patagonia Milestars for example). As a statistician, I would love to see the rise/drop of competition posts (good or bad) and do correlation analysis, but I digress, that info is likely buried under mountains of garage no sane person would want to go through.
A bit of a red herring question, but no, of course not. We know for a fact that the specs, design, tolerances, raw materials, and production facilities for Craftsman are not the same as they were in the 1970's.
Are you saying that Optima - the premier lineup for JCPS - has empirically changed things that would affect quality, or are you just speculating? As someone who worked for JC and for a supplier of JC, I have no evidence to back up that claim either way. Do you? If not, I will point back again to the Fram Filter Phenomenon.
Just using an example of a known and accepted brand name that has changed ownership and quality, several times.
Just going off of personal experience, and experiences of friends, which is why I will not recommend optima, and I tend to recommend autozone and/or oreilly branded batteries. I may be wrong, but I think JC is the supplier for autozone.
My experience with Optima's drop in quality after its manufacturing line was moved to Mexico was confirmed by my personal premature loss of two Optima Yellow Tops and one Blue Top. All three failed within 2-3 years and could not be revived.
Then came during my conversation with Optima's largest San Diego distributor. They said their warehouse had filled with defective Mexican built Optima returns. And that was just after Costco dropped the entire Optima line. Until then Costco was Optima's largest retailer.
One reason Optima's distributor mentioned for their problems was, to save costs, they stopped using pure lead when JCI moved the manufacturing line to Mexico.
IIRC, the JCPS transition to Mexico manufacturing happened in 2007-2008, so long before what many think is a "recent" move.
Funny that Costco claimed to be Optima's largest retailer. AutoZone has made the same claim since at least 2001 (when I first started with them in HS) and maintained that claim until I left the company in 2011 when my son was born (I have no idea if they still do or not since they have their own Duralast AGM line, which also happens to be made by JC). Perhaps it's a matter of semantics that they were playing (e.g. "biggest retailer" vs "biggest parts retailer"), but I distinctly recall a "Largest Optima Battery Dealer" advertisement at one time in the stores, alongside some special advertising racks/displays and some added training for store employees so they understood the differences between the three lines.
I'm guessing what your distributor friend was referring to was virgin lead. Pure lead, generally anything above Grade 3 (99.9%) is considered "pure" by most standards, can come from virgin or recycled sources. Whether virgin or secondary, lead oxides and contaminant pastes can easily be removed and the lead refined to sufficient purity. I mean, do people think pure lead comes out of the mine?
Anyways, my suspicion is that the closure of the last US based smelter (Doe Run Co) around the 2013-2014 time frame has something to do with those rumors (or the attempt by competition to increase market share)…
Edit to add:
https://www.optimabatteries.com/experience/blog/tour-the-optima-batteries-plant/
Last edited:
And to be clear, I am not saying Optima are the best batteries or you should buy them - I'm just trying to address the increased hate for them that has increased over the past few years (which my suspicion is due to some "social influencers", paid for in part by competitor brands and sponsorships). Truth be told, I would have purchased an Odyssey the last time I needed one if they were available (last time I needed one was during COVID supply chain nightmares). It wasn't b/c I thought they were better, but rather because they are USA made and I do put some economic value in that.
OP
Found a odyssey ODX34/78 for $255.78. Going to pick it up Thursday afternoon.
Last edited:
C.J. Roberts
TJ Addict
For $25578 you should be able to get a LOT of battery!
OP
Well.... I've not known anyone getting more than 30 months personally. I work with some of the largest GC's in the area who have dozens of fleet vehicles and they never get more than 30 months of reliable service either.
Congrats to you however.... 2 batteries in your time in Phoenix has got to be close to a record.
I have some "refurbished" batteries in my water craft that have lasted 3+ years but the only refurbished batter I purchased for a daily driver lasted less than 3 months... As you said, we all have different experiences.... I've never had one of they mythical 5-6 year life batteries in Phoenix outside of the AGM Hyundai OEM battery. Other than that I'm constantly trading in batteries at Costco again and again in 2-3 years.
The cars in question are heavily driven (100K or so every 2-3 years). That may be a difference. The Genesis has been the opposite. 75 K since 2015.
The production of Optima batteries was moved to Mexico in late 2007 and their quality has gone down hill due to lack of quality control.
In the late 90s I purchased an Optima Red that lasted for almost 10 years; the next one lasted less than 2 years.
More speculation with zero empirical evidence to back up the claim of their drop in QC.
I’m glad at least Optima points out the nonsense: https://www.optimabatteries.com/experience/blog/optima-batteries-suck-the-truth/
Last edited:
We're getting into the weeds, but that tells me a significant amount of customers have had an issue, so much so that Optima has had to address it. To me, that doesn't look good. What other battery company has a similar blog/article/disclaimer?
Personal experience. First optima, yellow top, 2005. Great battery, lasted 5 years (expected with my type of usage). Second Optima (happily purchased) around 2010, failed at about a year and a half. Third Optima, 2011, failed way less than 2 years.
I now run Odyssey Xtreme AGM, and back to getting over 5 years from my batteries.
I’ll never put on a life jacket again…
…wait, wrong movie.
I now run Odyssey Xtreme AGM, and back to getting over 5 years from my batteries.
I’ll never put on a life jacket again…
…wait, wrong movie.
I have zero opinion on Optima batteries as I've never owned one, but if a company has to tell me why they don't suck, I'm running the other way.
C.J. Roberts
TJ Addict
That's like asking a Barber if you need a haircut.