Guys, FORGET THE COLOR OF THE BATTERY TOPS!!!!

They only make TWO basic Optima batteries.. A true starting,lighting, ignition(SLI) battery available in RED, YELLOW and BLUE tops. And a deep-cycle/"dual purpose" battery available in Yellow and Blue tops only.
But they offer these two basic batteries in a bewildering combination of packaging and terminal options.

Their typical retail advertising brochures and in-store floor displays still strongly (mis?-)lead the general public into believing that Red=starting Only, Yellow = "dual purpose"deep cycle/starting Only and Blue = Marine deep cycle...
Someone in marketing must have had a case of trans-rectal craniumitis when they messed up a good color application scheme.

One sure thing though... Red tops are still ONLY available as an SLI battery...
But, you can get their same SLI battery as a yellow top or their "dual purp"deep cycle batt in a yellow top too. Depends on what, for instance, Sam's club -vs- Costco might order.
Same goes for the Blue topped batts... Blue only means "Marine".. One BlueTop is available as the same kind of SLI batt and the other BlueTop is a D-C/starting/"dual purpose" batt..
Colors might be the same but there are definitely only two different batteries available. just look at the spec's for the # of deep cycle life for the SLI batts(~50) -vs- the Deep Cycle batts (~350).
Current delivery is different too... Deep cycle/dual purpose Optima's don't have the CCA that an SLI Optima does.

K.

 

Optima batteries are Junk. If they lose their charge 1x they are toast. We have thrown more of em out than any other kind at the shop.

 

....out city department shop manager had the same opinion. Two years ago they tried them in about a dozen police vehicles (jeep cherokees, crown vics). He said they didn't last any longer than the regular batteries, however he did like the fact that they didn't destroy wiring etc from blowing up or leaking badly. Keep in mind a police vehicle around here is a pretty extreme environment for a battery. Lots of radios, idle time and lets not forget underhood temps when the ambient temp is 125+......take my word. It's pretty dang hot!!

 

[QUOTE=J BODY... however he did like the fact that they didn't destroy wiring etc from blowing up or leaking badly..... [/QUOTE]

Precisely the reason I bought the Optima style red-tops... Since they are spiral cells with AGM electrolyte, and they don't have any large voids or empty volume inside to accumulate an explosive mixture, they (hopefully) are less prone to going -BOOM!!!-
My CTD has some "decoration" on the paint/clearcoat down each of the front fenders from sulphuric acid spewing out where the underhood airstream carried the droplets from between the gap in the hood and fender. This happened during the PO's watch, but the dying Interstate's he replaced them with were attempting to do the same stunt last fall, so I put Optima's in.
I'll give Optima one good shot. If they last better than typical L-A batteries in this service, I'll feel good about the extra $$ I spent.
But, a wise old mechanic once told me, "It doesn't matter what fancy battery you get, you'll still only wind up RENTING a car battery for about 3 years".

K.

 

in 2001 I bought two yellow tops i ran them in my m715 for 24volts.
in may of 2003 i took the truck apart and they sat unused, for the most part until jan 2004. where they sat on my shop floor and both went dead. I used them to power a mig welder (readywelder) so much i ended up draining them several times.
when i put my truck back together in jan 2004 i used both yellow tops and another 12volt battery to get 36 volts (long story). i burned the entire positive terminal off the "other battery"and partialy melted the yellow top terminals.

the one yellow top is still in my old m715 as of october 2005 when i sold it. the other yellow top went dead again sitting UNUSED from jan 2004 until august 2005 and i charged it and put it in my dodge wc53 in august 2005. the battery in my wifes caravan went out in october and since the wc53 is getting a cummins conversion i put it in her van. prior to installation i dropped it on both terminals from 4 feet and severly cracked the case. i had to puull the positive terminal out with vice grips so the battery cablle would connect. much to my amazement it worked!. i just replace it last week, do to failure.

2 yellow tops , and id buy them again. id like to add, after the terninal debacles i bought two 70 dollar batteries to power my readywelder and ruined them in <6months.

i also bought 2 red tops for my 1968 m35a2 duece and a half. the truck will sit unused for a while and they work everytime.