How long do OPTIMA red top batteries last?

I know a lot of factors can play into it, but in general, how long should they last?

Just past the four year mark, the one I have died today. It didn't see regular use this year like previous years, but I was putting a slow charge on it when not being used (driven) to keep it up.

I'm guessing the lack of use and charging shortened its life. (The charging system in the vehicle is working correctly.)

This is my first experience with one of these batteries.

I had one, back when the Optimas were made in the US, that was 7 years old and working fine. Then my regulator flaked out, full fielded the alternator and popped the pressure release vents on the battery.

They have a three year warranty, so I guess that says all we need to know.

Yeah, I kinda figured that too when I saw the warranty.

Weird thing (to me) is that it was a 'sudden' death. Put over 150 miles on it the day before making various stops, and it started fine every time. Went to go out this morning (after sitting about 6 hrs) and it was stone cold dead. Dead enough the horn wouldn't even honk. Checked volts with hand held meter and it showed like 5.85 volts. Jumped it off, I've got 14.XX at alternator and at battery.

For the price I guess I was hoping to get a little more use out of it.

10 years out of my first one.The second one is 7 years and still going..
Now my resto batteries were a different story,.

I've always had 7-10 years out of the Optima Reds.
Then again, I got 11 years out of the regular Duralast battery in my '93 Pathfinder; replaced it out of paranoia .
Racecar's batteries (also just lead/acid) are still good @ 10 years old.
I put them all on battery maintainers when they sit.
Fussiest are the resto batteries, I've rarely had one last 7 years.

Looking around online after posting this, I found a number of posts stating that Optimas aren't as good as they used to be since manufacturing moved to Mexico in 2007. And while Optima insists the quality is good if not better, this move coincides with the warranty being changed from 4 yrs to 3 yrs. As good or better? Hmmmm.

Looking at going back to a standard battery (Diehard?) and saving my money. Optimas are too much to last no more than a standard battery.

As an aside, I had originally purchased this redtop to use in my wagon, but ended up using it my Dakota instead. At the time I had a discount code and a promotional discount, so it wasn't much more than a standard battery. I figured I'd give it a try and see what the hype was all about. Until today, it's been good, just disappointed it didn't last longer. The longest I've had a standard battery last was just over 8 yrs.

John, check out Project farm's battery test. Walmart's Everstart tested very well.

Around here NAPA had the best price, taking warranties into consideration, for the group 24 I put in my 51 Plymouth. Do some shopping around.

Hey 3hundred, thanks for sharing that video! It was very informative!

I work at a tech college.....we go through batteries. Cars are always being charged, jumped, disconnected,keys left on, etc, etc. We thought we'd give Optima a shot (we got some donated to us) Under those ugly conditions the Optima did not fare well at all.Back to regular old stuff for us....most from Napa.

I have this battery in all my cars and truck. Here's a picture a friend took at a car show in September and was shocked to see the 6-13 date over 8 years old on a hemi? Just bought 1 for my truck online pickup at store and it discounted it and only cost $88.

Besides being the best battery tested, the WalMart battery has the added advantage of the ease of getting a replacement anywhere in the USA if needed, 24 hours a day, seven days a week 363 days a year (Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas in most states).

Red tops lasted seven years in a parallel arrangement. Two years running on the replacements. Very expensive!

Back in about 1990 I bought a Optima Red Top that lasted 16 years in a camper. I was sold on the brand. Bought nothing but Red Tops for everything I owned going forward. They worked and lasted many years. Than production moved to Mexico and the longevity went to crap. The last 2 I bought lasted maybe 2-3 years. I gave up on them and went back to lead/acid batteries.

For what it's worth, I tried a Walmart Everstart last Feb. I had to warranty it last week. Went dead short in 10 months. Not impressed.

For what it's worth, I tried a Walmart Everstart last Feb. I had to warranty it last week. Went dead short in 10 months. Not impressed.

I'd rather have this happen on something that costs close to $100 than one that costs almost $300.

It's just for my Dakota. I'll look into another AGM battery for my wagon when the time comes.

I have had several Optimas'...
Red Top in the RoadRunner lasted 11 years.
I had a Yellow Top in my Mitsu turbo Conquest car, it was (3) years old and I left the interior light on running down the battery..
My Sears charger couldn't recover it so I bought an Optima charger from Amazon, hooked it up and the Yellow Top charged right back up full...
The Optimas' are expensive now that CostCo no longer sells them but for me they have outlasted a conventional lead type battery...
However they are very sensitive for charging if run down, but here the Optima charger worked well for me..

Just my $0.02...

I would rather buy a battery that's guaranteed rather than cheaper priced. Ex: 12 month for $100 or 24 month for $135, I would buy the 24 month.
I can't understand why someone would spend $350 +/- on some fancy battery that maybe lasts 3 years if you're lucky and it's a roll of the dice after that especially when used in a non-daily driven collector type application. If they made a battery relatively affordable and available that was guaranteed for longer I might just buy one.
Copper

Well, I went with the EverStart, a little over $124.00 with tax out the door. Battery lists for $125.00, I have a friend that let me use their employee discount (not one of my EX's Doc so shuddap). 5yr warranty, 3 yr free replacement, 2 yr prorated.

Truck runs smoother now too. Hmmm.

Before I got rid of the RedTop, I looked for a manufacture date. Turns out it had been sitting for over a year before I bought it. So I guess you could say technically it lasted 5 years, not 4.. (battery I just bought is only 4 months old)

I noticed two things with the RedTop as I was disconnecting it. It was leaking from around the NEG post and the NEG post was loose. Not crazy wobble around loose, but I was able to move it with just my fingers. It wasn't leaking before, and I'm certain the post wasn't 'loose'. I'm not one to pry/rip terminals off of posts.

To kinda answer Copper Dart, I was looking at AGM batteries for my wagon because they are sealed. How many of our old cars are rotted all out around the battery tray area? I was (am) wanting to prevent this.

I just replaced the batteries in the '15 Durango (battery was bad) and the '16 300 (just cause it's getting old) with AC/Delco AGM Professional series. Durango is mounted in a well under the front passenger seat (biggest PITA I've ever dealt with battery wise) and the 300 in the trunk. What's remarkable is there wasn't a iota of corrosion present, ANYWHERE. NEVER seen that before, I didn't even clean the terminals. The D got a group 49 for ~ $200, the 300 got a group 94R for ~ $165 from Amazon. They're vented similarly to old Corvettes, but just one vent, on the end, you plug the other unused side with the supplied plug.

Just FYI, the dealer charged $113 to diagnose the battery and wanted MORE than $500 for the battery. She called me and I told her to just leave now but they'd already started the diagnosis when she called me. I was taken aback, they're cheap on oil changes, tires, filters, but batteries? Not bending over for that. Oh, and the $300 they want for the driver side front turn signal. Since I didn't spend $800 on a light bulb and a battery, I figured the two replacement batteries were cheap.

My Mother has a 2015 Corolla that she bought new. Three years in, the battery dropped a cell and was replaced under warranty. Since the battery change, I simply can NOT get the friggin' battery tie down to stop corroding. Zero corrosion on the terminals, just the cross piece on the tie down, nothing else. Replacement battery looked no different than what was originally in there, but honestly I didn't look very close.

My Optima score card:
Blue top: born 1-11: still used in our boat during the summer and race trailer in the winter to run the winch and cool down the racecar.

Red top 1: born 3-13: in my daily driven 96 Jeep XJ. Survives through some incredible under hood temps during the summer months. Still has OE battery cables.

Red top 2 & 3: born 2-18 and 2-19. The 18 came from my daughters 200 when she traded it in. My experiment with Duracell AGM batteries failed after 2 years in my 01 Dodge CTD pickup (Was looking for a more affordable AGM = fail! Got money back as they were 3yr battery). I bought another red top in 19 to pair up with the 18. Probably my third set of batteries in that vehicle in 20 years, and still sports the OE battery cables as well.

Red top 4: born 4-20. That ones in the race car

My “deal” with optima is this: zero acid/ corrosion damage in any of my vehicles. Avg life of a battery in the desert SW is 2 years. I’ve exceeded that every time by at least 3x. Do I hate paying for them? Uhhhh….. YEAH! abhorrently expensive!! On the other hand I’ve seen what wet cell batteries do out here and have made a ton of money repairing damage from them.

My hatred for batteries is only overshadowed by tires

I’ve moved on to Odyssey. Will take a few years to know how it goes. Buy at autozone to get the warranty handled easier.

The Yellow top in my Barracuda actually had a seal fail at the post and corroded my negative terminal. I was mad when I opened the box and saw that(i only open that box once or twice a year). It was ten years old and it still worked fine but I went ahead and replaced it, a friend still uses it on his trailer.

I am in the battery business and if I see trouble from optima's its usually a care issue like lack of use or improper charging. Everyone that brings one in for warranty usually has some crazy story to go with why its dead then I charge it up for them and its just fine lol. We usually sell a few thousand a year and warranty a few at most and of what we warranty most are not actually bad and we sell them as used. I had one of my own go bad last year but I technically killed it, dome lights were left on in my jeep and it sat for weeks and the battery was hammer dead, it charged back up but was never right again.

For the person who moved to Odyssey if you are having bad luck with Optima I would expect the same with that brand also. We sell some products by Enersys(makes Odyssey and originally designed optima) and I run Optima in all my vehicles from experience. If optima doesn't make a fit for it I will use a standard flat plate AGM battery from Interstate.

Last thing I highly recommend the Optima Brand of charger, I have the small 4 amp one and it is a great charger/maintainer. $100 well spent.