Best AGM battery?

[JKnight]

Interesting. The Batteries Plus dealer I purchased through tested the battery prior to proclaiming it warrantable. Are all dealers required to perform a test?

Given what you're saying, it seems like the dealer network needs either better training or equipment to identify bad batteries vs. undercharged batteries. This would help Optima's warranty expense significantly...

[philofab]

Originally Posted by JKnight

Interesting. The Batteries Plus dealer I purchased through tested the battery prior to proclaiming it warrantable. Are all dealers required to perform a test?

Given what you're saying, it seems like the dealer network needs either better training or equipment to identify bad batteries vs. undercharged batteries. This would help Optima's warranty expense significantly...

The problem is Autozone's, Oriley's, and many other retailers that have a huge employee turn over. Why train an employee if your only going to keep him or her for 3 months?

I come across good Optima batteries more often than you would think in my core piles.... some take a couple of days to bring back though.

[OptimaJim]

Jeff, ideally all retailers are supposed to attempt to charge and test any battery before making warranty exchanges, although that doesn't always happen. As Chris mentioned, some retailers do have higher turnover rates with their employees, which by itself makes it challenging to keep everyone trained, but that is an issue all battery manufacturers face.

On our retail side, we do have an Optima University training program that tours the country throughout the year. We also host an online training program for our retail partners that offers discounts of up to 20% off, upon completion.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

[TheJDMan]

Speaking of You Tube videos, here is a video of how the Odyssey batteries are made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P-wq...eature=related

Here is a better video of how to recharge a deeply discharged Optima. I suspect this proceedure would work with any deeply discharged AGM battery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slqd7...eature=related

[Track Junky]

My $.02

I have been buying red top optima's since 2000. First and second one lasted me about 5 years each. Last year I bought another red top from Oreilly's. Went bad in a month. In a 6 or 7 month period I returned 5 batteries. All had a dead cell when returned. After the 5th battery they told me this is the last time. I went to Tagnotti's and picked up a red top there. All is good with this one and its been in my car for about 8 months now.

Something must have gone wrong somewhere with Optima maybe for a short period of time is what I'm guessing.