Optima battery suggestions

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I didn't suggest a regular DieHard nor the DieHard Gold (the regular DieHard batteries have been made by a number of different manufacturers over the years, as such I won't recommned them... they're like a box of chocolates...); I suggested the DieHard Platinum. Do as you wish, of course. I'm merely giving you my opinion... after two Optimas I did a LOT of research before buying my next battery.

Try this another way... don't search for GOOD reviews... search for BAD reviews. Go to Google and search the following terms: "Optimas suck", "Optima sucks", "DieHard Platinums suck" and "DieHard Platinum sucks"... USE QUOTES. Look through the results to make sure they're referring to batteries.

Absolutely do not base your decision on my recommendation; do your own research, read up on how they're all constructed and make an educated decision. There is a LOT of bad information about Optima batteries though and it gets hard to know if the source is reputible. I'll start with pointing out that Optimas are not a Gel Cell as people like to claim. It is a sealed AGM (absorbed glass mat) battery; Nothing very unique about this actually, a lot of higher quality batteries are... it reduces damage due to vibration and reduces internal shorting due to moving particulate from what I recall. There are supposed to be power advantages to the AGM construction as well, but I do not recall the details. AGM batteries do require slightly different charging strategies if drained significantly... if using a battery charger make sure it is AGM compatible. Gel batteries require a COMPLETELY different charging strategy and really should not be supplied power from an alternator without the requisite controller added in between.

Just going off memory here... things may have changed a bit in the past couple years, so do your own research as I said (don't rely on people just saying what they stuffed under the hood because Joe Bob said he had one too).