As an electric vehicle drag racer I can say Optima's are on the way out. When they went in to Costco myself and other dealers seen our warranty rates on them sky rocket. I blew six blue tops in one weekend. Replaced them with wet cells in the same application and had no problem. Optima is the reason why my drag bike went a 1/2 second slower for my official record, which has now been beat. My unofficial record still stands though. They were once my number one choice, now they don't exist as an option anymore. The batteries from 2 years ago still kick butt, but the new ones suck.
Optima's are AGM (Asorbed Glass Mat) batteries. There are tons of other choices on the market. Right now the Excide Orbitial seems to be doing well. The only problem is Exide manufactures their batteries for a price. Meaning they decide on a price, a profit margin, and then go buy materials. So once they have a following I fully expect to see their AGM's to go the way Optima did. The old adage don't eat the yellow snow applies. In other words you will get what you pay for.
Hawker Genesis, Trojan, M&K SVR (really Deka) and Deka/East Penn work the other way. Build a good quality unit, add a profit margin, and then give the consumer the price. They end up being more expensive, but well worth the investment. (i.e. most people would pay 10-20% more to upgrade from a Escort to a Expedition) You will be able to find these in the price range of the Optima's two/ three years ago. A tell tale sign of quality is if you look in new RV's and electric golf carts, 9 times out of 10 you will find Trojan batteries. In industrial applications you find Deka. You will never find Optima's, which would lower the cost of manufacture if they were used. So they are not being used for a reason.
The Deka Imitiadator is new to the market this year, and is quickly taking a chunk out of Exide's Orbitial, which says a lot when it is more expensive. Deka also is the biggest manufacturer in NA, and by far the largest manufacturer of AGM batteries. My shop formerly distributed InterState, Blue Star (Delphi), Optima and I currently distribute East Penn/Deka (my preferred), Trojan, Delphi, and BatCap batteries.
If you guys want I can see what kind of arrangements I can make for you to buy Deka's or Trojans through me, but pick up locally for you. I don't know if it is possible or not. But both companies are pretty flexible that way. I know I can in Canada for sure, but it will be a bit trickier in the US. If I can you might be able to get the better batteries at the same price as Costco's Optimas ( I don't know how much of discount I can get, presently my cost is over the Optima's retail price, but if enough people are interested, you never know) Thoughts?
