My 06 Screw failed to start last nite . It wassitting outside in 10 degree weather and needed to have a charger hooked up to get it started. so I have come to the conclusion it's time for a new battery. My local Farm & Fleet has 850 CCA batteries for around $85 with their store label on it. Does anyone know who makes batteries for Farm & Fleet ? They also carry Optima batteries. Each carry a 3 year replacement warrenty. The Optima is priced at $145 . Is there a difference in batteries to warret huge price differences ?

 

the cheap one will work fine. more money doesnt always mean better. in fact alot of people have problems with optima batteries...

 

I always buy Walmart batteries because theyre cheaper than branded ones. Ive never had an issue with them

 

Today's Optoma batteries are nowhere near as good as what they used to be. Me personally I have an Interstate Mega Tron Plus. Good battery.

Farm and Fleet batteries are made by Johnson Controls. Look on this page to see. http://www.jgdarden.com/batteryfaq/batbrand.htm

 

I got an Optima red top in scratch and dent for $20 from a battery place about six years ago and it still works great. I also bought a new one for $150 probably 3 years ago for another vehicle. The Optimas always start up no matter what the temp and are good for stereos too. Optimas are the only batteries I will ever buy from now on and they are definitely worth the price. I also saw a Truck U episode on tv that tested an Optima red top. They stuck it in a bag of dry ice for a while and got the temp to I think like -50F and it still had voltage, obviously not as much as before the ice but it wasn't dead by any means. I tried to find a video of that but couldn't find it.

 

Yu may want to do somechecking into the Optima. It is my understanding that they sold the company and the new owners have purposely cut the quality to cut costs and they are nowhere near the same as they used to be. A former employee was telling that, don't know if he was correct or not.

 

Be careful of second hand information regarding the Optima batteries... I have a RedTop in my truck and have extreme weather conditions here in the Oregon Cascades. It always starts and it does have an 84 month warranty with 1000 CCA. It can be mounted in any position and will take extreme off road abuse without batting an eye. I've had mine for over a year... It just works...

 

1000 CCA ??

What did you have to give for that battery?

 

I paid 300 for my Kinetik HC1800 with warranty. It is a deep cell battery with plenty of juice for my 3 amplifiers and is capable of 1900 CCA. I can jump-start a Powerstroke without my truck running...

Very reliable in cold temps. The lowest I've been in is -6F though.

Optimas are garbage nowadays. My friends have had multiple Optimas fail within a year or 2.

 

I have a Napa 800CCA battery in my truck. Its excellent, $110 with a $10 rebate of me giving them my OEM battery. Instantly the starter noise sounded so much healthier, and it doesn't die, been almost a year since then. 72 month warranty, Very happy.

With the OEM battery on its last leg last year, my truck died 4 times on me, the final time remarkably was when I was looknig to buy the house i'm in now, it died in the driveway, I took it as a good sign and it apparently was

 

I dont know if there's a difference or not but according to Optima's websight redtops have 1000 Crank Amps.. Cold Crank amps is only 720-800 depending on which group you went with

I have the Sears Platinum 2, GRP 65.. it has 930 CCA.. Comes with 48 month full replacement, 52 month prorated, 100 month total warranty. $189.99

 

i know that optimas web site says there batteries only have around 720/800 cca but my stock ford battery took a crap TODAY and i bought a red top they tested it for me brand new and showed me the tester while it was hooked up and it rear 1009 cca and it was only rated at 750 so the optimas are def worth the price in my book and are very under rated by optima it was $180 but with a 84 month war. you cant beat it!

 

Newer Optima's sucks period. I've had 4 total. 2 red which both exchanged under warranty then I exchanged/upgraded to 2 yellows. The yellow are better than the reds but still junk IMO. The reds wouldn't hold a charge if they ever went dead. With the yellows I still couldn't let my truck sit for more than 48 hours before it would have to be jump started. I changed over to a Odyssey (Made in the USA) battery and I haven't drove my truck in nearly a week and it started right up. If you can score a older Optima then you've done good. But getting a battery made in this country really makes me happy that I am supporting my economy not china's.

 

My Old Optima works awesome in the coldest temps! My daily driver, had a Interstate Megatron from 2005 & it also works great!.....

 

Last fall, I noticed that my original battery was cranking just a bit slower, so I ran over to Autozone to get it tested. It tested out at 79%, so I decided to get a new one, I figured 6+ years on the OEM was great and I'd rather not wait till it actually failed. The guys at this particular AZ are straight shooters and very knowledgeable, no kids work there. They talked me out of an Optima, and one of the reasons is as has already been said - they were getting a lot of them back. I walked out of there with a Duralast Gold - 3 year free replacement, 8 year prorated warranty - I think it's 880 CCA, for $100.