My crud Costco battery is slowly dying, so I'm looking for a good replacement. I run an amp on low power and my commute is really short, 2-3 miles to work or school. Needless to say, the battery takes some abuse and doesn't get charged much, although I don't run accessories on battery power that often. I've heard good things about Optima batteries, and I can get a yellow top locally for $120. Thoughts?

Yellow top sounds good. My Bosch battery performs really well, I hardly drive as well (I'm still on the same tank from Jan. 18), and I haven't had problems yet. Once a week, take her on a little drive to keep the battery kinda charged.

Werd. Yellow Top it is then, fellas. Thanks for the help. Matt, you didn't do much, no thanks to you.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Mar 13, 2011 - 11:04 AM

If you want to do it on the cheap, find an Interstate dealer and go buy a blem. I picked up a brand new battery with some physical damage for $45. Still works perfectly, they just can't sell batteries with physical blemishes for full price.

IMO, Interstate is the best battery you can get without going to optima. (I have both)

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ive heard that the yellow tops now an days are not up to par on what they advertise. ive talked to our interstate supplier and he recamended that i get a red top for the car.

difference between red top and yellow top is a starting battery vs a deep cycle battery.


deep cycle if you want to listen to the radio with the engine off.

red top if you live in the cold weather and want to run thicker oil in your engine for more protection/ performance.

Since the optima batteries make so much power; the difference between the yellow and the red top is not noticeable. The only disadvantage of using the wrong battery for the application is shortened battery life.

All batteries have parasitic drain therefore you will need to have a trickle charger for a car that is not driven often.

As long as you don't end up with one of the Wal-Mart Neverstart's, you'll be doing alright.

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paint the yellowtop red then...

I've got an autozone marine battery. 115 amphours ftw. (yellowtop is only 55 iirc).

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not worth it in my books. Simply because the warranty on the marine batteries at auto zone is 1 year free replacement and 3 years prorate. If your not running a sound system a deep cycle battery is worse for performance because its heavier and makes less CCA compaired to a regular starting battery of the same size.

If you have a sound system, you should use a deep cycle battery?
I don't drive in cold weather so CCA is not a big deal

^^ I think that should say if you have a big sound system. It won't make much of a difference on a little baby sound system.

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Its not about driving in the cold. Its about longevity.

Its a fact, a battery will slowly lose CCA as it ages; with less cranking amps the battery is force to work harder to start the car every time. Working the battery harder will wear out the battery faster which means decreased crank amps. The cycle then feeds on itself and one day the car will have so little CCA that it wont start leaving you stranded. You end up buying new batteries every 2 years, which cost 10x more then buying a proper battery that will last much longer and give you better performance.



With everything car related, there is never a perfect set up. If you have a sound system, you are better off with a deep cycle hands down. The main reason is because people will listen to the radio as they clean their cars. Draining a regular starting battery will cause a deep discharge and decrease its CCA. A deep cycle battery will tolerate this kind of abuse with less damage. So even if you have a minor sound system deep cycle is the way to go.

As we all know, a battery has little to do with how good a sound system sounds. If you want to make a dramatic improvement to your beats, dyno mat, high amp alternators, ground kits, filters, and capacitors will give you way better return on your investment.

Yea I'm not too worried about the sound, just don't want my system to kill the battery I buy.
I've heard good things about the kirkland batteries from costco, any opinions?

Good posts Hanyo.


If you can find an affordable Optima, do so. I never get one because it would have to last 3x as long as a regular lead acid 500cca (which is adequate) to pay itself off.

They do have the advantage of being lighter, and mountable in the boot without a sealed box.


500cca lead acid battery is good enough to give u 30 minutes of sounds with a 12" subwoofer on battery power before you should start your engine

shamefully i had a walmart turd battery cuz i was broke at the time. lol lasted not even 6 months haha but yellow top is the bees knees man. do it!!

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I love my yellow top - matches my paint too - but I'm thinking about upgrading to the blue top...

^ Werd, good, thank you. Why are you considering the blue top? I've yet to replace my battery, I'm probably going to get myself stranded if I keep pushing this one. I vow to replace it in the next two weeks.

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Funny you should ask, that's exactly the battery I'm replacing. I guess it's okay for being at least 3 years old, mostly doing short city trips (<10 minutes), and supplying 150 watts for an amp in the past year.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Apr 11, 2011 - 6:35 PM

I've had a Costco one for over 2 years and it works great for my needs, especially for its price. It is one of the few things i don't commonly ponder upgrading on my car I guess you could say.

I"ve heard that they have a really good warranty on them, and around here everyone has recommended them.
I can't really justify spending that much on an optima battery..

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Its a little perdy-er. LOL!

... but now that I think about it, with the relocation the the hatch, it won't matter how nice it looks anyway.

I'll be keeping my yeller-top.