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Thanks for all the info. I'm going to first replace the battery, since it's pretty damn old. I looked into the Optima batteries, as suggested, and for my car they say the Yellow Top fits, but they're pretty expensive and I don't really have the cash right now. Are there any other recommendations, or would simply a brand new Die Hard or the like be better regardless, since my current battery is crap.

Just to give an example, I had my flashers on for 10 min, and the battery almost died, barely turned the engine over when I went to start the car again. That was back in Dec.

If your only running one battery I would go with a red top, not a yellow, unless you plan on listening with the engine off for extended amounts of time.

Yeah Sears Die Hards are pretty good batteries, my dad ran them for years, and I've even used a couple in my installs.

But when it comes down to spending the extra cash, I would run an optima.

Yeah I know there are better batteries for use with stereos, but I travel a lot, so I need a battery I know will start my car after it has been setting for a couple months.

Hell I was playing my stereo one day playing with the angles on my components. A few hours into it, my battery is toast, won't even power the dome light. So I locked her up, and just walked away for a few hours. Came back out, and she started right up.

So, what is the consensus on batteries? Optima red top is their least expensive line? Are there other brands that are trusted? Die Hard/Duralast, are they decent? Are there others?

Edit: as for the Optima series, their battery finder says only a Yellow Top will fit in my Civic. It's about the same price as a red top, so not much difference. The Die Hard that would fit my vehicle would be ~$60 less.

Yellow is a deep cycle battery, red is a starting battery.

If it says the yellow will fit, then so will the red.

JeremyC wrote:Yellow is a deep cycle battery, red is a starting battery.
If it says the yellow will fit, then so will the red.

Well, I'm confused then, why would their battery finder only point be to the Yellow top? D51R is the battery it shows me.

edit: I looked, and the D51R is more than an inch smaller in width. I remember seeing that my current battery was unusually thin, so, I think that's why it's only showing me the yellow top.

ryboto wrote:So, what is the consensus on batteries?

Deka above both Optima and Diehard... More expensive than the Sears, but less than the Optima and better than both

By the way, if you don't have a place nearby that sells Deka Intimidators... Check your local CarQuest parts house... The CarQuest NGT is the same exact battery made by East Penn

It depends on what red or yellow top you get. They have different sizes.

Hey Micheal how does the DEKA do when left setting for months at a time? Thats the main reason I'm afraid to go with something other than an optima. I KNOW I can abuse the crap out of an optima, and then leave it setting for 2 months and it will start right up.

They work great... We had the one that Bill used in his blazer sitting for months before using it in the Buick as an under the hood battery.

Keep in mind I am Not a Deka dealer, but I am an Optima/ Kinetic/ Shuriken/ Powermaster dealer... So if I recommend the Deka for a starter, you know it's gotta be good

JeremyC wrote:It depends on what red or yellow top you get. They have different sizes.

Hey Micheal how does the DEKA do when left setting for months at a time? Thats the main reason I'm afraid to go with something other than an optima. I KNOW I can abuse the crap out of an optima, and then leave it setting for 2 months and it will start right up.

does it really matter if I get a red top over a yellow? The prices I saw had the costing about the same. And again, the group size for my vehicle is 51R, at least that's what Sears and Optima tell me. They look thinner than most batteries, and the dimensions are different compared to all the others. Deka sounds interesting, but I'd want to know the battery would fit before I spent the money.