Hello, I noticed your conversation involving our products and wanted to offer some clarification. The advice Doug received is what we typically recommend in racing applications. When pumps and/or fans are being run in between rounds and/or there is no charging system we would recommend a YellowTop. If a vehicle has an alternator that can maintain voltage (not underdriven) and can handle the vehicle's electrical demands after starting, then a RedTop is fine.
BlueTops are identical internally to their YellowTop counterparts (except the 34M, which is the marine version of the Group 34 RedTop). BlueTops offer additional threaded top post terminals for marine and RV applications, they are more expensive than YellowTops and their warranty is typically shorter (Group 31 is the same).
The quality of the batteries we manufacture (and we manufacture all of our own batteries, in our own facility) has always been excellent. The batteries we are manufacturing today are the best we've ever made. No manufacturer has a 0% defect rate, but any suggestion of widespread quality issues at any point in our production are false. Our plant and our main distribution hub in Laredo, Texas were both temporarily paused as of yesterday, due to weather-related electrical outages. We also had a two-week anticipated shutdown in April of last year due to COVID-19, but had a 90-day inventory stockpiled at that point. Other manufacturers were not so fortunate.
1uke, did you get warranty service on the RedTop you had in your truck?
Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries