FWIW, I've heard/read Costco batteries are made by the same makers as Optima now. Although, I've also heard Optima quality is nowhere near where it used to be. I've had mine since '06 or '07, can't remember, and it's still cranking just like it did when I bought it.

Before my Costco battery, I had an Odyssey lightweight battery, but it would barely make it a week after about 6 months of usage, too much of a hassle if you don't drive your car often. Then, barely would last 2 days after a year. Also, because they're so small, even though car batteries are deep cycle batteries, they still get damaged when you drain them too much. So, leaving your car for a few days w/o driving then starting a car really shortens the life of the battery, unless you get a battery tender or something similar. Not worth it for a dd IMHO.

 

Optima started having bad qc about 4 years ago.

If you want a good cheap battery go for a duralast gold top.

More cold cranking amps.

Ive watched full 2 hour movies on my touch screen with the subwoofer on to make it sound like im in a theater. Car was off and started up just fine afterwards.

 

I've never been very impressed with Optima. The old red tops were overpriced POS

 

Ha, i know exactly what you mean. Although the other day i did see a girl in front of me do a complete 360 going downhill near the skyline end in the rain. Luckily she managed to not hit anything and some how end up stopped on the small shoulder. How she managed to do that going 35mph is beyond me. You would of thought she was on racing slicks. As for the rally, man I could totally see that. The lookout point halfway down would be great for spectators, ha. Love that road.

Also to the OP, i've been on a lightweight Braille battery for about a year now with out any problems and I dont keep a charger on it. I do however drive the car a few times a week though to keep it up. The extra room under the hood it saves also is a nice bonus if you work under the hood alot like I do. The thing is tiny. Before that I had a Deka which is supposely the exact same battery and I forgot it was hooked up and went on vacation for 3 weeks. I came back and it was dead and wouldnt take a charge. So as long as your driving the car you should be fine, or put a charger like everyone else is saying on it. They mount nicely on their side also.

 

Lightweight battery dudes: have you tried using a solar charger that sits on the dash and plugs into the cigarette lighter?

 

Do you have a link to this? I am curious to see it.

 

I looked into it when I had one, but you need to modify your cig lighter. It has a fuse that's pretty easy to blow and a pita to replace so you'll have to bypass it. Also, from what I've read, w/o the key at the acc position, power won't go to your battery, so you have to modify that too. I was too lazy, lol.

 

Simple solution, you cut the plug off the line to the solar panel, then you wire it directly to the battery positive, the negative you ground to any spot.

HOWEVER, I will tell you now they don't work worth a damn. I had one on my 4runner for a while and it could not keep up with the draw from the alarm and ECU. I changed out to a good float charger and no problems.

 

Seems like you could pick up a universal 12v socket and wire it in for this purpose. Would be easy enough. I have done that w/ a 3way to power nav, phone and bearcat previously.

 

I don't know much about them but here is a link to a random one I found


Good point on the modifications. Sounds like it might be easier to wire it straight to the battery instead of the cig lighter.