My 4 year old OEM battery seems to be on it's last legs and I'm looking for a high quality battery.This truck is a work vehicle and the interior lights and stereo are always running down the battery during the work day often leaving me with a dead battery when it's time to go home.I am considering the Optima or Odysyss batteries which seem to have great deep cycle capabilities although they are expensive.Costco actually has the Optima and their regular line of batteries is also supposed to be good and they're very reasonably priced.Any recommendations regarding a good battery choice would be appreciated.I also just purchased a portable jump starter in case no-one is around to jump-start my vehicle.I was planning on keeping this unit in my vehicle and I guess I have to keep in mind the fact that if it's very cold out the unit itself may very well be discharged(or partially discharged) and may not help me in an emergency.If I'm mistaken about that just a regular high quality battery would probably suffice with the jumper as a back-up.

 

If you are continually running down your battery, that probably shortened it's life considerably.

It's going to be difficult to find a battery with lots of cold cranking amps, plus deep cycle capabilities. Some of the high quality batteries you listed would probably work, but you mentioned you still might have to buy a jump start unit. That is still not good for the starting battery.

If you are always going to be in a situation were the battery could be run down by the radio, etc. you may want to consider a second battery with a battery isolator. With this setup, you can buy a normal starting battery and install it as original to start the engine. Then, if you can find a spot to put it(this may be the hardest part), buy a second deep cycle battery. The second battery will be hooked to the alternator through the isolator. And your radio and other loads will be connected to the second battery.

In this configuration, you can run the radio as long as you want, till it runs the deep cycle battery completely down. But the isolator will keep the load off the starting battery, so you will have full power to start the vehicle, no matter what the weather.

 

Thanks for the reply Franklin2.I ended up buying an Everstart Maxx for $71 at Walmarts.It got a good rating from consumer reports and with a 36/108 warranty I felt I couldn't go wrong.I know draining the battery frequently drastically shortens the life of the battery so at least if I kill the battery prematurely Walmart is very user-friendly regarding the warranty.Johnson controls makes the battery for whatever that's worth.The Optima's have a short warranty due to the fact that they know people will abuse the deep cycle capabilities and even though I know it's supposed to be a great battery that was a turn-off to me.

 

I have to agree with your reasoning. I also buy batteries and tires from common chain stores for the convienence of the warrenty in case something goes wrong, even when I am far away from home. I always keep the receipts in the glove box.