bigarms23

spend the money on the yellow top it has enough charge for offroad lights,winch,and powerful sterio system

88wildrunner

how much have you guys paid for your yellow tops. 4wheelparts lists it for $179 is that an average price for them or do they get cheaper?

Toyvana

I'm running Optima Red Tops on both of my vehicles without any problems for the last couple years.

$179 sounds average but if you keep shopping around you may find a Yellow Top cheaper somewhere. I think 4WPW also has a price match for so many weeks if you do find it cheaper somewhere else after you buy from them.

speltwrong

This one is easy...Ive had the same Optima Red Top in my 99 for about 3 years and over 120,000 miles. I have a 700watt and and 1 12". I have some rock lights but nothing else to write home about. I have left my lights on...I have left my stereo playing at parties...its come loose from the hold down on a couple of trips. It has handled so much abuse and I have had no issues. I will never own another type of battery. I put one in my wife's 03 Runner.

Brenjen

My Odyssey was less than that & as everyone knows Odyssey is the king of the battery world, not the failure prone Optima.

DCYota

But, no one knows what size works for a 1st gen. Runner or 2nd gen. pickup?

I'm assuming a group 25 would work, as that's the size of the stock battery. I've also heard people using group 34 as well.......so any insight on this?

Brenjen

As for the Optima, I couldn't say since I went with an Odyssey but the one I used needed a 1/2" spacer for the stock batt. hold down to grab it. However; Odyssey is making a battery that is a direct drop in replacement now; I think it was just released last month.

I went with the PC1500, West Coast Batteries Inc. can tell you which one is the direct replacement size for your vehicle. I got lucky & found a distributor near where my sister lives (the only one in the state) that wanted $155 or so for the Odyssey. I was going up that way anyway so the long drive was a non-factor.

machabees

walk in price at advance auto for a yellow top is 170.
I agree with some of the previous posts about yellows vs reds.
I have never heard of anyone having a single problem from a yellow and I used to work in parts. However, we did have the occasional red that just seemed to be a dud. IDK why that is put it doesn't make me hesitate in the slightest from recommending the yellow.

88 4runner SR5 with 4cyl should be a group 25 with a height adapter.

MMA_Alex

24 or 25 fits. i forget which is stock, but they're almost identical in size.

group 34 fits (its smaller) but i think the terminals are reversed. Thats what I had in my truck when I bought it, and i think I had to switch the cables around to get the 24/25 in there

88wildrunner

i went with a yellow top their only $162 at costco wich is cheaper then getting a red top locally in auburn.

DCYota

Thanks for the group size info guys. I'm going to head out to Costco tomorrow and pick up a Yellow Top as well. I don't have a ton of lights and a winch, but those will be added within about 6 months, so I may as well get the yellow top. Right now I only have 2 Hella 500s wired up to my ARB bumper, but I may be putting 4 on top of my truck attached to the roof rack on my cap. So the Yellow will be great for that extra load.

tc

Optima's quality seems to have gone in the toilet lately - been seeing a lot of complaints about the redtop.

I have used both, and IMHO, the red top isn't worth the extra money over a "normal" battery.

When I was shopping for a battery several months ago, I went with a Diehard Truck/SUV - had more CCA AND reserve than red top. NOTE reserve is more important in our applications than CCA.

If I had it to do over, I would have gone with the Diehard Platinum (aka Odyssey). I would have gone Odyssey at the time, but couldn't find anyone who had one in stock and I needed a battery like NOW.

ETRNL

i paid $125 for my orbital and when one of the cells died after 4 years they replaced it for free..

Belize Off Road Team

Optima is top notch for power providing.
CAT i was running was VERY good for providing power for my Sub, CD player, hella black magic and fog/driving/theme lights without showing on the battery gauge. with my new cheapy garbage Belize/Mexican batteries they are to small, have lower/crappy power output.