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Is that about the best you can get for a trolling deep cycle. I need to buy 2 before spring and was just curious about what you guys thought. I believe they have a 2 yr warranty. Or is there something just as good for less money. these are like 200 each
I don't think much of them at all. They are fairly small capacity for the price. Most any Group 27 TM battery will give you a longer day on the water, although the AGM has a longer life. Cabelas has their Group 31 AGMs on sale right now for $179, and they are 205 minute RC compared to the biggest Optima at 155 minutes.
I tried the AGM and after the 5 set told them they needed to give me my money back,
I then went to Sears and bought two of the 31class die hards, 3mo. ago? and 19 hr. on one charge aint bad.
tracker 17ft.5in boat type, terrova trolling motor 70lb thrust.
Persoally, save your money. The lead acid batteries give you more run time/$. The savings will put tackle in the box and gas in the tank. A buddy of ours always had to quit early because his Optima's ran out of juice.
Personally, I've never run AGMS or The Optimas for some of the reasons mentioned....too much $ per RC. Heck, for the same money as a pair of Optimas, you could get 4 wal-mart specials and still be running on the first set of Wal-Marts when the Optimas run out of juice. Sure, the Optimas will still be in service long after the Wal-Marts will have to be replaced, but how many trips are you going to have to cut short for no juice in the mean time.
If you want to spend the $ for a quality lead acid battery, look at Trojan. SC225. They are made as well as lead acid can be.
Then again, they charge accordingly for them as well. I believe about $150 for them...compare the RC at 225 to the Cabelas AGM at 205 for $179. Still more run time in the lead acid, but additional weight and probably won't give you quite the same number of years of service....although, I'll bet it would be close.
Wannabe...
Got a couple of NAPA grp 31's, and they work good.
Wannabe nailed that one! If I didn't get those Exide/WalMart/? batt. cheap, I'd be on them Trojans. They're dependable and last 2x longer when taken care of properly. My buddy has over 800 cycles/charges on grp 27's, not counting conditioning. I've been getting about 300 out of them Everlast/Exide 27's. The Optimas haven't lasted longer, but they charge faster and your supposed to charge them pretty hot. Truth is, buy as big of battery as possible and take care of them. The maintenance thing is different with all of us, just keep em charged and you should do alright.
Picked up a blemished Interstate back in the fall and quit running my batts in parallel sine one is a grp 29 WM battery and this one is a grp 27 batt. I have trolled as much as 6 hrs on that one battery (longlining) with enough juice left to have finished out a full day. Havent used the WM battery since I got the Interstate. For a $30 blem I couldnt be more happy.:)
I have a tracker pt 175 with a 36lb tm, a wally w orld/everstart battery lasts all day for me, or a couple trips. I dont fish all day but use my tm more than the big one at the back of the boat for sure.
I have the optima's in my boat and love em! I bought the boat with them in it. I fish all day and never run out of juice. I have had them for 4 or 5 years and dont know how long they were in there before me! Just my 2 cents!