I have had good and bad luck with NAPA batteries. I have two of the 12 volt deep cycle batteries in a previous motorhome that were in service for more that 5 years.

However, I have had NAPA 6 volt deep cycle in the my current motorhome (diesel-pusher house batteries) that have not lasted 6 months. Starting batteries (AutoZone store brand) are more than 5 years old are reaching a questionable range.

For wet-cell deep cycle I tend to lean towards Interstate.

I have been looking at different 12 volt AGM types with varying results.

Winch operation and wheeling in general puts a stress on batteries. I am always interested in others experiences with particular setups.

I have a Group 31 battery in my Raider, too! Wonderfully large, long capacity for my laptop and such.

John, you should start to have better luck out of NAPA batteries. There was a supplier change about a year ago. Exide's build quality and order fill rate had literally gone to crap. So, they fired Exide and went with East Penn. All NAPA's in the NE US were already using them with very good results. East Penn also manufactures Deka batteries.

The battery I gave Brendan was comped by my rep. He usually gives me several dozen to comp out every year. I buy roughly $75K in batteries annually, so all I have to do is ask...

The Liberator is an AGM sealed battery meant for commercial environments. It holds up real well against vibration, extreme temps and heavy loads/discharges. All of which are common in our vehicles... This is by no means meant to sway you away from Optima. Johnson Controls who makes Optimas manufactures a fine product. JC also makes Interstate and many "house brand" batteries, like IIRC O'Reilly's, Autozone's, Advance's and Sears'.

Thanks for the info.

I have been going through a number of batteries the past year. Recently, my two 5 year old Optima Redtops in the Jeep bit the dust after I inadvertently left the key on for a couple of days and drained the batteries. I could not revive them... Two Yellow tops are now installed.

And, last fall I went the rounds with the 6-volt wet cell deep cycle batteries in my motorhome (8 batteries in four months) where they were being cooked due to faulty charge controller. I now have a new module that senses battery temperature and shuts down the charge when internal battery temps increase. Four Interstate 6-volt deep cycle are now installed.

I had an Odyssey AGM in by Dodge that didn't make 3 years. So, back to Sears Diehard where it is easier to get warranty service.

And, I am down to the two starter batteries on the motorhome that will need replacement within the coming months.

So, I am looking for durable batteries...

East Penn is an excellent quality manufacturer.. We exclusively use in our maintenance of commercial UPS systems their Deka brand batteries in UPS systems requiring 12 volt batteries.. These of course are AGM/GEL cells.

http://www.eastpenn-deka.com/assets/base/0965.pdf