Odyssey battery journey.

[f355spider]

You can buy Odyssey batteries from FCP Euro and it will come with a lifetime replacement warranty. But it comes as a credit to your account, not cash or credit back to your credit card, after you purchase the replacement and return the defective one. Fine if you buy a lot from FCP Euro...but if you don't own a european car, you might have a hard time spending the credit.

Obviously expensive to ship a battery, but the lifetime warranty could make it worth it.

Looks like they only carry four sizes
https://www.fcpeuro.com/Parts/?keywords=odyssey

Group 47 H5
Group 48 H6
Group 94R H7
Group 49 H8

 

[UncleDave]

I have an Optimate 6 which is on their approved list.

I have a dozen of these.
Some more than decade old that spend the night in the rain on the ground.

I've never found a more flexible thrown charger. It handles everything from a small genset battery to a RV quad bank.

I had some trouble with the 10, Optimate took care of me.

 

[UncleDave]

Unfortunately there isn’t an odyssey dealer on every corner. There is a Napa in almost every town, big and small. Sounds like odyssey needs to make Napa official. If I spend $350 for battery and it goes bad, I’d expect who I bought it from to take care of the issue and not have someone throw their hands up.

It'd be great if they made NAPA a dealer.

Im not understanding the problem though, because the guy you buy it from does take it back.

You can choose direct, or a dealer, there just arent a lot of dealers.

The really good stuff always has somewhat limited distribution.

 

[Hohn]

13 years 3 months in my 2002 E350 4x4 V10 camper van and I live near the Phoenix heat where most batteries die from the heatView attachment 276697. It gave me no indication that there was anything wrong with it, but I was going camping very remotely for a few days and I decided that that it was time. Mine was bought during the short period that the Sears Die Hard name was on them. Today the chain store Batteries Plus sells them under the name of X2. I put one in the P car this week. You can get 18% off by giving your email and phone number.

The X2 units are excellent and you don’t need to worry about shipping as you can inspect before buying.

 

[D1dad]

It'd be great if they made NAPA a dealer.

Im not understanding the problem though, because the guy you buy it from does take it back.

You can choose direct, or a dealer, there just arent a lot of dealers.

The really good stuff always has somewhat limited distribution.

I’ve had an odyssey in my cart but never ordered it. Until now I’d have been none the wiser that Napa could sell it, make the commission and then we’re done with it. Seems like kind of a good deal for odyssey and Napa, bad deal for the customer. I wonder if autozone is the same way? They’d price match Napa.

 

[Hohn]

The X2 units are excellent and you don’t need to worry about shipping as you can inspect before buying.

I wanted to add a little color as to why I'm so sold on these X2 (Odyssey) batteries.

The Short version of the story is that I was driving around with a dead alternator for a day or two and in the process of trying to confirm it was, in fact, the alternator I managed to get that poor battery down to under 5V. That's almost always a death sentence for any battery

My little gooloo battery charger kept kicking out and saying the battery was irreparably damaged. But I noticed that if I kept re-engaging the charger, it would run a bit longer before kicking out and giving up. After repeated cycles of this, I managed to get the battery fully recharged and it was happily still in service three years later when I sold the car.

Yes, these X2s are expensive. But after that experience, I will buy nothing else if I can help it.

 

[Donald]

Why go with an Oddessey vs a plain AGM battery?

 

[D1dad]

Why go with an Oddessey vs a plain AGM battery?

Status symbol lol. In all seriousness, lots of these batteries are still in service 10-15 yrs later with next to no maintenance. I’m sure with my luck I wouldn’t get 5 yrs and would charge it every other day.

 

[UncleDave]

Why go with an Oddessey vs a plain AGM battery?

TPPL architecture gives you both high crank and deep cycles in the same unit.

 

[f355spider]

Why go with an Oddessey vs a plain AGM battery?

Performance and life. In Consumer Reports testing, the X2 Power and Odyssey were generally top performing in most sizes. BUT, with that said, there were still some AGM and flooded batteries that occasionally outperformed or were very close to them.

Surprisingly in Group 65, all samples of the X2 Power were the lowest performing and estimated life, and were not recommended.

 

[MParr]

An automotive battery is something that I would never buy online.

 

[f355spider]

An automotive battery is something that I would never buy online.

I have, its not a big deal. Only AGMs and lithium can be shipped, or flooded (but without the acid). But no one really bothers selling flooded batteries online anymore, just AGM and lithium.

The only issue one needs to research is how will the warranty be handled if ever needed. Do you have to ship it back to the seller? That can be an expensive proposition.

For example Walmart will ship their AGM batteries right to your door at no extra charge. And you can handle the core and warranty issues at their nearest store. That can be pretty convenient. But if the retailer only has an online presence, then a warranty return could be expensive.

The exception is the FCP Euro I posted above. They warranty for life, so sending it back, even at your cost, you get a $300+ high performance Odyssey battery exchange is worth it for many. The only issue with their policy is it is a credit to your account, which you can spend on car parts for your euro car.

 

[Donald]

I put two group 65 AGMs from Walmart in my F-,259 PSD. I am in DE now so no below zero starts like I had in NY. So far so good.

From what I understand the charging needs of spiral wound or Odyssey are different than a flooded or plain AGM

So if you vehicle came with flooded then a plain AGM would be a drop in but the spiral wound and Odyssey might not.

 

[Donald]

Walmart has a "Full Throttle" AGM group 35 for $700. What with that? Gold plated terminals?

 

[D1dad]

I put two group 65 AGMs from Walmart in my F-,259 PSD. I am in DE now so no below zero starts like I had in NY. So far so good.

From what I understand the charging needs of spiral wound or Odyssey are different than a flooded or plain AGM

So if you vehicle came with flooded then a plain AGM would be a drop in but the spiral wound and Odyssey might not.

My cars came with EFB’s. So it doesn’t matter which way I go. An enhanced flooded battery is like Kramer said…”the biggest scam since one hour martinizing”

 

[f355spider]

From what I understand the charging needs of spiral wound or Odyssey are different than a flooded or plain AGM

So if you vehicle came with flooded then a plain AGM would be a drop in but the spiral wound and Odyssey might not.

There are different charging requirements for Odyssey and Optima when recharging it from a near or complete discharge.

There is no special charging requirements for operation in a vehicle. Example: Ferrari started putting red top Optimas in their special lightweight model 430 Scuderia because they weighed about 8 or 10 lbs less than the plate type AGM they put in the regular F430. The car has the exact same alternator as the F430.

I put an Odyssey Group 34R in a old 1997 Ferrari F355 spider and it was in there for years and was in it when I sold it. I used a generic NAPA 1.5 amp battery tender perhaps once a month on it.