[kcritch]

I have one of the Optima's and it has lasted three years so far and still strong. I can run 6 - 8 hours on a 55lb thrust trolling motor and at the end of the day the thing has plenty of juice left in it. A while back I had problems with my portable 2/10 AMP charger not getting a full charge or no charge. Tested the batteries and both were dead....one was pretty new...seemed odd that both would go at once. First time I tried to charge the new replacement batteries I got nothing so it was definitely the charger that killed my old batteries...something went wrong for sure.

So I bought an onboard continuous charger 2 bank 6 AMPs each. (I actually never installed it so just use it like a portable...HA!) Gives me a full charge in about 2 to 4 hours depending on how much I used the battery but the best thing is that it goes into maintenance mode and keeps them lively and at full charge all the time. Works great for the winter months for storage as I just keep them plugged. I got the Dual Pro Recreation 12 AMP 2 Bank on sale through Cabela's and it works great. I find it much better quality than a portable.