Bruce- You may want to check first, I have seen on an enthusiast site that Sears
no longer sells the Optima brand. Also, several of the site's contributors
reported bad experiences with the Optima battery in their NSX -- but that may
say more about the charging system and vehicle usage patterns than about the
battery. Sears only sells Die-Hard brand batteries, it looks like they do not
carry any AGM Spiral Cell battery, Optima or other brand.

There is a UK site that has lots of good information on general battery topics,
and many sites will help you with beau coups battery information in general - if
you have the stomach for it. Battery data and charging systems are not exactly
thrilling topics, nowutimean? Look here: http://www.optimabattery.co.uk/

There is also a warning not to buy an old battery (over 3 months for lead acid,
6 months for Optima) , and that you can tell when a battery was made by looking
for a date code stamped into the side of the case. Look for "X#", where X is
the month of mfr, A=Jan, B=Feb, etc (with no "I"), to M=Dec; and # is the last
digit of the year, ie, 7=2007. So, L8 would be November 2008, I guess.

For the factory site, look here: http://www.optimabatteries.com/
This is the maker. Beware of marketing, as always.

--- In clubsaturn@yahoogroups.com, Bruce Rubin <barubin_cars@...> wrote:
>
> Andy,
>  
> Thanks for your reply. You've reminded me about my first car, a 1968 Pontiac
Tempest Station Wagon (350 V8 2 speed slush box) with 80,000 miles on it when I
purchased it. I needed new tires and EVERYBODY I asked for advice was sure that
the car wasn't going to last much longer, so I should purchase the least
expensive tires I could. I owned the car for another 80,000 miles and must have
replaced the tires 3 times.
>  
> That said, I have a battery powered backup sump pump, and after having "gone
through" 6 "normal" lead acid marine batteries in almost 20 years, none of which
have ever had to be called upon to run the sump pump, a few months ago I
"invested" in the Sears Platinum battery, their successor to their Optima line
of batteries. Perhaps I will take your advice and put a Sears Platinum/Optima
battery in my LW300.
>  
> --Bruce 
>
> --- On Sat, 5/30/09, Andy <threeoctaves@...> wrote:
> From: Andy <threeoctaves@...>
> Subject: [Club Saturn] Re: Battery question: 2001 SATURN L SERIES WAGON LW300
> To: clubsaturn@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Saturday, May 30, 2009, 2:48 PM
>
> Bruce-
> In my book, the best deal is frequently NOT the cheapest battery, it's the
lowest-cost- per-year battery. I had a car for 29 years, a four banger 2-liter
motor, similar to my wife's '94 SL2, and had no problems after I installed a red
top Optima gel cell. It lasted for fourteen years. These batteries just flat
last. If you plan to keep the car more than a few years, consider one of these
over the wet cell dinosaurs.
>
> They also do not self destruct if you kill them from lights-on brain-fade
episodes, which I did many times. Tho my experience may not be typical, they're
virtually indestructable, and I will use nothing else.
>
> I don't know the model/type with it installed, would have to remove the hold
down strap to see. If you want that info let me know. Just go with the factory
specs for type, CCA, and reserve, and you'll be fine, I suspect.
>
> I just checked install date, it's April 2002. 7 years, still going strong.
Cost for this battery is about $11 per year so far, every year it goes down when
I don't have to replace it.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Andy