Andy,

I have heard they work pretty good on other forums. Haven't used myself.
Russ

I have to replace mine this year and thats what I am probable going to....seems the dealers are making a switch too, seeing them on alot of boats.

I have heard good experiences and bad. My moms x-boyfriend had an Optima Red Top in his truck, it was great, the Marine Battery, not soo good. We got an Optima Marine and it was a dud, that saying I talked to my battery guy this week while replacing mine and they carry Interstate and Optima and he says that the optima's are great for off-roaders that tip their trucks and only really using them for starting, boating are great but pretty Spendy for not much more, if any performance.

The Optima's lose their load carrying capacity if sitting for a while uncharged compared to lead acid, as when we bought our Optima Marine, it had been sitting for awhile in the store.

I decided to go the much less expensive way and go all Interstates, Group27 Megatron Cranking and and Group29 Deep Cycle Megatron. The whole set up for my boat was pretty much the price of 1 Optima.

All my info is directly from an owner of a battery distributor.

Yea, I searched batteries in any thread for the last year and didn't get the battery thread your talking about.  I'll do some research on them on other forums and see what I find out.  Thanks again guys.

I have a red top Optima in my truck.  It gets driven maybe twice a week.  Its been in there maybe 5 years, and it had a AC delco in it for the first 7 years.  The truck cranks over pretty slow after sitting for 2-3 days.  I think I could have gotten away with another AC delco battery and saved almost $100.  I run all Trojan batteries in my Bass boat. 
In my little boat I run a AC delco rv/marine deep cycle.  It runs my 12v TM just fine, and they are only about $70 each new my cost.

I actually just took a cranking battery out of my boat that has been in there 6 years. It was still working fine, but decided to change it "just because". It was a Kibbeys battery that is heavier than heck, but that is why it has lasted so long. They have super thick lead plates, and weigh a bunch. I think that they were maybe 60 dollars when I got them, but each one has lasted over 6 years with no problem. Place that sells them is called Kibbeys Batteries down past Daffodil Bowl in Puyallup. There is nothing like reliability.....

I would say that the Trojan deep cells are good but the cranking batteries suck. I have had to replace two cranking batteries in the last two years

Russ