It's hard to beat the spiral cell design... from the tests I've done the Optima is higher quality battery than the Orbital... higher lead purity, and better seperators, and acid concentration. In the spl tests I've been associated with the Optima G31 comes out on top almost everytime. I've seen and heard of tests done with an old Optima vs. a new Hawker or Northstar where it has been edged out, but just barely. I suspect if the Optima was properly cared for it would have had the edge in these tests aswell. Like was mentioned earlier you may want to look into an alternator... some good places to look would be Powermaster, Iraggi, Ohio Gen., etc.