Hi, I have 2004 XT660 X and am having problems with my battery keeping charge. I do not use the bike so much during winter and have had it for around 6 six years now. I use a halfords car/bike standard battery charger to charge it currently and would like to buy a new battery and charger for it. Having read through the forum, I think that I will go with a Motobatt - MBT9B4 battery, is this the best for the money ?

Also, what would you recomend for a charger ? I like the idea of being able to leave the charger connected for longer periods, so something like a charger with re-vitaliser sounds good. Any recomendations and advice ? I have seen this one on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1115911587...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT ( Oxford Oximiser 900), which looks pretty good.

Any advice or help please ?

Thanks.

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Stage 1 K&N, Stage 2 DNA, Kev fuel mod, Arrow Exhausts. Custom sticker job.

For my xt660z I use a Yamaha charger (which is a rebranded Ctek):

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Motorradbatte...item4abed752d9

I'm very happy with it. For my xtz660 I use a optimate 2 charger. It's cheaper than the Yamaha but does the job perfectly.

At my last count I had 8 Optimates so when we went on holiday during the winter left 4 bikes 3 cars and a van all on charge they have certainly improved over the years and the Optimate 4 is real gem way more than you will ever need for a bike but useful for both cars and it will even lift the battery on my sprinter to a full charge non of the others will.

Speaking from bitter experience, I wouldn't touch any Oxford product that involved electronics! They should have stuck to making bags, bike covers and locks IMHO.

Had two sets of hot grips and one of their chargers, all of which worked fine for a while and then shat themselves just after a year (nine months in the case of the first set of grips), handy when you get a 12 month warranty!

The prices may be attractive, and at �37.99 it looks a good proposition when compared to an Optimate 4 at over �50. However, an Optimate, CTEK or similar charger will last you a lifetime, sadly an Oxford is unlikely to do the same. The old saying, "you pay for what you get" is very relevant to this sort of product.

I have had an Optimate 4 in my possession for five years now and it's a good as it was the day it came out of the box. The only slight criticism I'd say is that the charging leads supplied are very stiff and unflexible when its cold, but they haven't ever been a problem.

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Thanks for all your replies, I am certainly going to try the OptiMate 4 charger and probably get the MotoBatt QuadFlex MBT9B4 battery.

Great source of info on this forum. Enjoy your riding .......

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Stage 1 K&N, Stage 2 DNA, Kev fuel mod, Arrow Exhausts. Custom sticker job.

One of those pieces of useless info but you never know the Optimate 1 as in the very first version and I've an idea the very latest do not share the same connectors as all the others.

I currently have the Oximiser 900 and an Older Oxford Oximiser, work perfectly well 5 years on....

I have an Accumate - made by Optimate but also has a 6v setting (needed it for my MZs). I've also had it for years, certainly over 15.

I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that the Accumate had better battery recovery ability, probably because at the time it had improved circuitry compared to the original Optimate. That gem of information is most likely now out of date.

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Simon

Brighton, UK