I used to work for a parts store about 5 years ago and I saw a great number of these batteries that were going bad within 1 and 2 years old.
I do live in Texas and it hit 105 for a couple of days last week which is perfectly normal, so maybe that has something to do with it. FWIW I have been running a 65 series Duralast Gold battery for about 5 years now with no problems, and my folks have been running a pair of them in their Superduty for about the same amount of time. I do top off the water every year, because I have noticed that the majority of batteries that die in the summer heat are low, and many of them are sealed factory batteries such as the AC Delco "maintenance free" side post garbage that has no caps, where water can evaporate out but you have no way of replenishing it.
Anyhow, would I buy an Optima? Hell no, I saw way too many red and yellow top batteries of all sizes fail prematurely, even compared to factory sealed lead acid batteries. I'm not sure what causes the failure, but if you live in a hot climate I would not recommend it.
Your mileage may vary, as has been said above some folks seem to have really good luck with them.