The OptiMate III, which is widely regarded as the power sports industry’s premier automatic battery maintenance charger, gets a facelift for 2006, alongside several other practical upgrades. OptiMate has built its reputation by helping to protect batteries from problems caused by alarms draining power, old age or lack of regular use. The most obvious changes are the new moulded housing of enhanced ABS, which has revised internal architecture to provide an IP42 degree of protection (in practice this means splash-proof, hence the SP designation). The control panel has also had a re-design, making it easier to follow the current (geddit!!?!) status of the OptiMate maintaining, charging or de-sulphate mode.