Optimate 5: 6-volt and 12-volt battery charger/ conditioner

■ Optimate.co.uk – £79.99 (readily available around £55)

■ Easy to use

■ Works on 6 or 12-volt batteries

I have used this charger for a couple of years now and it is easier than breathing. It doesn’t matter whether your battery is 6 or 12-volts, car or bike, just clip the red onto the positive and black to negative and it will assess the battery, tell the voltage, charge it if it can, or cycle it through a maintenance routine to keep it healthy. No buttons, it’s light and the cables are long.

If you want to, a quick-fit cable can be fitted to your battery with the socket poking out somewhere easy to get to, avoiding getting to the battery every time. I don’t like the cheap-looking socket allowing this – the C-Tek chargers come with a nicer one – but then neither of my two Optimate ones (one is more than 10 years old) have let me down, so what do I know. A quality, safe, fitand-forget charger.