We Bought and Tested 11 Sports Drink Mixes, Tabs, and Caps at REI
What is in your drinking water bottle these times? If it’s much more than just drinking water, you are not alone Lots of stamina athletes and out of doors adventurers are reaching for sports drink mixes, tablets and caps.
The explanations go past just adding flavor. Lots of of these mixes are intended for refueling, enhanced effectiveness and in some situations boosting recovery.
On a trip to REI, we bought every thing we could get our palms on in the power drink division, with the goal of screening them in the subject. The following is a record of our top picks, from our favorite to the very least favorite, centered on flavor, nourishment, and effectiveness.
one. NUUN Hydration Electrolytes – Clean Lime ($7.00/10 servings $.70/serving)
A serving is one pill dissolved in sixteen ounces of drinking water.
This is our top pick in large portion because it preferences good and also presents 40 mg of caffeine. Occasionally on for a longer time runs you want and want that additional tiny burst of power that caffeine presents. In addition to caffeine, one pill also contains 38 mg of vitamin C as effectively as 360 mg of sodium and 100 mg of potassium. There are also quite a few other electrolytes in this pill which enable hold your procedure regulated. Furthermore, the flavor beat out all the relaxation.
Professionals: It smells very good and preferences good. It is effortless to drink at home temperature but is definitely very good chilled. The lime flavor is specially refreshing when it’s scorching out. It is also small in sugar at one gram for every serving.
Cons: If you are not into caffeine, you’ll want to decide on something else.
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2. NUUN Hydration Electrolytes – Strawberry Lemonade ($7.00/10 servings $.70/serving)
A serving is one pill dissolved in sixteen ounces of drinking water.
What is not to appreciate about strawberry lemonade? It much more than lived up to our anticipations and exhibits up consistently in our drinking water bottles. It is quite identical in make-up to the NUUN Clean Lime stated above with 38 mg of vitamin C, 360 mg of sodium and 100 mg of potassium.
Professionals: Tastes like you’d count on it to: a tiny sweet and a tiny tart. It is small in sugar at one gram for every serving. Tremendous refreshing on the two prolonged runs and rides. We also like just sipping on it during the day.
Cons: Has a slightly ‘fake sugar’ aftertaste.
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3. Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes Fizz – Grape ($4.ninety six/thirteen servings $.38 cents/serving)
A serving is one pill dissolved in sixteen ounces of drinking water.
The common grape flavor is acquainted and effortless to drink. It reminds us of Kool-Help with just the tiniest trace of bubbles. It does not have caffeine so we did not experience enhanced power but we did remain hydrated and enjoyed ingesting early and normally with this drink. Contrary to the NUUN merchandise stated above, this pill has mg of vitamin C, two hundred mg of sodium and 100 mg of potassium (a slightly diverse composition but no much less powerful in our trial).
Professionals: This drink is not overly sweet, is gluten no cost and dissolves immediately. It does not have any sugar. If you really do not like it, there is a very good possibility your young children will.
Cons: The stevia leaf extract gave the drink a slightly odd aftertaste.
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4. NUUN Hydration Electrolytes – Grape ($7.00/10 servings $.70/serving)
A serving is one pill dissolved in sixteen ounces of drinking water.
If you are seeking for a drink with just a trace of flavor, consider this one. It is a tiny weaker in flavor than the Hammer hydration drink outlined above. Like the other NUUN tablets we reviewed, this featuring has 38 mg of vitamin C, 360 mg of sodium and 100 mg of potassium.
Professionals: A bit effervescent. It is also gluten no cost and vegan. It is small in sugar at one gram.
Cons: The flavor is weaker and a tiny sweeter than we prefer.
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five. Skratch Labs Sport Hydration Drink Mix with Strawberries ($one.ninety five/one serving)
A serving is one packet dissolved in sixteen ounces of drinking water.
See something floating in your drink? Don’t be concerned, this combine is actually produced with parts of strawberries. Furthermore it’s Non-GMO, gluten no cost, dairy no cost, vegan and kosher. It has 380 mg of sodium, and also has the greatest total of sugar for every serving (19 grams) out of all the drinks we analyzed.
Professionals: It has a definitely pure flavor. (Considerably less like strawberry flavoring and much more like drinking water that’s been flavored with precise fruit.)
Cons: You may not want to deal with the seeds if you are racing. Furthermore, if you are setting up a shorter training or run, the sugar this one has could be overkill.
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6. Hammer Nutrition Heed Hydrating Power Electrolyte Drink – Lemon Lime ($2.00/one serving)
A serving is one packet dissolved into sixteen-28 ounces of drinking water.
We were anticipating to like this one a good deal much more than we actually did, in particular because we definitely preferred Hammer’s grape drink. Unfortunately, the flavor fell flat and we did not definitely obtain it to be energizing (there is no caffeine.) It does have 40 mg of sodium and 27 mg of potassium.
Professionals: This one smells very good and is also refreshing because of the citrus flavors. We enjoyed it superior chilly relatively than home temp. It is small in sugar at 2 grams for every serving.
Cons: It has a syrupy flavor and was a little bit also sweet for us. The aftertaste was reminiscent of sunscreen.
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7. Hammer Nutrition Recoverite Restoration Drink – Strawberry ($3.fifty/one serving)
A serving is one packet dissolved in 4-eight ounces of drinking water.
This drink is produced with grass-fed whey protein and provides a 3:one (carbs:protein) ratio to enable you get better just after action. The combine has fifty mg of sodium, twenty mg of potassium and 10 grams of protein. However the packet has milk, substantially like other whey protein powders, it does not want to be refrigerated. For greatest flavor and general final results, combine the packet with chilly drinking water and drink it right away just after a training. We knowledgeable minimized muscle mass soreness just after working with this products following a prolonged run and journey, and were in a position to teach hard the following day.
Professionals: It smells very good and it’s small in sugar at 2 grams. Contains fifty mg of sodium as effectively as sixty mg of l-carnosine (an antioxidant) and twenty mg of potassium. There are no preservatives in this drink.
Cons: This drink is a tiny also sweet for our flavor buds. It was practically as if we were ingesting strawberry flavored bubble gum.
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eight. Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem Ultra Stamina Gasoline – Orange Vanilla ($3.25/one serving)
A serving is one packet dissolved in sixteen-28 ounces of drinking water.
This drink is proposed for stamina athletes who are coaching for quite a few hrs or much more. It has 210 mg of sodium, eighty mg of potassium and 7 grams of protein. We made use of it on a two hour road journey and though we preferred it at the commencing, we found it hard to take in afterwards on in the training.
Professionals: Lower in sugar at 2 grams and no preservatives. Contains a smaller total of fat which comes from soy lecithin (the extract from soybean oil). Our power felt steady during the journey.
Cons: This drink does not flavor very good except it’s chilly. When the drink is warm it reminded us of watery oatmeal. It also has soy, so it may not be a very good option for those with allergy symptoms or hoping to remain away from soy merchandise. In addition, we really do not proposed working with this drink in hydration bladders since the protein component tends to individual and settle at the bottom. Place it in a bottle where you can shake it as required. Finally, if this drink is premixed and remaining out in warm climate, it can spoil so program appropriately. (Hammer suggests ingesting this within just 3-five hrs of mixing it.)
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9. NUUN Hydration Efficiency Electrolytes + Carbohydrates ($2.00/ one serving)
A serving is one packet dissolved in sixteen ounces of drinking water.
We had large hopes for this drink because we like blueberries and strawberries, but we could barely stomach the flavor. It has 380 mg of sodium, two hundred mg of potassium and eighty mg of chloride.
Professionals: This is produced with dried fruit powder. It is a Non-GMO products.
Cons: The smell was overpowering and the flavor was slightly bitter. It is also pretty large in sugar at 12 grams.
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10. SaltStick Caps ($2.00/3 servings $.sixty six/serving)
A serving is one cap.
In addition to the drinks and tablets above, we also tried SaltStick Caps. The two are vegetarian and have electrolytes as effectively as vitamin D, as effectively as zero grams of sugar. In accordance to SaltStick, the components is intended to enable minimize warmth stress and muscle mass cramping. We found this to be correct just after screening them on quite a few diverse mid-day runs. Notice: we took the tablets about 15 minutes prior to action.
Professionals: Features 215 mg of sodium, sixty three mg of potassium, 22 mg of calcium and eleven mg of magnesium. The capsule has quite tiny flavor if you get it down in one swallow.
Cons: It is a pretty large capsule, and if you really do not like swallowing tablets you may not like this supplement. Consider opening the capsule and dissolving it in a sports drink if you really do not like swallowing tablets.
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eleven. SaltStick Caps Furthermore ($3.00/ 3 servings $one.00/serving)
A serving is one cap.
SaltStick Caps Furthermore have all of the rewards of frequent SaltStick Caps in addition to a smaller shot of caffeine. Following screening the caps on two diverse 6-mile runs in ninety-diploma climate, we felt strong and knowledgeable zero cramps.
Professionals: The SaltStick Caps Furthermore have thirty mg of caffeine as effectively as a hundred ninety mg of sodium, fifty three mg of potassium, fourteen mg of calcium and 7 mg of magnesium.
Cons: Similar sizing capsule (pretty large) as the SaltStick Cap so it may be hard for some to swallow. All over again, if you really do not delight in tablets, take into consideration opening the capsule and dissolving it in a sports drink.
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Summary
There are so a lot of sports drink decisions out there that it can be hard to know what to decide on. Following performing some screening, NUUN Hydration Electrolytes Clean Lime stood out head and shoulders above the relaxation. We liked not only the flavor, but also the boost it gave from the additional caffeine and the worth.
When everybody has diverse tastes and requirements, this tutorial is meant to be a jumping off place to tutorial you in the proper route the next time you obtain yourself in the sports drink aisle. Our top picks are down below.
Ideal Flavor: NUUN Hydration Electrolytes – Clean Lime
Ideal Benefit: Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes Fizz – Grape
Ideal Gasoline/Efficiency: NUUN Hydration Electrolytes – Clean Lime
Least total of sugar: Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes Fizz – Grape
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