PowerBar Power Gel Concentrated Carbohydrate Gel, 1.4-Ounce Pa

Buy Gu.
I must preface this review with: I am a Gu fan. I've tried so many different brands, flavors, and types of gels/blocks/cubes, whatever, and I love Gu to get the job done. For PowerBar, I've tried the Vanilla, which is really delicious. It tastes like cake frosting! However, the vanilla does not have caffeine, so this does not fill my needs. I have tried the Double Latte, which I abhor--I thought it was AWFUL. It just stuck to my teeth and wouldn't go down, and yuck yuck yuck. I love coffee, too. But as a liquid, in a mug! :) I have heard from many runners that they enjoy the Green Apple, so I might try these in the future. The PowerBar brand is a thinner consistency than Gu or Clif, so sometimes I think it goes down a lot easier, especially if you're not near a water fountain or aid station. If the vanilla had caffeine, I would probably stick with that one. I couldn't run the distances I do without gels. I take one on a daily run of 7-8 miles, I'll take 2 gels on a weekend run of 14-16 miles, and I'll take 3 on a run longer than 20 miles (in addition to Clif Bars). I hope this helps someone make a gel decision! Oh, in addition, I want to point out that PowerBar gels are made in a facility that manufactures dairy products, whereas Gu does not. I hope this helps the allergy sufferers out there!

gOoD PrOdUcT
I had been using GU before, and I can tell u it was not easy on the stomach as this one. The only thing I would feedback to POWERBAR is to make it a little bit less runny and easy to open (maybe they can save some material there and lower the cost a bit! :) ), but great performance. I give it 5 stars

Best tasting caffeinated gel. Flimsy on a bike.
If form factor was not a concern, the tangerine PowerBar Gel would be hands down my favorite all around gel. The taste is great, it packs enough caffeine to pick you up if you're about to bonk, and the wrapper is thin enough so that it is easy to squeeze out every last drop of gel from the wrapper. That said, if you tape gels to your bike frame like I do, their thin wrapper that works so well for squeezing, works against them for staying flush on the bike frame. They end up sagging over the side of the bike which not only can be an aero dynamic issue (ok, maybe not a major concern for everyone), but the added stress on the side of the package ends up prematurely tearing the gel open. I haven't actually experienced the wrapper leaking on my bike yet, but I have noticed the beginnings of a tear on the gel. In conclusion, if you don't tape gels to you bike post, the tangerine PowerBar gels rock. If you do, consider Hammer Energy Gel (12 pack) instead (but Hammer Gels are a little more difficult to squeeze and get the gel out).

The Anti-Fatigue
This is a fantastic product. I'm relatively new to long distance running (my long runs are only 10k) and this is the first gel product I've used, but it did not disappoint. It's hard to credit my gains solely to this, so I will give a wrap-up of my experience and let you decide. The first time I ran 10k, I had a time of 55:25 (I know that's slow, but I'm a bigger guy). The second time I tried it, there were a few differences: I wore running shorts (the first time I wore basketball shorts) and I had a fuel belt equipped with a 20oz water bottle and two Strawberry Banana PowerBar Power Gel Packets; temperature and environment were similar during both runs. Anyway, I popped these gel packs at around the 20 minute and 40 minute mark and my time dropped to 52:21! I don't know about you, but I think an improvement of over 3 minutes is fantastic... Especially if you consider that is nearly 30 seconds per mile. Okay, so I know the shorts (they were quite a bit lighter and didn't get soaked with sweat) and liquid helped quite a bit, as well as my muscles being a little more broken in from the first time I tried 10k, but the biggest thing I noticed was my consistency. My third mile on my first run was a horrific 9:37 and way off the rest of my mile times. During my second run, each mile ranged from around 8:17 (my 5th mile) to 8:37 (my first mile); I think the fact that my mile times improved as my run went on also illustrates the effectiveness of this product. I track my time and distance with a Garmin Forerunner 205 (another fantastic product). Anyway, I highly suggest this product if you are new to long distance running or a veteran that competes. If you dont' want to commit to an entire box, I bought a couple of individual packets at REI for $1.25 a piece just to see if I noticed an improvement. Compared to the other reviews, I don't think this is hard to swallow at all. If you spray a little water in your mouth before consuming the packet, it goes down even easier. My one and only con would be that it is kind of sticky, so if you get any on your hands it's quite annoying; small price to pay in my eyes.

taste is not the strength
This is a good gel for training/racing. The taste is not great, I would say that it is pretty bad actually, especially when it gets warm. However, I really don't care how it tastes as long as it keeps me going. The double caffeine is a plus.