Gel-Bot Activity Fuel System
By James Sharp

Every once in a while, a product comes along that makes you pause and wonder, is this gimmicky or is this a legitimate idea? I first heard of the Gel-Bot a few months ago and was immediately intrigued. Here was a device that would allow me to have one stop for my energy needs by incorporating a gel flask with a large water bottle. Does it work? How useful is it? Read on.

Energy gel is great. It really is. It’s portable, works fast, tastes pretty darn good, and for me at least, my stomach balks at solid foods on very long rides, so this is in between a drink mix and an energy bar. The downside is all the little sticky packets that are left over mucking up your pockets or pack. A flask is nice, but where do you put it? Gel-Bot has the solution. They put the flask -- they call it the Energy Core -- in the bottle. Squeeze the bottle and gel comes out. Pull out the valve and you get liquid. What could be easier? No little packages and only one thing to clean up at the end of the ride.

Unfortunately, the execution of the idea left something to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, the Gel-Bot works, most of the time. I found that after a while, the plunger didn’t seal as well as it should and some of my gel ended up in my drink. One of our testers had the plunger fall out completely, dumping all of the gel into the liquid.

I found the bottle easy to use -- the flask holds about 2 servings of gel, depending on brand. I thought that this was a good balance between not enough gel and taking up too much room in the bottle. The valve works well for either the gel or the liquid. In fact, I love how much liquid the valve flows, it flows a TON of liquid. The valve for the gel is a one-way valve, so just squeeze and the gel comes out without having to open anything, nice and fast. The bottle holds 24oz of fluid with the Energy Core filled.

Summary: I really liked the Gel-Bot. It is a shame that the product isn’t reliable. If they fix the leaking plunger issue, this would be a great accessory for medium length rides. More than that and you’ll want more gel and you’ll be right back into the little packages anyway. Shorter rides don’t require energy gels at all. So this is a medium length ride product. That said, I can’t recommend it since it failed on us with not one, but two bottles. The Gel-Bot retails for $15.95.

James Sharp is a contributing editor for GearReview.com; more of his ramblings and a look at upcoming reviews can be found at his blog -- Lactic Acid Threshold.

For more information, contact:
ventureDESIGNworks
480 Ravenswood
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: 720.317.5454
sales@venturedesignworks.com
www.gel-bot.com