I really appreciate the opportunity from EAS Sports Nutrition to review their Hydrate products. After being selected, I was quickly mailed a tub of their Orange flavor and a box of six packets of Lemonberry Burst flavor. I was able to test both flavors during a mix of runs and bike rides over the past several weeks. I thought it would be easiest to give my thoughts relative to the other hydration mixes I currently use: Skratch Labs (Pineapples), EFS Pro (Lemon Water), and Fluid Performance (Passion Fruit Tea). In addition to the above, I have also previously used Gatorade, Hammer Nutrition Heed, and Osmo Active Hydration.
First, just some numbers for comparison sake (all scaled to 24oz of mixed fluid, since that is the bottle size I tend to use when running or cycling):
Hydration Mix: Skratch Labs EFS Pro Fluid Performance EAS Hydrate
Serving Size: 24g 53g 36g 15g
Servings: 20 19 23 18
Calories: 80 160 133 50
Total Carbs: 20g 40g 32g 12g
Fat: 0g 0g 0g 0g
Protein: 0g 0g 0g 0g
Sodium: 360mg 650mg 267mg 540mg
Potassium: 40mg 293mg 87mg 360mg
MSRP: $19.50 $49.95 $26.95 $15.99
$/Serving: $0.98 $2.63 $1.17 $0.89
I found both flavors of the EAS Hydrate to be very sweet. At the suggested serving size, for me, it is actually too sweet. Certainly sweeter tasting than any other hydration mix I have used, and more along the lines of the flavor (but not the consistency) of a gel. Neither flavor is bad (at all), just really, really sweet. I do not doubt some will love this, but I needed to dilute the mixes. I found that a third of the recommended serving tasted much better; still sweet, but not cloyingly so. In terms of taste, I would say the EAS Hydrate has more in common with Fluid Performance (and Heed and Gatorade) than Skratch Labs, Osmo or EFS Pro. While I prefer the latter three most, I do not find any of them offensive. Of the Orange and Lemonberry flavors, I liked the Orange best.
Given the small number of calories per serving, EAS Hydrate is really about hydration and electrolyte replacement. The sodium and potassium numbers both seem good and generally inline with similar offerings from other manufacturers. While the EAS Hydrate tub is small (272g), the recommended serving size (7.5g Hydrate / 12oz water) is also very small (as compared to the other brands), and given I was only using about a half to a third of that recommended amount of Hydrate, the number of servings and cost per serving are both quite attractive.
In terms of use, I had no problems with Hydrate on any runs or rides. It goes down easy. No stomach issues at all. I do not seem to notice a performance difference regardless of which hydration mix I use, so tend to choose based on personal taste and cost. Given that EAS makes packets of their Hydrate mix, I would recommend trying the various flavors and see if it might work well for you, too.