Hydrapak’s GelBot: Gel and Water in the Same Container

Hydrapak made a huge splash in the hydration pack market when it introduced its fully reversible reservoirs, which made cleaning them and drying them out much easier than most of the other reservoirs on the market at the time. Since this innovation – which has been imitated by virtually the entire industry today – Hydrapak has continued to offer new innovations and in the hope of repeating this earlier success. After all, it is not often that one innovation utterly revolutionizes and entire industry, so if you can do it twice it is twice as impressive. This seems to have been the idea behind the Gelbot innovation, which the company has obviously invested a lot of money into, but hasn’t quite been as successful.

The basic idea behind Gelbot is that it is a high quality water bottle that also features a special compartment and access option for energy gel. As anyone involved in any sort of serious endurance sport knows, energy gel has come to dominate the emergency energy booster market today and Hydrapak’s Gelbot is plainly designed to capitalize on that fact. In the centre of the water bottle is a secondary chamber – which is removable – that holds roughly three ounces of energy gel. The trick behind getting what you want is tied to the Gelbot’s lid: when the nozzle is opened, only water comes out of the bottle; when the nozzle is closed but the bottle is squeezed, then gel comes out of the bottle.

Many people seem to really love this idea as it eliminates the need to carry separate packages of gel as well as the requirement of opening and discarding the gel packets when finished. Another thing that may people really like about this system is that the gel – which is not usually noted for its appealing taste – is considerably more palatable when it is kept cool, as is the case in the Gelbot where the gel is surrounded by water. Contrary to some of the complaints made about the Gelbot system, it is quite simple to use and the bottle itself fits in most conventional carriers.

On the negative side, many runners have become quite accustomed to the separate gel packets and do not care much for the GelBot. There have also been some reports that somehow the gel has escaped from the bottle while the user was running, resulting in both wasted gel and a mess. Finally, others point out that the small three ounce gel reservoir is too small to hold near enough gel to make it worth the extra effort of using. That is, like most things, some people simply do not like the GelBot, though few of the complaints have anything to do with the bottle’s actual performance and have much more to do with the reviewer’s personal preferences.

Hydrapak’s GelBot does represent an interesting new concept and represents a real innovation, but to date it has not really become too popular and precisely why this is the case is hard to pinpoint. However, if you do not like dealing with gel packets, opening them while running, or tossing them on the ground when finished; you may want to consider giving the GelBot a try.