Vitalyte Electrolyte Powder Drink Mix, Isotonic Electrolyte Hydration Mix, Gluten Free Post Workout Powder Mix, Pack of 2, 35 oz. Each, Grape Flavor

I have ordered this product 15 times now. Excellent electrolyte mix. Works well and tastes great. On my most recent order, the package arrived damaged (sliced open -- see photo). Perhaps due to Amazon's poor packing with other items and insufficient packing material, Perhaps Amazon sliced it open when opening a box of these, or perhaps UPS handled it poorly. While Amazon customer service would not deal with this and passed me on to the manufacturer, Vitalyte was very kind and replaced it for free - even though it was not their fault. I was very impressed.

I've been using Vitalyte for almost a year now to support my triathlon training after seeking a more cost effective sports drink, given how much I go through during Virginia summers. It gets the job done! But to get to the main point of this review, I have now ordered and used all five flavors. Here's what you'll get, in order from perceived "strongest" to "weakest" flavor: Orange: Has a definite "tang" to it, but keep in mind that even as the strongest flavor it's milder than a lot of other sports drinks. The natural orange coloring left a little bit of orange residue on the inside of my white plastic water bottles even after dishwashing (it disappeared after I switched flavors. I probably won't order it again, but a good choice if you particularly like orange soda. Grape: Great flavor to start with if you're not sure which to get. This is the first I ordered and the flavor I've used the most; I think it tastes the sweetest. Fruit punch: Tastes like weak Hawaiian Punch. I work out first thing in the morning and this was a bit incongruous to me; but if fruit punch is your jam this will give you a slight fix. I personally won't be ordering it again. Lemon: I was worried this would have a strong "fake lemonade" flavor but it did not! I really liked this one- it's mild and refreshing. Cool citrus: To me, this was the mildest flavor; it mixes up clear (no color, despite the blue bag). It definitely doesn't taste like straight water but if you like straight water and want a sports drink with fuel and electrolytes with minimal flavor this is a good choice. Personally I like variety so probably will be rotating between grape, lemon and cool citrus. The latter two are the most complementary if you are taking other food / fuel while drinking this. As to effectiveness: when used properly it's done me right. I routinely sweat out 16- 24oz / hour (I've weighed) during the summer and this product keeps me going for the long trainings. I've never had stomach issues when using it in a race, and having some carbs in it helps offset the number of gels I have to take in. The great thing is that it's really balanced and both less salty and sweet than Gatorade- it will replace just what you lose. But that's also a caution: it will not correct an electrolyte deficiency if you go into a race or a workout with one... at default strength it will replace what you lose to sweating but not more; particularly magnesium. I had bad cramping after the swim in a race where I had hydrated with Vitalyte that morning, but I think that's because I had done a poor job of managing hydration and electrolytes in the days leading up to it (there may have been some beer involved!) So probably good to use some other form of electrolyte supplementation (particularly magnesium) if you know you've not been hydrating well.

I like that this is an electrolyte (salts) drink with glucose (fast sugar) and doesn’t have any artificial fake sweeteners. And it tastes good. Makes it perfect for sports. It is very hard to find all of these things in one.

I work every day in hot motor rooms and out in the sun on blinding white rubber membrane rooftops sweating over equipment exhausting air up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. I drink at minimum two quarts of water a day, and that can increase to a gallon or more during the hottest parts of summer. Obviously, I lose a lot of electrolytes in my sweat. It's critical that I replace electrolytes constantly. I've been using this product for two weeks, and it isn't doing the job. If the nutritional information is to be believed, then this product is 84% "added sugars". I guess that the other 16% is "Thoughts & Prayers", because it's just as worthless as those are. My muscles are so sore that I haven't even felt like working out this past week. In fact, when I'm done eviscerating this overpriced and overrated product I think that I'll go buy a real rehydration drink. A bland and nearly flavorless powder, I'm not sure what the Cool Citrus flavor is actually supposed to taste like. If it is supposed to take like "citrus", then it maybe tastes like something that your childhood friend's cheap parent served up when you were over, using half a packet of Kool-Aid to aid to a gallon of water and skipping the sugar. There's a hint of a flavor there, but it's so diluted as to be less of a flavor and more of the sensation that there's something off about the taste of your water. If I wanted off-tasting water, then I'd drink the metallic nastiness that comes out of my home's 80 year old galvanized pipes. All in all, it's a crappy product in that it fails in rehydrating me any more than the same quantity of plain water, and my sore muscles are the proof is in the pudding for me that this product doesn't restore electrolytes. It may as well be a bag of baking powder for as effective as it has been. If the manufacturer is really donating an equal quantity of this stuff to people at risk of dehydration in poorer countries, then they must hate the people in those countries. I don't really care about your charity if you're ripping me off. Don't waste your money on this product.

I really enjoy this stuff. It mixes easily with a few shakes of my water bottle. The flavors are very light (I think the lemon could have just a bit more lemon flavor. The cranberry is wonderful as it.) The only real complaint that I have is that the little measuring scoop often get buried in the powder during shipping. I usually have to use the scoop from the previous bag until I make my way down to where it got buried.

My wife loves this product and claims it eliminates muscle cramping from sweat-reduced electrolytes.

The best tasting electrolytes, and more economical than individual packets.

The taste of the stuff is great, the results of using it are great, but lately when they changed their packaging, it seems that the sugar coagulates very quickly and cannot dissolve well at all anymore. See photo and video.