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Science In Sport GO Hydro (20 tablets)

8
£6.99

VERDICT:

8
10
Good-tasting drink-mix tablets; help you stay hydrated to improve performance when racing, training or cycling long-distance. Fairly priced too
Weight: 
110g
Contact: 
www.scienceinsport.com

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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Go Hydro is a product from Science in Sport (SiS) designed to help you stay hydrated when exercising. It comes as a tube of tablets consisting of various minerals or electrolytes. You bung a tablet in a bottle of water, wait while it dissolves, then drink it during your ride. As a way to help you avoid dehydration, it definitely does the job.

SiS say that the electrolytes (sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc) in the Go Hydro drink replace those lost from your body via sweat. The sodium content especially encourages you to drink the right amount, which in turn helps performance, as a dehydrated body won't function so well.

I've been testing these Go Hydro tablets for a couple of weeks, and have used them during turbo sessions and training rides, and in one of my bottles on a long sportive. They're available in a range of flavours, including berry, lemon and blackcurrent. The taste and texture is clean and refreshing, not sweet or sticky, and this (or the sodium, or maybe both) definitely encouraged me to drink – especially on colder days.

But do you actually need Go Hydro (or any other similar product), with all these added electrolytes, just to stay hydrated? The answer is not straightforward.

Most sports science studies agree that dehydration can have a negative impact on performance (basically, you get tired sooner), and that drinking the correct amount of water helps avoid this. But after that, there's a divergence regarding electrolytes. Some studies show that replacing the electrolytes lost via sweat helps further improve performance, and avoid cramp. Other studies show that you don't need extra electrolytes, and that drinking water is enough.

The middle way claims that the electrolytes in the fluid, even if not actually needed, still encourage you to drink the correct amount and stay hydrated. The final argument claims that it's the taste of hydration products, rather than the electrolytes, that encourage you to drink - because it's nicer than boring old water.

In the end, it comes down to personal preference. On that basis, and from my own experience, I recommend trying these Go Hydro tablets. If you like the taste, and if you feel it helps you drink a bit more, which in turn helps keep you cycling further or faster (or just helps you enjoy tootling around), then it's well worth dropping a tab in your bottle before you set out.

Hydration tablets are also handy for longer rides, such as sportives. It's easy to keep a few tabs in silver foil in your jersey back pocket and drop them in your bottle at a feed stop.

One final point: Go Hydro is not an energy product. There is no carbohydrate content and virtually no calories. In this respect it's the same as High5's Zero drink and the similarly-titled Nectar Hydro tabs.

A 'tester pot' of 10 Go Hydro tablets costs £2.99 while a 20-tablet tube costs £6.99 (currently reduced to £5.98 on the SiS website). As well as on-line, you can buy SiS products at your local bike shop or sports store, and in a few supermarkets.

Verdict

Good-tasting drink-mix tablets; help you stay hydrated to improve performance when racing, training or cycling long-distance. Fairly priced too.

road.cc test report

Make and model: Science In Sport GO Hydro (20 tablets)

Size tested: Blackcurrant, Pineapple and Mango, Berry, Lemon

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

This is a hydration product, designed to help you stay properly hydrated (ie, drink the right amount) during exercise. It is not an energy product. There is no carbohydrate content and virtually no calories. In this respect it's the same as High5's Zero drink and Nectar Hydro tabs. This is fine if you want a 'non-fattening' or 'fat-burning' drink (water is another one), but it won't provide energy to get you though a long ride. For this you need carbohydrate – usually in the form of gels and bars, or even as 'normal food'.

The SIS website says Go Hydro is a 'Low-calorie high electrolyte effervescent tablet to hydrate during training or racing:

* Simply drop in water to provide a high electrolyte drink.

* High in sodium to help promote hydration.

* When hydration is required without the added calories.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

The SiS website goes on to give a lot more information, including: 'SiS GO Hydro represents a cutting edge and scientifically based formulation that is designed to ensure you are effectively hydrated to produce your best performance. ... In the context of maintaining hydration status, sodium is the most important electrolyte as it helps to stimulate thirst, improve fluid palatability and promote fluid absorption and retention..."

Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10

Whether it's the taste or the electrolytes, using Go Hydro tabs in my bottles encouraged me to drink more than I would have if I had just water. From that angle, performance is very good.

Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

A small tube of 10 Go Hydro tablets costs £2.99 while a 20-tablet tube costs £6.99 (currently reduced to £5.98 on the SiS website). This is fair value, and compares against £5.50 to £7 for 20 High 5 Zero tabs, and about the same for Nectar Hydro.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

The taste and texture of Go Hydro (or the sodium content, or maybe both) definitely encouraged me to drink more than if I'd had just water in my bottles - which is exactly what it's supposed to do. On that basis, this product performed very well.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Taste, texture.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?

This product does exactly what it's supposed to do: encourage you to drink more when exercising. On that level it would score a 9, but the price – although fair – is not especially good value, so that docks a point, giving an overall score of 8.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 51  Height: 5ft 10 / 178cm  Weight: 11 stone / 70kg

I usually ride: an old Marin Alp, or an old steel classic  My best bike is: an old Giant Cadex (can you see a theme here?)

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: A few times a week  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: touring, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding,

 

Add new comment

9 comments

Avatar
Blackhound | 11 years ago
0 likes

Just read this:

http://www.torqfitness.co.uk/news/electrolyte-tablets

If Matt Hart was not such a gentlemen he would say such products were marketing bollocks. But he puts it more eloquently.

Avatar
arrieredupeleton | 11 years ago
0 likes

'The final argument claims that it's the taste of hydration products, rather than the electrolytes, that encourage you to drink - because it's nicer than boring old water.'

Why not simply add a single malt to your bidon? The dehydrating effects of alcohol are overplayed anyway. It'll also sterilise your bidon. Bingo

Avatar
1961BikiE | 11 years ago
0 likes

Cheers Tony - as soon as I have some cash I'm ordering a few of the test tubes. TBF even at full price these are better value than others where you generally get 12 tabs for £6.99.

Avatar
Goldfever4 | 11 years ago
0 likes

I have these - good value but I've tried one during a ride and it made me want to barf when I hit the next hill... so I prefer to drink up just after completing a long ride.

Avatar
rix | 11 years ago
0 likes

I'll stick to my vitamin C tablets with lemon taste, keeps cold away...  1

Avatar
Tony Farrelly | 11 years ago
0 likes

Fair point, changed now. Got to say I'd be tempted to stock up on the tester pots.

Avatar
CornishSprinter replied to Tony Farrelly | 11 years ago
0 likes

Are these basically the electrolyte mix, but compressed into tablets? because I've got a huge tub of the SiS stuff and it works great.

Avatar
Adam Tranter replied to CornishSprinter | 11 years ago
0 likes

Hi CornishSprinter - it's different because the product you mention (SiS GO Electrolyte) contains carbohydrate, where as the SiS GO Hydro tablets don't - they are purely for hydration purposes.

Avatar
bikeandy61 | 11 years ago
0 likes

Hate to be a pedant (well not really) but the headline pricing is incorrect. It suggests 20 tabs for £2.99 while the article states samplers of 10 for £2.99.

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