first off, in order to give full disclosure, i am the designer of the gel-bot water bottle. i tripped across this thread and just wanted to answer the questions mentioned, though i am probably biased as i am the designer.
so the system was designed to effectively work with any energy gel on the market, regardless of its consistency. i have used mine with hammergel, GU, honeystringer, carbboom, powergel, cliff shot, ENERVIT, and a few others and it works fine for all of them.
as far as capacity goes, the system can hold 24 oz of water and 3.2oz of gel and is still the size bottle most people are comfortable with handling while on the bike. our testing indicated that this was an optimium gel/water ratio, though i am sure a lot of people deviate from this. we have a larger capacity energy core coming out in the summer which you can add to your bottle, however, the more gel you put in the bottle, the less volume is avialable for water in the bottle.
as far as efficiency goes, it works surprisingly well. eating the gel is as simple as squeezing the bottle or sucking on the valve. the water function is identical to any other bike bottle, pull valve and squeeze. obviously this is not something that EVERY rider needs. but it does make the process of eating gel, especially if you are riding in a pack or in aerobars, easier and safer and will also hopefully keep some people from throwing empty foil packs down on the roads of my favorite rides.
if anyone reading this wants to try one out, go to
www.gel-bot.com, email us and mention this post. we will give you a sweet 'bro-deal' on some bottles. i wish we could give out product to everyone who wants one, but we are just a fledgling startup!
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