Thanks iFitness Customer Service

Jul 9, 2012 by Greg Fowler

A while back, I wrote a review about a hydration belt by iFitness that I was using.  In that post, I mentioned the bottles leaked.  For whatever reason, it never occurred to me to contact iFitness and talk to them.  Fortunately, they eventually saw my post and contacted me.  Within a couple of days, I had new bottles that were designed to prevent the leaks I had mentioned.  Apparently they had addressed this problem, but some old style bottles still made it out to market.

I’m happy to report the new bottles work much better – no leaks. The new bottles top no longer have a pop-up spout.  You just turn up the bottle and suck in.

So, thanks, iFitness.  I now give the product an A rating.

You can read the old review here: http://palmettostaterunner.com/?p=1181

Here’s a picture of the differences in the bottle tops:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, here’s a reminder:  Still a little bit of time left to enter the drawing for a pair of Injinji socks.  Follow this link to learn more: http://palmettostaterunner.com/?p=1381

POFIFOTO!

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Product Review: iFitness Hydration Belt

Apr 25, 2012 by Greg Fowler

The week before the Columbia Marathon, I had a couple of dilemmas.   The biggest, of course, was my playlist, and I wrote a lengthy post on that.  The second problem was how to carry all the junk I had decided I needed to carry for the race – 3 gels, a water bottle, car keys, and my iPhone (I’ll explain later).  Car keys could be handled by the drop bag station, if I wanted, so I wasn’t too worried about those, but I wanted to carry the others.

Before that race, my running gear inventory consisted of 2 different belts.  The first is a thin belt from Nathan with a small pocket just big enough for a cell phone or a couple of gels but probably not both.  I bought it at the race expo before the 2011 Myrtle Beach Marathon and used it in that race for my gels (Gu’s at that time).

My other belt is an older 6 bottle Fuel Belt with a pouch that could hold a couple of gels and has a wide enough belt for you to clip a cell phone on if you’d like.  I was leaning toward this, but wasn’t really excited because it really doesn’t fit well any more.  I’ve lost a few inches around the waist since I bought it, and it uses Velcro to fasten. To get it tight enough to not slip, I don’t have much connecting Velcro. More than once the belt has come loose during training runs.

So, what to do?  The answer came to me at the race expo the night before the race.  A vendor was selling the iFitness Hydation Belt.  I tried it on, liked it, and bought one of the 16 oz versions for $40.  The 16oz version means two 8oz bottles.

From the iFitness web site here are the belt features:

• Water resistant pouch, stretchy and sturdy, made of neoprene will keep your cell phone or iPod (any size) dry.
• Two 8oz  bottles (BPA free)
• 2 elastic slots will hold your gels on your belt, for easy access.
• A special inner pocket will keep your ID/credit cards or room key securely.
• Comes with two reflector strips in the front and one in the back, for night time safety.
• Also featured are two toggles to hold your race number, under the pouch.
• Comes in TWO sizes: Small/Med (26 to 38in comfortable). Large (30in and 42in).

Here is my experience:

Pros

Overall, I am pleased with the belt.  It fits really well ( the pocket is right below your belly button), is comfortable,  and does not move around while running.  The belt really feels a part of you, not some something bulky hanging off. The fastener is a clip and much better than Velcro.  I like the angle of the bottles and the “formed” bottle holders make it easy to insert the bottles with one hand.  My Fuel Belt is a two hand operation with its soft elastic bottle spots.

I did not try to use the race bib holder feature.  I tried it the night before the marathon but did not like the way the bib hung, so I just pinned the bib to my shirt.

Cons

Con 1: My bottles leak too often and my pants and shirt end up wet.  I usually clip my iPod Nano near the bottle as well, and I don’t want that wet.  I usually have to undo and redo the cap and really torque it down to get the leak to stop (or maybe it stops when the water level is lower), but I shouldn’t have to work that hard for a leak free bottle. For the marathon, I only used one bottle.  I wanted to have my own bottle of water to use my Nuun electrolyte tablets.  I’d refill it along the way with either cups of water from the volunteers or I’d hit the water cooler behind the volunteer tables.  I used the other bottle holder for my iPhone.  It fit nice and snug in there.

Con 2: The pocket does not hold as much as I had hoped.  Part of the trade off for snug, I guess.  If you loaded it before wearing the belt, you can probably cram more in, but I was only able to put two gels and my key fab (sans key) in it.

Why did I not use the gel holders?  Con 3: My gels would not fit in the gel holders.  My smaller Gu gel packets would have, but I switched to Accel gels.  Their packet is wider and would not work. Maybe I could have really crammed them in there, but I was afraid of busting the package. Luckily, my friend Craig was working the miles 2/15 aid station and had my third gel waiting for me.

Overall, I’d give the belt a B+.  Had it been $30 or the bottles didn’t leak, I’d give it an A.

Editor Update 7/9/2012: iFitness read this review in late June and contacted me.  Apparently, they had redesigned the bottles to prevent the leaking I mentioned above, but some old style bottles were still out there.  They sent me two new bottles.  I have tried them several times now, and I’m happy to report they are leak free and I am happy with them.  They no longer have the pop-up top. Instead, they are “hands free” – just tilt up and suck in.  Not sure what this style top is called.   I now give the belt an A. Here’s a picture of the two different caps:

POFIFOTO!

PS – About that iPhone…

I used an iPod Nano for my tunes, so why did I carry the iPhone? Answer: I activated the Find My iPhone feature so my family could track my progress during the run.  This worked OK for about two-thirds of the race then it lost the signal and never picked it up again.  Next time I am going to try one of the run tracking apps that sends emails during the race.

 

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