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Aptonia Salted Butter Caramel energy gel

4
£4.59

VERDICT:

4
10
Good value, but too sweet and too thick to be easily consumable
Weight: 
150g

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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On first sight, Aptonia Energy Gel immediately sets itself apart from most other gels in that it comes packaged in a toothpaste-like tube, instead of the usual plastic wrapper. To consume it, you simply twist the plastic end off and squeeze. While certainly different, this packaging design has both its merits and drawbacks.

On the negative side, once bitten off, the plastic end is destined to be dropped onto the road as no one is realistically going to fuss about trying to stuff it back into a pocket in the heat of the moment. Having said that, the design of the tube itself ensures that the remaining gel doesn't leak everywhere when you put it back in your pocket, providing you place it with the hole facing upwards. This should encourage more people to hang on to their empty gels once consumed, reducing the amount of litter on the roads. If Aptonia could just find a way to ensure that the plastic nub doesn't come away completely from the tube, then it would be a great design, environmentally speaking.

Each gel provides around 19g of carbohydrates, or 75kcal of energy, from a combination of glucose syrup and maltodextrin. Apart from that, the gels don't provide a whole lot, but then they aren't intended to be nutritious; their role is to fuel the fire. Working from the generally accepted maximum carbohydrate absorption rate of 70g/hour, you should be looking to take around 2-3 of these gels per hour, depending on whether you're also taking on energy drink.

The Energy Gel is available in a variety of fruit flavours, but also an interesting salted flavour — salted butter caramel — which was the flavour tested. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the caramel flavour turned out to be more sweet than salty; a little too sweet I found, and the flavour did start to cloy after the first couple of gels.

To make matters worse, the texture is very thick, which, combined with the sweetness meant that each gel had to be followed by large slugs of water — not ideal when on the limit in a race.

Where the Aptonia Gels do score well is on value. Though they are only available in packs of six which makes experimenting with flavours a bit more of difficult, each a six-pack of most flavours will set you back only £2.99. This works out to be around 60p per gel which is pretty cheap as far as gels go. At £4.59 for six, this caramel flavour is unusually expensive by Decathlon standards.

Unfortunately though, in the case of the salted butter caramel flavour at least, the overly sweet taste and thick texture mean that it's too difficult to get down and, no matter how cheap, it's not a gel I could recommend.

Verdict

Good value, but too sweet and too thick to be easily consumable

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Aptonia Salted Butter Caramel energy gel

Size tested: Salted Butter Caramel flavour, 26g sachets

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?

The Aptonia Energy Gels are designed to be taken during exercise and are useful for occasions when a no-fuss hit of energy is required - a race or the last hour of a sportive for example.

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

Ingredients:

Glucose syrup (75%), water, maltodextrin (9.5%), flavourings, salt, caramel colouring agent, preservative: potassium sorbate, vitamins: C, B1

Contains: milk. Made in a factory which handles: gluten, shellfish, eggs, fish, peanuts, soy, milk, nuts, celery, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, molluscs

Nutritional Information per gel (25g)

Energy: 75kcal

Fat: 0.025g

Fibre: <0.1g

Carbohydrates: 18.75g

of which sugars: 5.5g

Protein: 0.025g

Salt: 0.175g

Vitamin B1: 0.175mg (16% RDA)

Vitamin C: 12mg (15% RDA)

Rate the product for performance:
 
3/10

The salted caramel flavour is too sweet and the texture is so thick that it makes consumption quite difficult. Each gel had to be followed by a few slugs of water which isn't ideal in the heat of the moment

Rate the product for value:
 
6/10

Though the gels are certainly cheap, their value is less certain as they're not all that pleasant to use.

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

Not well; too thick and sweet for quick and pleasant consumption.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The toothpaste style packaging.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Taste and texture.

Did you enjoy using the product? No.

Would you consider buying the product? No.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? No.

Overall rating: 4/10

About the tester

Age: 22  Height: 190cm  Weight: 69kg

I usually ride: Canondale EVO Red  My best bike is:

I've been riding for: Under 5 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Semi pro

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, time trialling, cyclo cross, commuting, mtb,

 

For 5 years, racing was my life and I went all the way from a newbie bonking after 40 miles, to a full-timer plying my trade on the Belgian kermesse scene. Unfortunately, the pro dream wasn't meant to be and these days, you're more likely to find me bimbling about country lanes and sleeping in a bush on the side of the road.

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4 comments

Avatar
KirinChris | 9 years ago
0 likes

I've tried the GU Salted Caramel and I love it. Would happily put it on my ice cream.

But the problem with Gu is the same as these, by the sounds of it - too thick. It's fine in the cooler conditions but in the heat or in a race if it gets stuck in your mouth or throat it isn't good.

Speaking of flavours, I was in the US recently and found a line of recovery bars called Epic. They do flavours like Bison, Bacon & Cranberry and Lamb, Currant and Mint. The bison in particular is fantastic.

The idea was exactly as StephenHerring mentioned - to have something more savoury and a bit of a change from all the sweet fruity flavours.

Nom nom
https://www.epicbar.com/

Avatar
SteppenHerring | 9 years ago
0 likes

For long TTs and rides, something more savoury is needed. I am working on my own range of gels right now and so far the flavours are:
- Steak & Kidney
- Cream of Tomato Soup
- Cauliflower cheese
- Chicken Tikka Massala

I think these could really work

Avatar
s_lim | 9 years ago
0 likes

I've not tried this flavour, but the orange and raspberry gels are superb, much easier to digest than similar offerings by Hi5 or Sis. Used them racing and they don't leave your back pocket or arse a sticky mess when you put the emptyish wrapper back either.

Avatar
Jack Osbourne snr replied to s_lim | 9 years ago
0 likes

If you're not French you're unlikely to fully appreciate the flavour...Flavour favour being the most subjective of measures.

Get yourself to your local creperie and get training with salted butter caramel crepes... Then try the gels again.

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