Fuel Belt and Accessories

Just purchased and tested the 2005 endurance 4-bottle fuel belt: http://www.fuelbelt.com/en4botbel.html along with a 2-pack of the 10-oz bottles http://www.fuelbelt.com/20acne.html and the clip-on gel flask found at http://www.fuelbelt.com/gelflaskholder.html.

I've tested it on a middle distance run - about 7 miles - without using the clip on gel flask.

The belt is comfortable and does not bounce. It can be adjusted pretty tightly and did not slip down. I used the 10-oz bottles and liked the fit and volume of water they carried. The 10 oz bottles are a little harder to get back into the carrier since you have to stretch more to fit them in. This is not a problem with the standard 7 0z bottles. Couldn't quite do it with only one hand. It seems reasonable to use this belt configured with 4 x 10 oz bottles for a long run. The larger bottles do bounce a little more than the smaller 7 oz.

You can use this belt with all 4 bottles, or just with 2 bottles (for shorter runs). I found that spinning the belt so the velcro is in the back was more comfortable - personal preference I guess. The pocket seems like it could hold a lot of items, but when the belt is strapped on it is stretched tight and not much could fit in the pocket. Perhaps 1-2 gel packs, a key, and a small item or 2 - but nothing like a cell phone (perhaps there is a cell phone clip that would work?).

The gel flask has a belt loop which is not quite wide enough to fit onto the fuel belt. Seems like a obvious design flaw? I was able to squeeze it onto the fuel belt by folding the belt in half and muscling it through. It kind of pinches the belt a little, but seems like it will work. The flask holds 7 oz gel (about 6 servings, equal to 6 gel packs). I'll try running with that this weekend on a 10 mile race I'm doing and report back. Seems like it should work ok.

one other item of note - some (2 or 3) of the rubber tips on the bottles have a HORRIBLE smell - I washed them before use but it didn't get rid of the stink. I'm going to cook them in the dishwasher on high heat to see if that gets rid of the smell, otherwise I don't know what I'll do - order more bottles?

Background: I needed a belt to carry water on long training runs and for longer races (running and triathlon). I needed something that could also carry gel packs and/or a gel flask. I considered camelbacks, traditional water bottle carriers, and the fuel belt.

I chose this model for the following reasons:

1. It can carry up to 40 oz (using the optional 10-oz bottles)
2. It can have the gel flask
3. It's a popular widely used product
4. I tried the T3 water bottle carrier (http://www.fuelbelt.com/t3.html) - found it to work ok for 20 oz water, but I found it awkward - I really had to fight to get the bottle back into the holder at times. Once the bottle was less than full there was a lot of sloshing, but overall it was comfortable and didn't bounce too much.
5. Didn't like the camelback that fit like a fanny pack - bounced way too much.
6. Didn't want the camelback with shoulder straps, felt heavy and hot for running.