Reviewed a thread about honey as nutrition and was wondering; has anyone ever used Stinger gels or waffles? What are your thoughts about Stingers vs. SIS.
I saw that some people just mix the gels in water instead of beta fuel. Any nutrition nerds out there? I’ve been using Beta Fuel and Go gels with success, but, always willing to experiment (and save money).
Yeah, same. I’m looking at my race intensity where I burn 367g of carbs over four hours w/ 277g burned in the middle 2 hrs.
Specifically looking for analysis of Go gels vs Stinger gels. They look the same to me, but, I’m not a nutritionist.
Honey stinger waffles have almost half their calories from fat. And while I really like them as a snack, they are not the best source of carbs because of their fat content.
Honey stinger gels on the other hand are a mix of glucose and fructose- pure carbs. I don’t know the specific ratio, but the fact that they are a mix means they balance out other carb sources that are 100% glucose (I believe SIS gels are 100% maltodextrin - basically glucose).
My preferred nutrition includes both SIS gels because they are isotonic, and honey stinger gels because they have fructose in addition to glucose - and they taste a lot better (for me, less sweet) vs other gels. I’ve found I can stomach a combo of SIS and Honey Stinger gels a lot better than other pure maltodextrin gels I have tried in the past (eg Hammer).
100% Maltodextrin according to their website
I have used the Honey Stinger gels at times. They are quite sweet so I prefer SIS, but mixing in a few of Honey Stingers helps with variety.
I usually eat the waffles as a pre-ride snack as they are pretty tasty (right now I quite like the vanilla flavor). They are too crumbly to eat effectively while riding. Honey Stringer chews are also pretty tasty and I have used those on rides, but prefer the packaging of Clif Blocks.
This! The little stroopwafels at Trader Joe’s are awesome and cheap! Great to grab a few before a morning trainer ride or to take in a jersey pocket on outdoor rides. The hardest part is keeping them around since I have to hide them from the wife and kid. 
TL;DR: used SiS Go and HS gels last season, have moved away from SiS this season for various reasons; now actually moving away from HS too. Didn’t notice a performance difference based in the sugar source personally.
I actually raced my 70.3s last season using both Honey Stinger gels and SiS. I do not like HS Gold gel, and prefer the Acai flavor. I like that gel better than any of the uncaff SiS gels.
But mostly I used SiS on the bike, and then HS on the run in my training and A race. The only reason behind that was I found the HS gels easier to carry. By the time the run came around, I didn’t want any more caffeine.
I really liked the SiS gels in gel flasks. Being isotonic, they worked really well in the flasks, but my Hammer flasks only hold three SiS gels each. That worked fine for the 2.5ish hr ride. Plenty of calories there for me at that intensity. I alternated caff w/ non-caff SiS gels on my rides, then straight HS Acai gel on the run.
I like that I can buy the HS gel in bulk. That said, I just switched back to Hammer Gel bulk, just because I like some of their flavors and it’s a little bit less expensive. I haven’t noted any difference in the sugar sources based on performance, personally. I’m not using SiS gels at all right now. I’m preferring liquid calories anyway (Skratch/Tailwind) .
I do love HS waffles, but haven’t had much use for them since my rides are generally 2hrs. With a century coming up late summer, I might carry a couple just to change things up. I’ll have to check out the TJs stroopwaffles.
I can’t stand the taste of honey stinger gels but their waffers are awesome. For gels SIS works so well for me.