Quote Originally Posted by Urlea View Post
I have yet to try running/racing with a fuel belt, I usually use something like this...

http://www.teamestrogen.com/products.asp?pID=25549
I just got one of those last month (Nathan QuickDraw handheld water bottle carrier, for those who don't want to click on the link), and have to review it as mediocre.

Biggest negative: the bottle that comes with it leaks. Not enough to lose a whole lot of water, but enough that I feel like I have to put my phone in a ziploc bag.

You definitely have to close the pull-out valve every time you drink, to prevent losing lots of water from sloshing, and that's an extra step and effort.

I tried putting my .75L Camelbak Better Bottle (LOVE that thing!) in the Nathan carrier, but it was just too heavy and really messed up my arm swing and torso rotation. Plus, drinking from the straw meant that once the bottle was about 1/2 to 2/3 empty, I was sucking a lot of air as the water sloshed around.

Other dislikes: the elastic at the top of the bottle is pretty loose and it gives the impression it won't last long.

The elastic cross at the bottom of the bottle means you can't set the bottle down while you're warming up or stretching, it will fall over.

There's room in the pocket for my phone (LG VX 5400), but that's a smallish phone, and a larger phone or smartphone wouldn't fit in the pocket. Especially with a ziploc bag around it.

Having the pocket opposite the strap means that when the bottle's empty, the weight of the phone is at the farthest point away from your hand, which makes the weight more noticeable (not sure how that problem would be best resolved though).

Likes: the hand strap is comfortable, especially with the flexible bottle that comes with it. (Although I think my hands are about at the limit of comfort. Anyone whose hands are too small to use un-shimmed Shimano brifters comfortably would probably find the strap/bottle combination too large to carry.)

Handheld means that by rotating my hand, I can let the water slosh in the direction of my body's travel to minimize the disruption of my momentum.

It's pretty easy to switch from hand to hand while running, for muscle balance.

Bottom line: I will continue to use it. I haven't tried a water belt - but considering how hard my ID belt bounced when I tried to put my phone in it, I'm very reluctant to shell out the $ for a water belt without being able to try to run in it. I guess I should try to run in my Platypus backpack, but between the bouncing and pulling my shoulders back, that really doesn't appeal much to me either.