PRODUCT REVIEW: GEARGEEKBOX FOR NEW TRI PRODUCTS

If your triathlete is anything like ours, they love new triathlon “stuff”. They go to the expos and races and read all the triathlon-related magazines. Our houses are filled with triathlon gear. While the excitement has waned a bit over of the years, I don’t think it will ever go away.

Enter a relatively new venture (late 2014) called GearGeekBox, that was started by self-proclaimed triathlete “gear geeks” to give other like-minded triathletes a monthly fix of new “stuff”. This is a subscription service with varying levels. You can get a Sprint 1-, International 3-, Half 6- or Full 12 month subscription. The prices range from $49.99 – $59.99/month depending on the subscription length; the longer the subscription, the less expensive. GearGeekBox will also produce custom boxes, filled with gear specifically created to match a specific group or event.

What is great about the box is that it is customized to your sizes, likes, dislikes, and habits that the company knows about because they ask you to complete a questionnaire when you subscribe. Their goal is to give you products you will actually like and use. The retail value of each box is a bit over $100.

TriWivesClub was provided with one of the monthly boxes. I have to say, even for this non-triathlete, it was fun opening the box just to see what was inside. And, what a pleasant surprise! Much to my amazement, there were actually 3 out of 4 items that I could use and did, which I guess they paid attention to my questionnaire!

Inside my box was:

Ultraspire LO Waist Pack

This new, Ultraspire LO waist pack is designed for runners. It is lightweight, breathable, and has reflective hits for safety. It was in pink, so I knew my triathlete was not going to wear this, even for a test run, so it was left to me. It does come in other colors that he would wear, though. While I’m not a big fan of fanny packs, which this essentially is, I have to say, it worked very well on my run. I was able to carry my iPhone5, keys, ID, cash, and kleenex with room to spare. It was easy to hook on and didn’t slip while I was running, but stayed in place. In fact, I didn’t really notice it was there. It washed easily in the machine, but I did hang it to dry.

SportSuds

I am always on the lookout for a great detergent to get both the stink and stain out of all clothes, not just my triathletes. But, face it, those are the worst! So, I was very happy to find SportSuds in my box. I also like my household products to be environmentally friendly and cruelty free; both of which are true of this product. That said, they do have to be effective or what’s the use.

Several things are really nice about SportSuds. Not only did it work, but a little goes a long way; you only need a tiny scoop for each load, so each bag does about 40+ loads. In addition, you can use it for the rest of your laundry, including cottons and silks, so you don’t need two different detergents. It also doesn’t contain any dyes or perfumes, if that’s important to you, which it is to me. Now, I will say when I first took the clothes out of the washer, I thought they still had an odor. But, when I took them out of the dryer, any odor was totally gone.

In terms of price, the bag I used costs about $22 online and is the equivalent of the 92 oz Tide Sport for about half the cost. But, it offers features that are important to me (see above) not found in Tide, so I’m willing to pay more.

Orange Mud

Okay, I have to say this is a very cool product and one I wish I had thought about. How often does your triathlete walk around the house in a towel after a very sweaty workout or has to get back in the car after a ride or run and try to avoid getting sweat all over the car seat? Well, it’s very common in my household and the car seat thing has always been a big problem.

But, the Orange Mud wrap comes to the rescue in both situations. It’s a seat cover and changing towel in one! You can use it to wrap around your waist and it stays put with a clip system for people of varying sizes or zip the zipper and it creates a “hood” to fit over your car seat and stay in place. Simple, effective, genius…

Ucan

This is a sports nutrition drink mix product to sustain energy, stabilize blood sugar, enhance fat burning, optimize performance, and speed recovery and comes in multiple flavors. In essence, it’s supposed to do it all. Ucan is endorsed by the 2014 Boston Marathon Champion and 3X Olympian, Meb Keflezighi. I don’t use sports drinks, because I don’t exercise hard enough to need one and while my triathlete does, his coach has him using a specific one and he wasn’t about to switch in training season. He did agree to try it after the race season was over. So, I didn’t use this product from the box.

Conclusion

I checked to see examples of common products they include and found sunscreen, glasses, swim gear, hydration products, energy bars, clothing, bike equipment, shoes….On the negative side, you can’t return any of the individual products or the boxes, so you’re stuck with what you get. But, you can cancel at any time.

I would definitely give it a try for my triathlete for a few months as it is a good value, but I’d like see what other products we get before I’d invest any further. It is a lot of money to put out for something you don’t know if you’ll need or want. I would also be very specific about not getting sports drink products at least during race season, when my husband doesn’t want to switch out his nutrition, which is laid out by his coach. Otherwise, it’s nice to get products you might not otherwise know about or think about trying.

If you would like to try any of these products, they are offering discounts:

Ultraspire – Discount Code 2GGB15 saves you 15% off all orders

SportSuds – Discount Code GGB40 saves you 40% off all orders

Orange Mud – Discount Code MUD615 saves you 15% off all orders

Ucan – Discount Code GEARGEEK saves you 15% off all orders

Disclosure: I was provided with a GearGeekBox for my review. I was not paid for this article. All opinions are my own.

– SHERRY

Sherry Wernicke

Sherry is one of the TriWivesClub and LifeDoneWell co-founders and contributes to multiple blogs. She is a former co-owner of the California Apparel News and had a career in the healthcare industry. Her passions include traveling, real food, the environment, and animal rescue/welfare. She lives a healthy lifestyle and has been a vegetarian since 1987. She and her husband are parents to two rescue pups and reside in Connecticut.