The Consumer’s Corner

No calories, no heavy flavors, just water with a splash of fruit. I like to make my reviews informative, and try to add some personality to them, but it’s difficult when dealing with a product this simple in design.

Simple is not synonymous with ‘bad.’ I really enjoyed drinking it! Just what I needed after a nice tanning session; I was hot, thirsty, and wanted something as light as possible. Owater provided that, with just the slightest touch of strawberry flavor. Real strawberry flavor, not some syrupy artificial flavor.

Owater is not only a product I’ll buy again, but as the weather warms up, I’ll probably be buying it by the case. Great stuff; easily recommended!

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

Mountain Dew has been expanding their Amp Energy Drink lineup, and so far I’ve really enjoyed the offerings. ‘Relaunch’ is fairly simple; just an orange soda with energy enhancers added. The flavor is very similar to that of Mountain Dew Livewire.

Relaunch adds in a blend of electrolytes to help the body rehydrate, but all in all, I think that is more gimmick than anything else. If you’re suffering from dehydration, an energy drink will probably be one of the last things you’ll reach for in the refrigerator.  Go for an ‘ade’ or some type of water.

I can’t say that Amp Relaunch does a whole lot in the energy boosting category either; I found it significantly less potent than many of the other 16 ounce energy beverages. That could be a positive for some of you who don’t want a big boost, but need something a little ’stiffer’ than a regular caffeinated soft drink can provide. This is almost like a ‘tweener.’ 220 calories, 58 grams of sugar, 160 mg caffeine, and 296 mg taurine. Those last two numbers are kind of weak.

Mildly recommended; I enjoyed drinking it, but not more so than a Mountain Dew Livewire. For a ‘true’ energy drink, I’d look elsewhere. This is perfect if you’re looking for something in the middle though. Tastes great!

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

Branching off into some new territory today, so new in fact that I had to create a new category just for this post. Toys! I’m a great big kid at heart, and I’m sure a lot of you are as well, so I may stick some more toy reviews up in the future, should something come along that piques my interest.

This product ‘piqued’ it alright. Knex Dueling Racers. They made these specifically for me, of this I’m certain. Since a very young child, I’ve always enjoyed building block sets. Anything that starts as nothing and ends up as something has always been appealing to me (that might explain my interest in web development). As I grew older, electric motors intrigued me, and I’ve tried to learn everything I can about those. Lastly, I love cars, and racing those cars.

Knex Dueling Racers has a little bit of all three of those interests of mine, and I enjoyed tinkering with the set. Included in the package is enough pieces to build two vehicles at one time; and the pieces vary enough that it is possible to create four varieties of car. One is a ‘Top Fuel’ style dragster, an open-wheel F1 style, a ‘featherweight’ midget, and another that I didn’t really recognize (but it still looks cool).

I had fun, and so did my seven year old test subject. I’d definitely say it’s worth the $19.99 MSRP, so if this is something you think your ‘kids’ would be interested in, I wouldn’t hesitate picking one up. Recommended! (Also compatible with other brands of building bricks, for those that like to throw the instruction books away and become more adventurous.)

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

I’m sure a few of you noticed that I took a couple of days off. One day I was sick, and the other was spent putting together a ‘companion’ website to The Consumer’s Corner.

LowCalCorner is a site, that for right now and the immediate future, will focus on low calorie beverages. A lot of it will just be reused content from here, organized in a place where dieters can find it easily. There will be some ‘exclusive’ content as well, so if that interests you, check it out!

Should it take off, I’ll start putting some low/no cal foods and snacks up, but for the moment I want to stick with my passion. The Consumer’s Corner will not suffer at all, as LowCalCorner.com wont be updated all that often; just when something pretty big launches, or I find something particularly special (be it good or bad).

Check it out, link to it, let me know what you think! Have a nice evening!

Jeremy Hobbs

I’ve been reviewing a lot of ‘waters’ lately, but when a water is loaded up with a bunch of other ingredients, does it cease to be a water? Where exactly is that ‘line’ between water, and soft drink? I will not pretend to know; that’s up to consumers to decide, but I do know which side of the line this product will be standing on. It is H20 in it’s (almost) purest form.

Zero calories is a good start, water is supposed to be calorie free. Zero calories means zero fat, of course. No sweeteners, not even artificial ones. The ingredients list is simple; purified water, natural peach flavor, and a short list of electrolytes that I don’t care to type out.

The flavor is very light, like someone just squeezed a few drops of peach juice into the bottle. That’s great, because I really don’t care for peaches, but whatever. That’s not the point. When you’re hot, tired, sweaty, you tend to want something really light and simple, not something loaded up with this, and that. Owater gives you that!

With summer coming up fast, I recommend this. I’ll be throwing out some shorter reviews of the other flavors that I’ve found, but water is going to be the essential element in each bottle. The choice will be which is your favorite fruit.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

My name is Jeremy, and I am an energy-mint-aholic. I remember my first hit; Jolt Energy Mints. I was hooked from the first serving, and ever since that point in time, a can of energy mints has never been more than a few feet away from my grasp. I first realized I had a problem when my first can of mints ran out, and I had no back up. It was terrible.

I couldn’t find another tin of them anywhere; it was like God Himself was hiding them from me. But, thank goodness for a teenage girl named Amanda, who shown a light on another fix, and told me where to get them. I will forever be in her debt.

Ice Breakers Energy are a slight step down from Jolt Energy Mints in caffeine potency, but the make up for it due to simple availability. To get the caffeine dosage of Jolt Energy Mints, you have to consume two serving of the Ice Breakers Energy’s, but again, it’s worth it. They taste great, a bit stronger in mint flavor than the Jolts (that could be good or bad, depends on your preference).

Sugar free, only 5 calories per serving (3 mints). Totally guilt free. I can find no negatives to this product; freshens your breath, tasty treat, energy boost, cool packaging, decent price ($1.50). Well, maybe one negative; they may have you in a substance abuse program at some point; they’re highly addictive   Recommended and then some!

Absolutely Useless Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

ice breakers, mints

Bacardi Silver hasn’t ever been my favorite out of the ‘malternative’ brands, but I haven’t ever been scared to drink one (or six) either if I can find them on sale. Thrifty thrifty thrifty.

You consumers can often find the line of Bacardi drinks at significantly lower prices than Smirnoff and Mike’s, but there really isn’t a significant drop off in the quality of the drink. Bacardi just got into the game a little late, and they’re having to scrounge around a bit for some market share. I find them to taste a bit less sweet, but I’m sure a lot of people like that about them. Simple matter of preference.

I’ll get into more of ‘the line’ later; but tonight I’m focusing on this particular variety, ‘Mojito.’ The flavor is a really good reproduction; I was surprised. Can’t beat it in terms of convenience, the Mojito isn’t exactly an easy drink to make. Ever if you use a mix, it’s still easier just to twist off the top on a Bacardi Silver Mojito.

Did I think it was any good? Absolutely. The mint flavor (spearmint, I’m thinking?) did not over power the lime, or vice versa. It was very light tasting, not syrupy at all. That can be rare with these types of drinks. It left a cool, refreshing taste in my mouth. Calories will kind of ding you at 235 (35 grams carbs), but you should know by now that these things are loaded down with sugar going in. Definitely not for dieters, unless you’re a very light drinker. Alcohol percentage is 5% in my area of the world, but I’ve been told that may vary a bit by state (country?).

I look forward to popping the tops on the rest of my 6 pack this evening, so that should give you a clue as to whether of not I give them a recommendation. Sold in 6 packs only I believe (unless you own a bar), and Publix made me give them $5.50 at the checkout counter before they’d allow me to leave with them. Prices will of course vary by location. Drink in moderation, don’t drive, and keep your fetus sober, please. Thank you.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

Adult Beverage, beer, malternative

More vitamins in what used to be nothing but junk food. Frankfood! Ice Breakers has always made tasty, strangely addicting mints, and these are no exception. One serving just isn’t enough, and I’m not even that big of a pomegranate and lemon fan.

The vitamin content is a bit on the ‘light’ side, just 10% of A, C, E, and zinc per serving. That certainly will not take the place of your daily multivitamin, but they do not hurt the flavor, and certainly will not be doing you any harm. Some vitamins are better than none, right? Add the fact that they’re sugar free, and only 5 calories per serving, you’re in ‘guilt free’ territory.

Easily recommended, $1.50 seems like a fair price. I’ll be buying them again.

Absolutely Useless Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

ice breakers, mints, restore, frankenfood

When I saw the word ‘Acai,’ I must admit that I cringed a bit. My taste buds have only had one opportunity to try one product flavored with the acai berry, and that was Full Throttle Mother. If you have read that post, it’s not difficult to tell that I didn’t have a very positive experience. So I went into Snapple Antioxidant Water Strawberry Acai with a bit of trepidation.

But, this entire line is just dripping with quality, and this flavor option is no different. Snapple leaned heavily on the ‘Strawberry,’ and that was a wise move on their part. It’s a natural flavor, not the usual ‘candy’ strawberry profile that you find in most other drinks. It even had a bit of ‘green’ flavor to it, something I found unique and interesting. Overall, I really dug the flavor, and the 20 ounce bottle was down the hatch with a relative quickness.

I’ve already gone over the ‘Awaken’ blend with Snapple Antioxidant Water Dragon Fruit. In short, it’s a blend of vitamins, guarana, ginseng, and caffeine to give you a boost. It’s mild, but noticeable. Great product for those of you looking for a pick me up, but don’t want to blast off with an energy drink.

Calories round out at 140 per bottle, coming mostly (entirely?) in the way of sugar. I know it says water, and that is the main ingredient, but you’ll need to figure it in to your diet if you’re on one. Still way better for you than a corn syrup packed soda though.  I recommend!

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs

snapple, snapple anioxidant water, water, beverages

Jolt has been getting some fairly positive press from me lately; and for good reason. Everything I’ve tried, minus the gum, has tasted fairly good. Some of the items, like Cherry Bomb and Blue Raspberry will be making their way into my regular rotation. But Jolt let me down in an area I really like to specialize in; diet/no-calorie/low-calorie products.

Jolt’s entry into that market is a failure. To say it’s medicinal would be a gross understatement; it tastes exactly like lemon-lime AirBorne. Now, AirBorne isn’t all that bad as far as cold remedies go, but it’s not something that I would consume for the pure enjoyment of it.

The flavor, as mentioned, is lemon-limey citrus. Very weak, as well. I found that very odd, as the other Jolt products had distinct, robust profiles. Jolt Ultra is just bad.

You have far better options available to you, I have to recommend you avoid this product. Maybe if they reformulate, come back with a better, stronger flavor Jolt Ultra will be able to compete. As always, my opinion is one amongst many, if you agree or disagree, comment and let it be known.

Official Site

–Jeremy Hobbs