This is my first review of any type of product, so bare with me.
I will start with the Speed belt 2. I have two of these belts, one in girly pink and the other in grey to match my team Running Free attire of course. (very important for us girls) This belt has a Velcro closure and allows enough room for a little weight gain or loss. There is a small pocket (when I say small I mean more like, tiny) on the closure. I am not too sure what this would be for or what it would hold. Wouldn’t hold much more then a few salt pills if my fingers could get in to take them out while running. So for me, this feature is useless.
As for the main compartment, it also has a Velcro closure which I do like. It allows for fast entry to retrieve my gels or salt pills. Inside the pocket it has a small I.D. card that is attached to a string so it does not get lost. (I still dont’ have this filled in) There is also a clip to attach your car or house key, which once again I have not had a need for but it is useful for some. The pouch has a divider piece of fabric in the middle which i think is useful for putting your used gel packs in one section instead of throwing them on the ground. The front of the pouch itself is made of a fine stretchy elastic mesh that enables you to fill the pouch with enough gels to run a half marathon or maybe more.
As for the water bottles, this belt holds two 10 oz bottles. The bottles are easy to get out and return to the holders that are plastic instead of elastic like may other belts. I have never has any problems with water spilling out of the lids or being able to open or close the top while running. I have used this belt on many long training runs and on almost all of my half marathons. Over all, I think this is a great water belt for any distance runner.
Now on to the Nathan Trail belt 4. I needed a four bottle belt for my longer training runs as I was wanting to run my first full marathon this past fall. So winning the Nathan lottery was perfect and just in time. When I first seen this belt I was not too sure of the closure. It is a clip made of hard plastic which I thought may break after it being opened and closed over and over , Plus I was so use to the Velcro closure of my Speed belt. However, I have come to love this closure. I feel the belt stays in place better and I don’t find myself re-adjusting the closure like I do with my Velcro one (even tho it is faster to remove). This belt has four 10 oz water bottles just like the Speed belts so I can use the bottles in both belts without having to keep track of what bottle goes with what belt. (especially when my husband also has a few Nathan belts of his own) This belt also had another feature I thought was great. It is one size fits all. (making it perfect for multiple different sized people to use if needed) It has adjustable straps on either side between the water bottles. The excess strapping is rolled and held in place by a Velcro strap. I have never had a problem with them coming unrolled while running. They are very secure. On to the pouch section. This pouch is huge! Making it perfect to fit enough gels and gummies to run my full marathon with gels left over ( I think I carried 14 gels in it on race day). However, this pouch has a zipper closure which I do not care for. ( I think I am just use to my Speed belt pouch and am easily confused LOL) The inside also has the ID card, key strap and a small divided section . The front of the pouch does have another section with a Velcro closure and a fine stretch mesh pocket. I found this to be a useful section to hold my salt pills. I feel this is the perfect hydration belt for my long runs and full marathons.Over all, I love all of my Nathan belts and use them every-time I run.
