Saturday, August 18, 2012

Spot On Energy Misses the Mark



I've been battling a very open addiction to caffeine for more than a decade now. I've come to terms with my addiction and have established a somewhat stable routine. I only binge on caffeine to assist in medicating migraines when they pop up. Otherwise, I've been quite good about sticking to a few cups of coffee and a Diet Coke in a day. Every now and again, I'll crack open a Monster instead of a Diet Coke, but I think I've finally moved past the days of needing to ingest pots upon pots of coffee every day.

However, that's not to say I'm still not intrigued by the crazy caffeine related products that pop up from time to time. When I noticed that someone made a caffeine patch, I figured I had to at least give it a try, and I'm glad I did because it proved that patches, while a nice novelty, aren't going to replace your usual liquid consumption of caffeine.

I ordered a sampler pack from Spot On and in reading the label, I found there's only 20 mg of caffeine per patch, which is pretty minimal. To put things into perspective, your usual cup of coffee usually has in excess of 100 mg. Spot On suggests you apply two patches at once (getting you 40 mg of go-juice), so if you buy 20 patches, realize you're only really getting 10 servings. Also, if you want to replicate the amount of caffeine you get in a cup of coffee, you're going to have to put 5 or more of these patches on yourself.

I tried an application of two patches, both of which were square, not round (as you'd assume from the packaging). And... it didn't do much. I maybe got a little bit of a pick-me-up, but it was nothing like a good ol' cup of joe would get you. And when you want to take them off, they don't come off easily. The adhesive is quite... adhering! I made the mistake of putting one patch on the inside of my arm where it got applied over a few hairs, which are no longer on my arm but are still attached to the patch. So at least you know the patches won't accidentally fall off while you're wearing them! They also left some sticky residue on my arm, which is kind of gross, but it did eventually rub off.

So, really, at the end of the day these supposed magic caffeine energy patches aren't really worth the hassle, price, or effort to use. I'd suggest just sticking with coffee or your favorite diet soda instead of getting these things stuck on you. It's a great idea... I think... but the execution just isn't there.

1 comment:

Bill the Duck said...

Hi Rick, the product you tried was an early version. We are currently on a third release which is substantially different (read stronger!) than the ones you had. We'll send you some of the new ones to try if you email me with a good mailing address. Send me a note with shipping instructions to bstoner@spotonenergy.com.

Thanks for trying and thanks for speaking out. Let's see if we can't earn a better review with the all new, all natural formulation. These patches are intended to give you a nice smooth lift, not light your hair on fire. As a healthier alternative to some of the ingested products out there we think we are in a great position. But we need our consumers to be fans. So please give us the opportunity to score better.

Brenda Stoner
Spot On Energy