UltrAspire Atom MBS belt and MBS Ion Core bottle

Once again Barefootinc were called upon and they delivered. After the Geelong Half Marathon I had tossed up the idea of getting a hydration belt for my 10-15km runs where I may or may not need some water on the way.

My wife has also just joined a running club and the idea of being able to keep her bottle with her was really appealing. Enter the UltrAspire MBS Atom belt and the UltrAspire MBS Ion Core (hit the link for the UltrAspire online store)

The UltrAspire hydration belt system is a two piece hydration belt. Perfect for Barefootincs buy two products and get free shipping policy. Priced at $25AUS for the Small Atom belt and $45 for the Ion Core this is not a cheap system. After jumping on the phone, their friendly staff assured me I was buying a premium product and with the ‘fish’ discount I counted my coins and put my order in.

UltrAspire MBS Atom belt and Ion Core

Two mornings later the UltrAspire MBS Atom belt and the UltrAspire MBS Ion Core arrived on my doorstep. For any of my Australian readers this is the 3^rd time that Barefootinc have had my purchases delivered within two days.

At first look this belt system is very impressive. The red and grey colouring looks sweet and the material certainly feels like a premium product.  The mesh is strong but light and airy. It is oh so soft as well. If you want a lightweight belt, these two are certainly that.

MBS Atom

I’ve been talking ‘two’ so far. As you can see in the pics, it is a two piece belt. The UltrAspire Atom is the belt core. In Australia, Barefootinc sell the Small, Medium and Large sized Atoms. With us both being very small people we ordered the small Atom. See UltrAspire for all the size details. 

It has a stretchy mesh pocket on the front for your keys, gels or phone. It will fit a smaller (well, smaller than the Galaxy 3 or larger i-phones) Samsung Galaxy 2 sized phone or a HTC Desire X, but anything larger may not fit.

MBS ION - Magnetic clips on bottle and Ion Core holder

The UltrAspire Ion is the connector piece and contains very small magnetic pocket (under the grey branding arrow) which may fit a compactable car key or small house key. More importantly it has a 280 ml (8oz) water bottle. The bottle holder is angled at about 45 degrees and is magnetised at the bottom. The matching magnet can be seen at the bottom of the bottle. Together they work in perfect harmony to keep the bottle from moving once it is in place. The bottle top is a twist top, small enough to drink from, big enough for our fingers to easily grip and twist to open. 

They join through the metal clip on the Atom into the double stitched material slip on the Ion. Once in place it’s not coming out. The leather tab on the Atom then feeds through the clip on the Ion and is secured with Velcro. On my wife there is a tiny bit of play around the waist, it fits me comfortably snug.

So, can you run with it? Yes, yes you can. 
For comfort and ease of use just wear it as is. The Atom pocket on the front and the Ion bottle at the back. Em got to run with it first. With a jacket or two layers she felt if fit perfectly. With just a technical running top it was a little loose. This however was not bad. She said after a couple of hundred meters it settled and didn’t move. On a warm morning she said the mesh was airy and could in fact feel the airflow through the mesh. It was much cooler than she expected. She has not drunk on the run, but at the drink stop it was such an easy task. Simply reach around for the bottle, twist the top and refreshing water. She found it very easy to just slip it back in to the holder behind her back, the magnetic tabs almost pull it down at the last second. She reported no spills or leaking over 14km.

I used it today during my warm up run to my hill sprints and cool down run back to work. Slipping it on is pretty easy. The leather tab is a tight fit through the clips, you feel as though you don’t want to bend it but it needs just a little squeeze to get through. This thing is not coming undone mid run. On a running shirt it fit perfectly. I was not quite at the end of the tether but I wouldn’t want to add any kgs.

I took off at a moderate pace and it soon settled. Once I was running I did need to tighten it a fraction and pull it down to fit correctly, but I think that is just me as a first time user. Once on it did not move. The mesh did indeed provide great airflow. My waist felt cool and comfortable. Drinking on the run was easy. The 45 degree angle of the bottle made it easy to locate and remove, and the twist top was easy to open. The shape of the bottle allowed me to drink from it in what felt like a fairly natural position. Twist it to close and then I was able to easily locate the bottle back into the holder on the run. Again no slippage or leakage.  The only sound I had was the sloshing of water. Nothing is going to stop that.

The challenge was going to be the hill sprints. I had found a very nice hill over about 150m and planned to go flat out as long as I could. Over the 6 reps the UltrAspire Atom and UltrAspire Ion MBS system did not move. By the end of the session I was glad to have a drink. On the jog back to work again I almost forgot it was there.

So, big thumbs up to the UltrAspire Atom and UltrAspire Ion MBS system. It looks a million dollars, feels the same and for me and the wife, it works a treat. Over the Autumn, Winter and into Spring seasons it will be my go to hydration system. Perhaps as we near Summer I will look to utilise the Core and connector system and further connect with the larger capacity MBS Synapse with the 565 ml bottle. 

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