SHOP NOW, PAY LATER
Informed Sport
Informed Choice
NSF Certified for Sport
HASTA Certified
You finish a long ride with salt rings on your shirt and reach for something that promises hydration. Half the tubs on the shelf hold less sodium in a serve than a slice of bread.
Sodium per serve is the figure worth checking. The rest is small print.
The short answer
Quick answer
Pillar Performance Electrolyte Hydration has the most sodium of the drink mixes in stock, 400 mg a serve, and the 30 stick pack costs $1.70 a serve against $3.60 for the same formula in the 15 serve tub. Ghost Hydration (323 mg, $1.50 a serve) and Ryse Core Hydration (320 mg, $2.67) come next. If hydration is the goal, skip GAT Sport Nitraflex Hydration: it is a 325 mg caffeine pre-workout.
Compare flavours and formats in the electrolytes range.
- For a long sweaty session, look for roughly 300 mg to 600 mg of sodium per serve, matching the per hour range in the sodium research.
- Highest sodium in stock: Pillar Performance Electrolyte Hydration at 400 mg, in the tub and the sticks. Swoleys Electrolyte Gummies list 10 mg of sodium per two gummies, far short of that range, so they will not replace sodium on a long or hot day. Use a drink mix for that.
- Per serve: Ghost Hydration works out at $1.50 across a 40 serve tub. GAT Sport Nitraflex Hydration is $1.42, but it is a caffeinated pre-workout.
- If your training is an hour in an air conditioned gym, water and food will do.
Who actually needs one
Three groups get a real return: people training longer than about 90 minutes, people who work or train in heat, and heavy sweaters whose cap dries stiff with salt. If that is you, replacing sodium changes how the back half feels.
Everyone else is topping up something they were not short of. A normal Kiwi diet already carries plenty of sodium. One exception: if a $1.70 stick is why you finish two litres on a hot day, buy it. For the mechanism, see what electrolytes actually do.
Tubs, sticks or gummies
Tubs are cheaper per gram, and they live on your bench, so you forget them the moment you leave the house.
Sticks go in a gym bag or a glovebox, usually at a premium. Not here: the Pillar sticks are $1.70 per serve against $3.60 for the same formula in a tub, because the stick pack holds 30 serves and the tub holds 15.
Gummies skip water, which suits tramping and long drives. The trade off is a gummy will not remind you to drink. Check the sodium too: the Swoleys gummies we stock list 10 mg per two gummies, so on their own they will not cover a long tramp or a hot day.
Price per serve hides how much sodium you get. Divide by the sodium on each label and the Pillar sticks and Ghost Hydration land close together, while the Pillar tub costs about twice as much for the same sodium. If Pillar is your pick, the Pillar Performance electrolytes range shows the sticks and the tub side by side.
Price for 100 mg of sodium
Price per serve divided by the sodium in one serve, scaled to 100 mg. In-stock drink mixes, prices at 24 September 2026.
Every in-stock hydration product, ranked by sodium
Mineral figures come from the labels. Price per serve is price divided by listed serves, 24 September 2026.
Sodium per serve
One serve as listed on each label. In-stock NZ Supps drink mixes, 24 September 2026.
Drink mixes only. The Swoleys gummies are in the table below, and GAT Sport Nitraflex Hydration lists no sodium.
The full list, one serve per row as each label gives it. A Swoleys serve is two gummies. Prices at 24 September 2026.
| Product | Sodium | Per serve | Also on the label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pillar Hydration sticks | 400 mg | $1.70 30 for $50.85 |
Potassium 190 mg, magnesium 80 mg |
| Pillar Hydration tub | 400 mg | $3.60 15 for $53.96 |
Potassium 190 mg, magnesium 80 mg |
| Ghost Hydration | 323 mg | $1.50 40 for $59.95 |
Potassium 1,036 mg, magnesium 565 mg, taurine 1,500 mg |
| Ryse Core Hydration | 320 mg | $2.67 16 for $42.70 |
Potassium 173 mg, magnesium 74 mg, taurine 1,000 mg |
| Swoleys gummies | 10 mg | $0.87 45 for $39.25 |
Potassium 49 mg, calcium 34 mg, magnesium 6 mg |
| GAT Nitraflex Hydration | Not listed | $1.42 45 for $63.95 |
Caffeine 325 mg, creatine 2 g |
Sugar from the panels: Ghost Hydration 0 g (2 g carbohydrate), the Pillar tub and sticks 0 g (3.5 g carbohydrate, sweetened with erythritol), Ryse Core Hydration is sugar-free, and the Swoleys gummies do not itemise sugar. GAT Nitraflex Hydration is really a 325 mg caffeine pre-workout with 2 g of creatine and no electrolytes on its panel, so it sits in the table for price only.
Basic Supplements Hydration carries 600 mg of sodium and would lead the powders, but both flavours are out of stock.
Reading the labels properly
The GAT product is a hydration name on a stimulant formula: 325 mg caffeine, 2,000 mg creatine, 1,500 mg citrulline, no sodium on the panel. Treat it as a pre-workout.
Ghost Hydration is the other odd one. Sodium is mid pack at 323 mg, but potassium is 1,036 mg, more than five times what Ryse or Pillar carry. Potassium is not the mineral you lose most of in sweat, so that number does not cover a small sodium figure. Pillar runs the tightest formula for the job: 400 mg sodium, 190 mg potassium, 80 mg magnesium, about 5 calories.
Compete in a drug-tested sport? Both Pillar formats sit in our Informed Sport certified range, so check that logo on the pack as well as the minerals.
MusclePharm Creatine-Hydrate is really a creatine product: 5,000 mg of creatine next to 55 mg of sodium. Fine for daily creatine, and the creatine range has cheaper unflavoured options, but 55 mg will not touch a two hour session in February.
What the evidence supports
The sodium case is narrow and it holds. Sweat losses vary a lot between people, and replacing sodium during long or hot exercise helps you keep drinking and keeps blood sodium from falling too far. Examine.com's electrolytes page and the ISSN position stands at jissn.biomedcentral.com agree: sodium matters when exercise runs long, and very little when it does not.
The everyday wellness pitch has nothing behind it. A stick with breakfast does nothing for a desk day. Cramp is the other thing people expect it to fix, and that picture is messier than the marketing suggests, as our cramp write-up explains.
Working out what you need
Say you ride two hours on a hot Saturday and lose a litre of sweat an hour. Sweat sodium sits in a wide band, so a mid range estimate puts you near 800 mg to 1,200 mg lost.
One Pillar stick an hour gives 400 mg, or 800 mg over the two hours, covering the lower end. One Ghost serve an hour adds up to 646 mg over the ride, so salt your food afterwards.
The common mistake is dosing by taste. People mix a weak scoop because a full one is salty, then wonder why they feel flat. Use a bigger bottle rather than cutting the dose. The second is grabbing the sugar free version out of habit when carbs would have helped, which sugar or no sugar in your drink mix pulls apart.
Where NZ Supps fits
We are based in New Zealand and dispatch same day before 1pm, with free shipping over $70. Train long or sweat hard, the Pillar sticks at $1.70 per serve are the pick. Want volume for the price, Ghost Hydration gives 40 serves at $1.50 each. The Swoleys gummies are not a sodium source at 10 mg per two gummies, so pack a drink mix for the long days.
To try a couple before committing to a tub, start with the single-serve sachets we stock. Not sure where hydration sits next to your other supplements? Run through find your stack, or ask via the Help Centre.
Every tub, stick and gummy in this guide lives in the electrolytes collection.
What is the best hydration powder in NZ?
Pillar Performance Electrolyte Hydration leads the powders at 400 mg of sodium per serve. On cost, Ghost Hydration is $1.50 against $1.70 for the Pillar sticks. Sodium first, then price.
How much sodium should a hydration powder have?
Around 300 mg to 600 mg an hour is the useful band for long or hot sessions. Below about 150 mg you are buying flavour.
Is Ghost Hydration good?
Good value at $1.50 per serve, and it tastes like a soft drink, which gets people drinking. Sodium is 323 mg, the low end of the useful range. Fine for the gym, light for a long hot ride.
Are hydration sticks better than a tub?
Sticks are easier to carry and dose, and usually cost more. Not here: the Pillar sticks are $1.70 per serve, the same formula in a tub $3.60.
Do electrolyte gummies work?
Not as a sodium source. The Swoleys pack lists 10 mg of sodium per two gummies, well under the 150 mg mark and against 400 mg in a Pillar serve, so they will not replace sodium in a long or hot session. Use a drink mix for that. They do not make you drink, so pair them with a bottle. Our Swoleys electrolyte gummies guide walks through the panel.
Do I need a hydration powder for the gym?
Most likely not. An hour indoors with a water bottle and normal meals covers it. Save the powder for long or hot sessions. Sources: Examine.com electrolytes page (https://examine.com/); ISSN position stands (https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/); NZ Supps catalogue data, 24 September 2026.
