I was using SIS Gels last year, and they're fine, they work better for me on the bike though. I dud try the SIS energy bar when I was cycling but found them very chewy and I had to hoover a lot of water to get them down, so ended up not musing them much. The snag I found with the gels, particularly on the bike, was that they didn't have much effect, I got a spike of energy then it died again. That might have been more about fueling strategy than anything else though, perhaps leaving it too late to start feeding.

This year I've tried honey stinger chews, which seemed to work well at HM distance long runs, I about a third of the way into a marathon plan at the moment.

Wasn't able to pick them up at the cycle shop last weekend so ended up trying an OTE bar last weekend. Settled easily enough but I had the same problem as the SIS bars, had to slow down to a walk whilst eating it and had to swallow quite a lot of water. It was lighter than the SIS, and the flavour/ texture was easier.

I'm finding myself stuck between the concept of training without fuel at the moment, increasingly finding that I don't need the fuel and experimenting so that I don't fall foul of a problem on race day.

All in, honey stingers seem to be my preference at the moment.

On a half marathon I normally take one or two gels, marathon training I experimented taking more gels but could only ever take 3. Sure enough on my one and only marathon to date I took three gels and tons of water. I also had pistaschio nuts & jellies on me.
However I did feel I hadn't enough - I eat literally every two hours, 4 and a half hours plus on my feet with nothing but nuts a few jellies & water was not enough.
With that in mind I have been experimenting again its great fun - last weeks long run I had a small bottle of flat coca cola and a couple of Jaffa cakes ( do you have them stateside, they are lovely orangey biscuits with dark chocolate topping) next week I am going to try fig rolls again with flat coke. I will let you know how I get on.

As you can see, everyone has their own perspective and experience and it depends on what you can handle.

I tended to take in less carbs during a race than I do now. However, I don't train the same way. I often run the long runs (anything over 12 miles) with just water and maybe one or two gels. Sometimes I consume them, sometimes I don't. I tend to consume less in training, choosing to let my body to become accustomed to using what is "onboard." Just like mutiple distances and training cycles, you can use a fuel cycle to train your body for a variety of circumstances. And if Fitzgerald is to be believed, you can become fuel dependent if you rely upon certain high carb sources throughout your training.

In the end, I generally have started feeling better at the end of the race than when I took in a gel every 6-7 miles or so. I find that I can tolerate gels fairly well, though some don't really like them towards the end of a race. I also tend to tolerate bothe Gaterade and Powerade fairly well and so usually plan to incorporate them into the race day fuel cycleat water stations between those where I consume a gel.

YMMV!