I quite like Rip Its’ energy drink line–you can’t go all that wrong with 16 oz. energy drinks for a mere buck, especially when the name brands tend to be around twice that much.  On the other hand, as I stated in my previous review (see above), I am not at all a fan of diet energy drinks–while they seem to give the same amount of energy as the “full” ones do, it’s often with the trade-offs of muted flavors and metallic aftertastes, two things I can’t stand.

So imagine my disappointment when I made a return trip to my local Dollar Tree, where I had just purchased a regular version of Citrus X not thirty days prior, only to discover that they had been replaced with a sugar-free, no calories or carbs version.   Great.  Still, it being one of only two options (the other being the already-reviewed Rip-It Power), I sucked it up and bought one anyway.

The original Rip-It Citrus X tastes like a really fake carbonated orange beverage, yet I really like it.  It reminds me almost of a carbonated Sunny D.  It’s smooth, clean, and easy to drink.  Surprisingly, this diet version shares many of these characteristics.  The orange flavor definitely tastes “watered down”, but there’s very little, if any, weirdness in the ensuing aftertaste–in fact, there’s not much of a metallic taste at all.  It did give me a noticeable caffeine kick, with the added benefit of not having a sugar crash later.

There’s no doubt that I would still much prefer the taste of the original, and would never actively seek this out, but it’s one of the better “all diet” energy drinks I’ve had, in terms of taste, performance, and value.  Those with an affinity for diet drinks should definitely check this one out, as there’s a very good chance you’ll like it way more than I did.

Overall: 7/10.  The taste is watered-down, just as it generally is with diet energy drinks, but surprisingly, there wasn’t much of a fakey sugar flavor, or gross aftertaste.  That, to me, is a big win for a no sugar and no calorie energy beverage.  It also gave me a nice boost of caffeinated kick, without the big sugar crash later.  I still much prefer the original (I only bought this because they were sold out of that one), and would never intentionally seek this one out, but for what it is, it’s pretty darn good.