When I used to use creatine-mono ~5 years ago, I tried several brands. I do vaguely remember, however, that Phosphagen HP was one of the few brands that seemed to be effective for me. However, similar to the other postings, it was just too expensive.

I'm currently using CEE, and don't plan to every go back to creatine-mono. (I didn't like the stomach/digestive side effects creatine-mono gave me.)

Anyway, the CEE I've tried so far are Cre-Ethyl Thunder, and Bulk's CEE-HCl. Both work well for me, but I no longer use Cre-Ethyl Thunder because of the caffeine content. (It affected my sleep.)

I tried it a couple yrs ago and its okay. Money isnt an issue for me but I find CEE with either dextrose or white grape juice blows phosphagen away.
I know CEE you dont need the extra carbs but I think its just works better with them. Phosphagen was slightly better than mono with carb drink but just slightly but CEE beats it.

Your buddy thinks its better than CEE?
I ask because I find CEE blows it away.