I have tried monohydrate a few times, different brands even, and never saw any results whatsoever. Not even any bad ones like bloating, water retention, etc. Just nothing. I had some decent results with CEE on the old CellMass formula (before 2.0) I see definite results with HCL. I'm talking even BodyFortress HCL from Wally World. HCL is by far the most effective for me. Different ones affect people differently. No right or wrong. I'd say keep trying them until you find the one which your body responds to. Most of them are cheap enough to write off as a, "At least I tried it". If your creatine is not cheap its time to find a different creatine!