Premium Strava ? is it worth it ?

[Black can man]

I'm not a massive strava user as my old i-phone 5 just can't handle the battery bashing , My garmin syncs automatically to my Strava account & i must admit i do like to see what my fellow cycling chums are up too.


I keep on getting this 'go Premium' nudge but at £3.99 & i think whoa that's expensive, but it's just a pint of beer at my pub of choice (The spotted horse in putney my Australian son in law will welcome you with open arms) so i'm thinking is it worth the £3,99 a month. I take my cycling pretty serious & i'm just wondering if going premium is worth it or not.

Opinions Muchly appreciated.

Neil

[okgo]

Unless you have a powermeter, no.

I cannot see what I would find remotely useful about it beyond the power-curve/zone stuff.

[SixPotBelly]

Is it worth it from what you get? Not really. Little things like heart rate analysis (x% of an actibity in zone 4, y% in zone 5), the ability to set goals for segment times or weekly distances and distance goals and permanent record of your strava challenges.

Is it worth it so they make some money and don't resort to covering the site with advertising? Possibly. That's the I signed up, anyway.

[Black can man]

okgo said:

Unless you have a powermeter, no.

I cannot see what I would find remotely useful about it beyond the power-curve/zone stuff.

That's what i thought too, Many thx

[mcrdave]

I read that in order to see live segments on the new Garmins just announced, you need to have premium, might be wrong though.

[loudlashadjuster]

I got given it free for a year and can't say I've missed it. As okgo says, with a power meter there's a fair bit more you can get out of it, but £4/mo worth? Debatable.

Strava used to do a thing where if you bought something fairly chunky from their shop (e.g. the Wahoo RFLKT for $99) then you got an annual sub for free. I intended to renew on that basis but as they pulled the offer I never bothered. I do see they're doing 50% off a sub now though.

OTOH I consider the £10 I chucked at Veloviewer for a year of Pro access money well spent.

[okgo]

Yeh, its probably not worth it even if you do. I just can't be arsed with the hassle of cancelling. All the same stuff can be got from Golden Cheetah for free, but the strava interface is very user friendly.

[S10GTA]

Spend a tenner on VeloViewer instead

[okgo]

What is useful about veloviewer?

[sjg]

Sufferfest videos may be worth it it you. The thing I originally paid for was the ability to download GPX files of other riders' routes. Like others, I'm OK with paying for something I use to keep it ad-free and viable.

[PorscheGT4]

okgo said:

Unless you have a powermeter, no.

I cannot see what I would find remotely useful about it beyond the power-curve/zone stuff.

I use it for the heart rate on my IPhone on strava, no need for a Garmin then, does all I need.
I train by heart rate.

[S10GTA]

okgo said:

What is useful about veloviewer?

It lets you be a nerd.

[yellowjack]

S10GTA said:

okgo said:

What is useful about veloviewer?

It lets you be a nerd.

I used to use VeloViewer quite a lot. Initially, when it went to a subscription service, I missed it a lot. But I realised it was mainly the graphs and pretty colours that I was missing. Ultimately, I ended up concluding that I wasn't actually "using" any of the data. I ride a lot, but I wouldn't say I'm "training" for anything specific, so don't really need analytical data. I just use Strava to log my mileage and to gauge any improvements to my fitness/pace, so I won't sign up to Strava Premium anytime soon. I'd be more likely to subscribe to Veloviewer, but ultimately I don't need either.

[Daveyraveygravey]

I like the suffer score which I don't think you get if you are non-premium. I know it is just another metric and probably not as valuable as some of the others, but it gives you an at a glance assessment of how hard the ride has been.

I probably should read up on the whole Premium thing a bit more and work out if I need what I am paying for.

[anonymous-user]

Ditto the suffer score.

I ride with a HRM, cadence sensor and speed sensor. Premium jumbles this all together to work out your suffer score and a more accurate estimate of calories burned.

And as above, I like to think premium subscribers are keeping adverts away for the peasants.

[Kell]

I did think about it for a month or so to see where I ranked among people of my own age and/or build.

But I don't have a heart rate monitor or power meter (nor am I likely to get either) so I didn't bother.

That said, I'm sure they keep offering the 30-day trial which would be enough for me to see if I go up the rankings and by how much.

It's a bit unfair for a 43 year old 16 stone bloke to be competing against 25 year olds that have less meat on them than a butcher's pencil.

[JEA1K]

Kell said:

It's a bit unfair for a 43 year old 16 stone bloke to be competing against 25 year olds that have less meat on them than a butcher's pencil.

I'm afraid age is no excuse (as I have learnt).;)

[loudlashadjuster]

Worth pointing out that if you fancy trying Premium then you can get a double length trial via this BC link.

[Black can man]

loudlashadjuster said:

Worth pointing out that if you fancy trying Premium then you can get a double length trial via this BC link.

Cheers for that, i've signed up for a 60 day free trial & i'll see how it goes ,

[arcticnick]

It's worth it for the whole Strava environment, from my perspective. It's not much in the grand scheme of things - before I got my power meter I still used premium for the Sufferfest videos and HRM stuff.

Now, the PM / power curve / fitness and freshness is invaluable.

Note, Sufferfest will be leaving Strava soon.