Between the two logging apps I use (Strava being one) I pretty much get all the information I think I really need, nicely logged and I can review it at my leisure, I notice looking at the “Premium” subscription bumf on their site that there’s a few “New features” that you get unlocked with a “Premium” subscription but just shy of £40 a year seems a bit much for what you get TBH, basically there are a few more data filtering options and the facility to “Set goals” is it really that tough to set yourself a goal, I reckon could do that without an app.

I think I’d rather put the money asked for a subscription towards a HRM…

But it’s all made me wonder, who actually pays the extra for Strava Premium, and do they really think they’re getting VFM?

man its all about the suffer score…………

really i dont need a computer do a calculation of parameters for 40 quid to tell me it hurt….

my hrm reading 225 told me it hurt.

I was asking the same question just the other day, on another site. I get the feeling that until I am lapping a olympic speeds, premium might be overkill

maybe it could filter out the car morons …..

theres one locally i keep reporting and he keeps reuploading.

you can see where he went out on an mtb ride – then where he stopped and put his bike on the car and then sat in stop start traffic then wnet up the hill for 4 minutes at 65kph……

I don’t, but read yesterday that if you are Premium you can get a GPX download of a route – maybe there are other good (?) features too.

I do, I dont mid paying for something I use a lot.

Not unitl it supports sport specfic heart rate zones as running and cycling are so different there is no value in the scores they produce.

I don’t but am seriously thinking about it.
I use it quite a lot but it’s a bit too much for features I don’t really need.

I want to support them buy paying but can’t quite justify it.

I noticed the extra features you got with it and thought they might be nice to have – until I found out how much it cost. If it was £10 I would but not for £40, certainly not when veloviewer exists and provides most of the extra information and filtering you might want (I don’t know if veloviewer gives a suffer score, but I’m sure it could), and in fact is a lot better than Strava at most stuff. The only obvious thing I’m still missing then is the ability to download a GPX file.

It does seem a lot more expensive than other similar subscriptions, and I have to wonder whether they might actually get more than 4 times as many premium members if it was £10.

I use it…not sure its worth £40, but the suffer score and time spent in each zone are things that I find useful..

I thought there was a site out there that could/ can drag a GPX file from Strava for nothing?

The only obvious thing I’m still missing then is the ability to download a GPX file.

I don’t have the addy to hand but if you’re talking about Strava there’s a 3rd party site that does an export from a Strava URL to gpx. Have a Google about.

Cross posted, my smartphone doesn’t do fast.
Anyway it’s here http://cosmocatalano.com/strava/export/index.html

I don’t have the addy to hand but if you’re talking about Strava there’s a 3rd party site that does an export from a Strava URL to gpx

Ah – no surprises there. I wasn’t sure if they made the data available. One less reason to subscribe.

Thanks for the link – I’d already followed your previous advice and googled (it was the first hit!)

you can see where he went out on an mtb ride – then where he stopped and put his bike on the car and then sat in stop start traffic then wnet up the hill for 4 minutes at 65kph……

I think a lot of people do this. I suspect I lost a KOM to one of these. I’m not bothered enough to report it but it’s annoying all the same, especially seeing as it’s a KOM which took me a while to get and I lost it after 24hours 🙁

Yes I use it

Not great value for money I feel, but I did a free trial and when it ended I missed the HR zone analysis (better than free strava and garmin) and the download feature.

Not sure I would renew, but they got me in peak marathon training season so I was easy to suck in.

I’m not bothered enough to report it

Reporting is so easy. It’s a point of principle – if these “rides” don’t get reported then it messes up the whole Strava database.

Post a link and I’ll do it for you!

“Reporting is so easy. It’s a point of principle – if these “rides” don’t get reported then it messes up the whole Strava database.”

Exactly . im neither KOM nor threatening KOM on the segment – it just annoys me that folk think they can just go out in their car to claim a segment and get away with it.

does the person you report get to see the comment you add to the report ?

this second time i report it i wrote a bit about Cav asking for him for a lead out man due to a 1600watt output for 5 minutes :d

does the person you report get to see the comment you add to the report ?

I’ve wondered that! A couple of times I’ve had ‘the email’ and gone to look only to find it’s clearly rubbish, so I’ve reported it. I don’t want to be ‘that person’, but sometimes it’s obviously just not accurate!

cant see the point, people who have keep banging on about sufferer score but my theory is that if the ride is tough, you have a suffered, i dont need a number to tell me!!!

my theory is that if the ride is tough, you have a suffered, i dont need a number to tell me!!!

“How do you feel Stephen? Was it a tough ride?”
“I don’t know, I’ll have to check on Strava”

Worth mentioning that the cosmocatalan site also exports the URL for a strava segment, haven’t tried it but in theory you could use the ghost rider feature on your GPS to pace you up the climb then out sprint it at the top. If you were that way inclined 🙂

I’m going premium. you don’t get much extra for your money, but for strava as a whole its good value and without revenue they might fold and that would be a shame. 🙁

Haha rusty!!… Thats premium right there!

I pay, as above, because I think I get value out of the site ovewrall, not just from the premium bits.

I did get a suffer score of 277 the other week which I was quite pleased with. Sadly I was running so it doesn’t really count.

I’ve only really started using Strava more recently, I’ve had an account for over a year but I barely used it until now, I’ve stuck to sportstracker for ~3 years, but it isn’t perfect so I’ve decided to log all my riding on strava from now on though as the free service is a wee bit slicker in terms of presenting basic performance information and letting you pick a few local segments to measure yourself on. I’m not bothered about gaining a KOM, just measuring some progress

I’m still using Sports tracker in parallel as I can leave Strava logging quietly in the background and with the phone on the bars sportstracker basically acts as a cycle computer (on the road) and provides a back up log of the ride, I don’t really need anything more at the minute…

I should give Endomondo a try again too, it’s installed but I think the old account I had has lapsed…

TBH at the moment I’m just watching my times on my regularly ridden segments (the ones along my commutes are handy), like others have said my body tends to tell me if I’ve suffered, so a “suffer score” seems pointless and perhaps just a tool for those that need another measurement how tough and manly they are(n’t).
posting a new PR or two each ride tells me if I’m improving my fitness/strength, I sort of don’t want to be swamped with data and three different ways of interpreting the same thing or “competing” with strangers (although not being at the bottom of the leader board is nice)…

I’m going premium. you don’t get much extra for your money, but for strava as a whole its good value and without revenue they might fold and that would be a shame.

Really? you’ll pay over the odds for a service knowing it’s poor VFM to try and keep them in business? you’re a commercial directors dream!
Have you seen how much they want for their range of branded clothing? they are already cashing in on being the most visible/widely known sports tracking service.

I have to admit I am just waiting for them to start charging for the basic service when they think the critical mass is high enough.

endomondo features segments by another name now…. possibly it was sections…..

I am a Strava addict and until recently had a Premium subscription.

I downgraded basically because i didn’t see the value in the suffer score, didn’t ever export GPX files (i thought this would be the main benefit for me) and a few extra £ in the pocket is handy at the moment. I don’t have a power meter so never really took advantage of these features either.

I find Garmin Connect is useful for looking at time spent in HR zones, which is a useful training tool. I have also begun using VeloViewer which has some good features too.

I would be happy to pay a lower subscription for a basic service, or if they find a way to leverage an advertising model (within reason) then that would be fine with me to.

I pay full whack because I like the little shield symbol…

I’ve wondered about going to premium, basically to support the company rather than because I think I will use any additional features.

I don’t get the ‘suffer score’ thing? Is it just worked out based on %max HR versus time?

I don’t get the ‘suffer score’ thing? Is it just worked out based on %max HR versus time?

There are two method for calculating Trimp / Suffer score / etc. One based on zones and a coefficient assigned to each zone. Or another which is more complicated based on exponential calculation.

Strava use the simpler one whilst I believe SportTracks uses exponential calculation.

http://djconnel.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/strava-suffer-score-decoded.html

If the tracking was consistent and reasonably accurate then maybe it would be worth signing up to but the fact that a ride log can get destroyed in seconds doesn’t help. Imagine doing a 100 mile ride as part of the Spring Classics Challenge and it goes tits up and says you’ve been to South Africa. You can’t leave it on your log as it’s a duff log. You then can’t upload a gpx as that won’t count. looking at the number of people who end up uploading borked rides I wouldn’t bother with premium. Sports Tracker in this respect was way more consistent. Anomalies in rides such as 41mph uphill are seemingly frequent in Strava too. Logging the same ride on 2 different phones (at the same time) yields different results, and then doing the same ride again yields different results yet again!

3 mile walks turning into 10 mile runs are also common. It’s simply not consistent enough to be worth paying for.

I’m using Endomondo as they allow you to draw the route on a map and then use the timings from the GPS to get a close approximation to the real readings of a ride if the track gets corrupted. It also helps that it links to MyFitnessPal for weight and calorie stuff.

looked at a recent ride – it has “Export GPX” function, but I’m not Premium member – has it all changed?

If you’re bothered about tracks getting corrupted, why not use a proper GPS device rather than a phone and download later?

looked at a recent ride – it has “Export GPX” function, but I’m not Premium member – has it all changed?

Try clicking on the “export GPX” 😉

The corrupted track was with an Edge 500, some problem when I connected it to download the details. Given the appalling accuracy with phone GPS and battery life problems I only use the phone for running.

I have been offered a free month on Premium, so am trying it.

I don’t think I will be continuing it after the month because:

Most of the extras need a power meter to be useful

You can download GPX of routes by other methods

Velowviewer does a great job of adding to the data for free.

I do like the suffer score though (how often do you get told you are Epic?)

Not really enough to justify the cost for a year really!

If you’re bothered about tracks getting corrupted, why not use a proper GPS device rather than a phone and download later?

My phone was free and I can’t afford another gadget right now, perhaps? But why can Sports Tracker get it right and not Strava?

sounds like there was a reason your phone was free

cheap android phones have poor gps chip shocker.

Sport tracker has no need to write data every second where as strava does due to the nature of segments. much easyier to get rid of erroneous data if you dont need every second data.

must say my iphone pissed hands down on my old garmin 205 which had me swimming over the dee twice on my way to work.

my new 500 you can clearly see which side of the road i rode down :d