So I just wanted to quickly cover my experience with Komoots app as I see MBR are promoting it again.
I downloaded it after reading about it in MBRs mag and how they explained you could plan routes, download other peoples routes and some other USPs.
But the key issue I found right away was the maps don’t detail what is a footpath and what is a bridleway. So for me to plan a route was near impossible in a area I didn’t know.
So i wouldn’t waste your time downloading it and signing up.
but it is free so feel free to give it a go.

The map is from OSM, so you’re correct there isn’t a footpath/bridleway/BOAT differentiation in OSM. But the trails themselves do have restrictions on them when created in OSM (and they’re a lot more nuanced than just FP/BW/BOAT).

So if you ask it to create a route it will find a route on paths where bikes are allowed you just can’t visually differentiate between them.

Tends to work better than OS mapping as farm tracks that are actually footpaths but are fine to ride on tend to end up being classified as passable for bikes.

The Footpath/bridleway thing is an English/Welsh peculiarity. Most of rest of the world just has paths (from which bikes may or may not be banned).

I have planned a few trips with it, but used in conjunction with my OS map. It did take a little bit of time making sure I got the right path as displayed on Komoot, as like you say, it doesn’t discern between bridleway and footpath.

I felt it was good once I had mapped it out though, for using as a prompt while riding, so I didn’t have to keep getting my map out. Just used my phone and a decent handlebar mount.

It’s nowhere near as good as all the advertorials say it is and I find the move to a subscription based model really irritating when I paid upfront for the complete/premium package a while ago.

In fact, its a shit app and it annoys me just thinking about it!

The subscription service is separate though from the existing mapping packages. I have it and use it on Garmin for navigation but wouldnt feel the need to pay for the subscription elements (multi-day planning, activity specific mapping etc.). The biggest downside for me is that its not that easy to manually plan a route (it wants you to put point A and point B and it finds the ‘best’ route between them).

At the time of buying it was very much advertised as the package which will get everything, all updated features no need to ever spend more etc etc. Until they had enough “more“ to justify moving to a separate payment scheme.

The biggest downside for me is that its not that easy to manually plan a route (it wants you to put point A and point B and it finds the ‘best’ route between them).

You can include points you want to pass thru and shape the route easily enough though.

I find it one of the easiest to use compared to the others.

I do it thru the website thou not via the app.

So just to clarify. The world mapping I bought a year or so ago and was supposed to be life long doesn’t work anymore. Or have I misunderstood?

It does work but if you want to use the new features you’ll need to pony up some more cash.

Had a go on this. Waste of time. Everything it does is easier & free elsewhere.

So just to clarify. The world mapping I bought a year or so ago and was supposed to be life long doesn’t work anymore. Or have I misunderstood?

The world mapping still works, as does the ability to use it offline, plus all the features that Komoot offered up until a few weeks ago.

The new subscription is for new features that add to the experience but dont take anything away from what you had when you paid. I certainly dont recall ever seeing anything suggesting that all new features would be included and dont think it is reasonable to expect any business these days to continue giving new features and products to customers that paid once many years ago.

You can include points you want to pass thru and shape the route easily enough though.

I find it one of the easiest to use compared to the others.

I do it thru the website thou not via the app.

To be fair it is fairly easy to shape the route. It can still be annoying sometimes when you drag the route over to a different path and it decides to revise miles of routing for you!

All in I like it, it works well with Garmin, feel like I’m getting what I paid for (world maps etc.) and dont feel like the new features are necessary for my use case.

Does anyone know if the estimated times on Komoot estimate moving time or ride time?

Does anyone know if the estimated times on Komoot estimate moving time or ride time?

Depends how much you faff.

I quite like Komoot for devising routes. It’s about the most user-friendly of the various options I’ve tried. It’s better on the website but do-able on the app. It syncs relatively easily with both Wahoo and Garmin. Easy enough to share routes with other people. Did a ride between Saint Malo and Caen at the weekend there and used Komoot to come up with the routes, simply by adding start and end points, and they were spot-on. Stuck to cycle paths and quite roads pretty much the whole way.

i have used it extensively in ireland, slovenia and romania to plan gravel based bike packing tours and i have found it to be excellent. the best was in slovenia where i planned a 10 day tour in the western part. the komoot app consistently steered us on to gravel paths and single track through forests and meadows. really happy with it!