W

[Deleted member 26715]

VeloViewer will give you untraveled places and only £10 a year. Check out max square and cluster as well.

What does it give you apart from a weird dashboard with lots of confusing numbers, bearing in mind I don't ride roads & mainly Bridleways etc. & I'm only a non competitive man who rides a bike, I'm not a cyclist

 

[pawl]

The only thing I will miss is the route planning, but I'm not paying £50 a year for that.

Same with me.Had a look at Komoot seemed to have mind of its own when it came to routes.Probably doing it right.Not to bothered really as I riding local

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Shouldnt people be saying "Thanks for letting us have it for free for so long Strava" Instead of whinging about having to pay for it?

Nope

The likes of Garmin weren't able to match Strava.

That is not Garmin's core aim, they want to see hardware, I suspect the cycle data side is not a priority for them

Same with me.Had a look at Komoot seemed to have mind of its own when it came to routes.Probably doing it right.Not to bothered really as I riding local

Try RWGPS I must admit I can't get on really with any of them, I've gone with Komoot but as said upthread it's only as good as the data it's drawing from. Locally that's fine as I can find my own way home, but when on holiday it's not as easy.

 

[vickster]

I also think that the timing of this is incredibly cynical and insensitive. Putting aside for a moment the global health crisis, it brings with it economic pressures for tens of thousands of people. Businesses going bust, people losing their jobs or having reduced incomes due to being furloghed or laid off work. So, dear Strava in their infinite wisdom, thought this is a good time to ask people to pay, for hitherto free features? Lovley. Well done you.

Perhaps Strava are doing this to protect, even save their own business in a similar way?
It’s their prerogative to charge as a private enterprise, they’re not providing a public service, and they are still providing some of the functionality for free after all.
It’s under £50 a year and you can get it free for 60 days (if not had the free trial or been a premium member before). Pay for it if you can’t live without the pay for features, if you can live without them, there’s no need to pay 👍

 

[johnnyb47]

Maybe Strava could of asked its users via a poll as to whether it should continue offering the free service but with adverts, or no adverts and subscription only. Either way they would make money, but would also be favourable towards the majority of users

 

[vickster]

Maybe Strava could of asked its users via a poll as to whether it should continue offering the free service but with adverts, or no adverts and subscription only. Either way they would make money, but would also be favourable towards the majority of users

I’d pay to avoid adverts, but would I still have that option if the majority said ads but free? It shouldn’t be one or the other, but that would increase Strava’s admin costs to administer. Advertising revenues will be suffering too in the current climate. I certainly wouldn’t want to be bombarded with betting site ads for example. Strava is also totally global so how does that work with advertising which needs to be appropriately targeted

 

[pawl]

Nope
That is not Garmin's core aim, they want to see hardware, I suspect the cycle data side is not a priority for them
Try RWGPS I must admit I can't get on really with any of them, I've gone with Komoot but as said upthread it's only as good as the data it's drawing from. Locally that's fine as I can find my own way home, but when on holiday it's not as easy.

I don’t often take a bike on holiday (ah poor thing) On the occasions that I did I just relied on the good old OS map that covers that area in thr largest scale available

 

[wafter]

In summary I think few can claim it's unfair that the company attempts to make a profit, it's just an unfortunate / questionable /cynical route to:

a) Do so removing features free users had come to expect for nowt
b) Do so at a time when many are just getting into the sport / likely to be struggling financially

I resent having the features I appreciate and enjoy removed and held to ransom, but then have no legit cause for complaint in the grand scheme of things since I've never paid for the priviledge nor been subjected to any ads (although I'd probably prefer this route since I'm one of the minority to use an ad blocker).

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out; I'm hoping they might introduce a mid-tier subscription of say £2/month that would reinstate the features previously enjoyed by free users; as I'm really missing the leaderboards and more importantly the comparisons to my own previous rides.

Personally I'm not interested in the route planning etc as I've always done this through google maps and uploaded the .gpx files to my GPS unit, while the Polar software does a good job of summarising / analysing the HR and other data..

 

[vickster]

In summary I think few can claim it's unfair that the company attempts to make a profit, it's just an unfortunate / questionable /cynical route to:

a) Do so removing features free users had come to expect for nowt
b) Do so at a time when many are just getting into the sport / likely to be struggling financially

I resent having the features I appreciate and enjoy removed and held to ransom, but then have no legit cause for complaint in the grand scheme of things since I've never paid for the priviledge nor been subjected to any ads (although I'd probably prefer this route since I'm one of the minority to use an ad blocker).

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out; I'm hoping they might introduce a mid-tier subscription of say £2/month that would reinstate the features previously enjoyed by free users; as I'm really missing the leaderboards and more importantly the comparisons to my own previous rides.

Do ad blockers work on ads though? And if I was Strava and relying on advertising revenue, it would make sense to have it so that ad blockers can’t be used, otherwise what’s the point

 

[wafter]

Do ad blockers work on ads though? And if I was Strava and relying on advertising revenue, it would make sense to have it so that ad blockers can’t be used, otherwise what’s the point

Well, of course it makes sense for ads to be able to defeat ad blockers; and therein lies the perpetual battle of the internet!

FWIW I find the ad blockers I use to be extremely effective; to the extent where having seen sites I frequent without them in operation I'd seriously re-consider my use of said sites - given all the irrelevant, garish, flashing crap they seem to be festooned with

Ultimately of course this is just the Strava argument on a wider scale; there should be no such thing as a free lunch but while the masses continue to tolerate ads and fund sites through advertising revenue, I'm happy to take advantage of the situation. In any case I despise advertising and very rarely have I made purchases off the back of ads; so it's lost on me in any case and as such not like my choice to remove the ads is in any way detrimental to those who wares they're touting.

 

[newfhouse]

Just curious, does anyone leave their ad blocker enabled on this site?

 

[vickster]

Am now in my seventh year of using Strava and have given them my £47.99 to keep on board.

Think that works out less than £7 a year. Wouldn't buy you fish and chips in most places.

And barely a beer in many a pub in London!

 

[pawl]

Shouldnt people be saying "Thanks for letting us have it for free for so long Strava" Instead of whinging about having to pay for it?

I would agree.After a ride I would look at my stats just as matter of interest It’s not something I would pay for. If getting in the top ten on segments was my thing then yes I would pay On the odd occasions I have used the route planner which I found easy to use but I wouldn’t subscribe just for that.

 

[HLaB]

A bit long but this is a good review/ tutorial of the changes now thing are settling down
View: https://youtu.be/RlNf2u-FiXE

 

[Brandane]

Just curious, does anyone leave their ad blocker enabled on this site?

Yes. I leave it enabled on ALL sites. If a pop-up asks me to disable it, as happens on the odd site, then I occasionally will disable it, but mostly I will leave the site in question.