I let my subscription end in May to save a little money during warm season, when I rarely choose to ride inside anyway, and it’s not hard to come up with a few fill-in rides on my KICKR Bike without using an app for a few months.
I do wish WAHOO SYSTM offered a better discount for an annual membership than a meager 2-month savings, and I wonder if it wouldn’t benefit WAHOO more anyway by retaining members rather than losing them for longer periods and possibly even not getting them back, if they decide to test the waters elsewhere?
My own hiatus stretched from May through the end of December before I decided there just isn’t ANYTHING else out there (that I tried) that I like as much as SYSTM. I originally figured to go through the summer months and a bit into fall before returning, but then I got trying out other apps.
ROUVY first, for a 1 week trial that wasn’t long enough to learn much, but when told them it wasn’t long enough to form an opinion, they graciously offered more time. The real outdoors videos in endless locations were pretty good, far better to me than riding in artificial worlds life ZWIFT, but there is NO AUDIO at all, and that pretty much KILLS engagement. There are workouts, but again, just not very engaging at all. I also still didn’t choose to ride inside too many times, always preferring outdoors when possible, so I wasn’t attracted to it enough to subscribe.
FULGAZ was next, and I made decent use of it for a trial period, and also got an extension from them just by asking for more time. Kudos for that. Both companies were responsive and fair and helpful. And FULGAZ was OK as far as videos being nice scenery, etc. Loading times and navigating the app were painfully slow at times, simply because there are SO MANY videos of real life locations all over the world. There’s certainly an appeal factor in that scenery, (as with ROUVY,) but there IS JUST NO ENGAGEMENT! Nothing to really draw you into a workout or an “on location” ride. (They sure don’t have a MIKE COTTY!)
So on Black Friday, ROUVY offered a deal of First 2-months of subscription at 50% off the monthly cost, so $7.50 US$. I was already riding some rides indoors and missing having an app to use, since my free gift ZWIFT year had also run out. I decided to take ROUVY’s offer and started using it again when I needed indoor comfort.
ROUVY was just OK, but pretty soon it was abundantly clear to me that the lack of engagement of any kind left me bored. I could fill the time working on my laptop, listening to other things, etc, but that rarely is what I want while I ride.
Mostly, I want to either BE THERE with SOUND and with the KICKR Bike responding to GRADE CHANGES and maybe someone like Mike chatting to me about the ride or the area or whatever,
OR ELSE I want to FEEL the PELOTON alongside me in the RACE SCENE and the sound of wheels turning, gears changing, etc,
OR ELSE I want to have the SOUND EFFECTS alerting me to INTERVAL CHANGES with Power and Cadence and HR TARGETS, guiding me, encouraging me, pushing me to stay with the workout!
ROUVY and FULGAZ do have workouts, and they were decent enough “for government work” so to speak, but they just LACKED LIFE IN THE PRESENTATION!
WAHOO SYSTM, no matter what else may be imperfect about it, DOES NOT LACK LIFE!
I’ll be the first to admit that for those that want to get into a video game environment that puts other competitors in play at the same time and allows chases and drafting etc, ZWIFT gives that option.
And while that has some resemblance to reality, it comes at a cost of artificial surroundings that I just can’t appreciate, and then tops that off with such a video-game scenario that totally turns me off. I DEARLY HOPE that WAHOO SYSTM NEVER goes down that road!!
So after trying to make do with an unsatisfying ROUVY experience because it was saving me some cash, I knew it was only a matter of time before I came back to SYSTM. I figured I’d finish the 2 month 1/2 price timeframe first.
But today, I couldn’t hold out any longer! Our western mountains of Virginia forecast is for VERY COLD weather ahead, with a potential big snow storm this coming Sunday-Monday, and then staying below the freeze point for days on end. And what days go above freezing in the next couple weeks don’t exceed it by much, so I’m braced for a potentially long stretch stuck in the house. I made a huge crock-pot of chili today that gives me a good mental state for riding inside and seeing a snow-white world outside! 
SYSTM welcomed me back with a 14-day trial again too! EXTRA Kudos for that!
So tonight, I did “On Location - Med.Coast Massif de l’Esterel” with Mike Cotty. LOVED IT! I forgot my SYSTM FTP setting was still at an unrealistic 225W, so after 16 minutes, I realized the warmup was a bit demanding, so I checked the setting, dropped to 90% for a more manageable 203W that is still 10W above my current FTP estimates from Garmin for last several months. Then I completed the workout with pretty much what it should feel like if 203W was my actual FTP, so I’m happy about that.
DEFINITELY FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK HOME!