It would be interesting to see how many here, previous Zwift haters, who have now changed their view of the platform having been given a free 3 month/years subscription? I had no experience of the gaming type of platforms until RGT became part of Wahoo and TBH I didn’t like it. The whole thing seemed a faff to use with little instruction or help, the graphics were from the 1980’s, there was never many or any others riding, the backgrounds were limited, especially on magic roads. So using Zwift based on my experience with RGT and having to pay for it was definitely a no no for me even though many in my cycle club used it all of the time. Fast forward a few months and I have to admit I have changed my opinion somewhat after eventually signing up, thinking well, I have nothing to loose. The graphics are still antiquated but I must admit, there is a lot more there that I do like and that I had no idea of like the workouts… the ability to make you own workouts, the hundreds of route options and the very detailed stats… and other people riding with you + I can now ride with my club on line when the club rides are cancelled because of bad weather. I can now see how RGT struggled against this platform and I am glad I took advantage of the free subscription. Now a dilemma!! I love Wahoo system/Sufferfest workouts and the quality of the videos in them + the pro rides, this is how I got started on this fitness road. I also now like Zwift and the flexibility it gives me to vary my workouts and to ride with others, there is so much on there that I can almost ignore the bad graphics… Looks like I need to start saving to pay for two subscriptions each year? how do all you others on here feel now that you have had a taste of Zwift for free.
I’ve used it a bit now and I’m still not a convert.
I love the Sufferfest and On Location workout. Nothing comes close to that at the moment.
A good Inspiration ride still trumps a Zwift ride, but it’s getting closer here.
ProRides do little for me. I’ve tried a Zwift crit race and find that more engaging.
Zwift training rides I find odd, the motivation feels fake. “I know you can do it!”. Who’s “I” in this case? I much prefer references to GvA, laser goats and fluffy.
All the kudos, drops, XPs and Zwift badges are a bit overkill for me.
Overall agree. I actually did enjoy RGT for my zone 2 rides, but zwift is absolutely so much better. There’s something so much more enjoyable about riding around with 1000s of real people rather than 100s of bots, even though at the end of the day the experience is mostly exactly the same (cycling in my shed looking at an avatar of myself in bad graphics). It has meant that I’m much more likely to head out and enjoy my zone 2/recovery rides than I would be with RGT or Inspiration rides.
On the flip side, I don’t think I’ve enjoyed it enough to warrant paying an additional subscription for Zwift, the workouts on SYSTM are far, far more enjoyable to me than doing similar workouts on zwift so I imagine when my 3 months free are up I’ll be sticking with SYSTM and then getting my “simulation” fix from something like IndieVelo.
For me it’s somehow reversed compared to your experience @ozmadman. I had been a long time Zwift user several years ago but eventually got bored out of it. I then joined the nation of Sufferlandria and enjoyed it very much. However I have been using RGT occasionally long before the Wahoo acquisition and liked it especially because of the Formentor course which really resembled one of my favorite real life routes. However, thus I never struggled with the UX since I knew it for so long. And despite using it only rarely I was a fan of the RGT implementation to Wahoo.
However, now having a free Zwift subscription I started using it again somehow. But actually I only got a new hook for collecting XPs to level up in Zwift without any rational reason behind it. Thus, whenever I use SYSTM for an indoor ride, I fire up Zwift on the mobile to sum up the milage there. But I never load the Zwift recording up to Strava and only upload the SYSTM record because I don’t want to support Zwift that way 
but rather spread the word about SYSTM and Sufferlandria. 
Zwift is better than I thought it would be. For me, its niche is zone 2 “miles”, and I do use it more than I used RGT. It is worth what I paid for it this year, but not sure I’ll decide it’s worth it when it’s not free.
I’m happy to pay for multiple annual subscriptions, they probably save money because it’s cheap entertainment that keeps me healthy. And since they tire me out enough that I’ll sit still long enough to watch Netflix with my spouse, they keep the home happy. In addition to SYSTM, I find great value in subscriptions to Abi’s Yoga15 website and FulGaz.
I’m hoping to develop the mental discipline to do a zone 2 ride in FulGaz, but without other riders in the simulation I feel compelled catch up with the the group that dropped me…
Until Indivelo goes commercial. I expect the cost to be a between USD 15 and 20 per month. Got to pay back the deep pockets promoting the product.
Yes I agree, a bit over the top IMO. Just feel things like the power up’s, turbo boost, featherweight etc is cheating and that you should ride "under your own steam " as it were. I will use it for Zone 2 rides where I can just ride any route and keep my HR within that zone or create my own workouts based on my 4DP profile from systm and use ERG mode plus my club rides that appear on there now and again. The rest, mainly the Sufferfest, pro Rides and On location will be Systm all the way as I have confidence in what has been created for us to get better whether it is an individual workout or one of the plans
Back in 2019 I tried out Zwift for a bit, it was fun, but I knew it was overestimating my watts while I rode on my dumb trainer. It was good for motivation, but I went back to staring at a blank wall instead as it wasn’t worth paying for. I had heard about The Sufferfest, but never tried it out.
Then in 2020 when the pandemic hit I tried out The Sufferfest and fell in love with it, still using my dumb trainer.
When I got my smart trainer I began switching back and forth between the two, but always much preferred The Sufferfest - tho I still enjoyed using Zwift when I wanted some open riding or wanted to do some virtual climbing or racing.
After Wahoo bought RGT I was glad to stop paying for two apps, and I loved Magic Roads and being able to ride any route in the world I wanted, even if the terrain wasn’t as varied or as interesting.
Now I’m back to mostly using SYSTM. I’m using my 3 months of Zwift to do some more hill climbing practice and giving me something to look at while riding long Zone 2 workouts. And I’ve also been using IndieVelo, but it doesn’t have Magic Roads or any long alpine climbs to practice on yet. It needs more development before I decide its worth pay for as an extra app.
I’m also not sure if I’ll stay with Zwift when my 3 months is up. It’s not horrible or evil. I like the custom workout creator, and doing hill climbing practice, and having people to ride with sometimes and the multitude of events that actually fall during the time I usually ride. But riding the same roads does get dull. And I find it mentally strange to ride workouts in Zwift where my efforts don’t match the terrain. I still really miss Magic Roads. And I am annoyed with the Zwift worlds rotation. I would like to be able to spontaneously pick any of the worlds any time. And above all I don’t want to pay for an extra app, especially when SYSTM is still my favorite and primary.
Good topic!
I’d say after being on Zwift for two months now (I actually used a one month trial the month before the switch kicked in), I’ve come to like it more than I used to. I wouldn’t say my views have dramatically changed much beyond that, and the standard was pretty low.
As of now, I don’t foresee renewing a subscription. I’ll use Wahoo SYSTM and indieVelo.
Zwift’s physics don’t feel as real as RGT did. Miss the draft bar and steering (I think you can steer on Zwift, I just don’t have the controller or whatever).
Power ups and stupid badges are total overkill – agreed with the few people who have said that already.
I will say it is nice having loads of people on at any given time though.
There is/was a hack to ride any world, but it seems like with a recent UI update it’s become even easier to do so. I wasn’t a Zwift user before the free subscription with SYSTM, so I never tried the original hack, but did inadvertently stumble upon the workout workaround to ride any world and at least on the iPad app it works well.
I’ll be continuing to use if for the short term. Being of a competitive nature, I enjoy the availability of racing - But I find the racing a bit one dimensional. You start hard and just keep on going harder during the race. Very little of the tactical nuances that were inherent in RGT.
After having tried a race in Zwift with a friend, I am reassured that it’s not for me. When it comes to workouts, I will stay with Systm. Since I want to improve my ability to climb, I decided to subscribe to Fulgaz. I like to see real scenery instead of an artificial low graphics world.
Two subscriptions are my limit.
I consider to try IndieVelo despite it also seems to have a focus on racing.
Accordingly I will not prolong Zwift after the 3 months are over.
Visually I much prefer Zwift, it makes the longer workouts more bearable. Systm beats Zwift hands down when it comes to training plans. I just tried the Zwift build me up plan. Every day seemed to have me in the red, each workout seemed a mish mash of targeted elements, with little in the way of recovery rides, so the daily and weekly structure was far inferior to Systm. I have not tried the group rides in Zwift, I am not too confident fluffing about finding what part of the phone to touch to chat .Mind you we chat in real time on the road, so it should not be too onerous.
My Systm subscription lapsed but I did get the 12 months of Zwift prior. I find the plans cumbersome to use and when not following a plan the whole menu just gives me choice paralysis.
I will be subscribing back to Systm and following the Essential plans and when it I need to an endurance ride I will use Zwift for that.
I’ve tried Zwift a few times now, and I’m finding that the game elements are putting me off. In particular, the ‘Close the Gap’ message every time someone passes me is really annoying. I don’t see myself paying for Zwift after the three free months elapses. I am not a Zwift convert.
I’ve been using indieVelo for simulated world rides, and I enjoy those. It’s much more relaxing than riding in Zwift - you just get to ride, and don’t have all of these other extraneous distractions.
I still love the Sufferfest workouts in SYSTM - the story, video, music, well-designed workouts, and 4DP power profiles make these my go-to for any workouts.
@way9e0 It’s the “Ride Ons” that get me because you can end up having this guilt for not returning it.
I haven’t noticed the Ride Ons during a Zwift session, just in the summary after (I think).
I’ve got used to indieVelo where most of the riders on the roads are bots, and I make the same assumption in Zwift (even though I’m sure it’s an incorrect assumption!).
I’m still playing with Zwift. I’m glad I’ve got a year to decide on it. I already pay for Systm and Rouvy so at least one of them has to go. Given that I’ve already ditched the Yoga and S&M for the Dynamic Cyclist (yep, more 
), the writing is on the wall for Systm. I build my own plan and mix and match from each app based on which one suits my needs
I’ve done a race in Zwift and found it very engaging. I don’t worry about winning. Like that’s ever going to happen! I just found a small group that were a struggle to keep up with and then held onto them until the finish. Great fun! It’s much better than Rouvy for races just because the sheer numbers on Zwift provides the opportunity to find someone to compete with
I’ve tried it for a Z2 ride but never again. Rouvy is far better thanks to the realism. I never really enjoyed the Inspiration videos. I’d rather watch something of my own choosing
I also tried a Zwift group workout which was more interesting than doing a solo workout on Z. I need to invest some time to see if they would fit in to my own training plan
So, no conclusions yet but Systm has got to change in some way to keep me
For me it’s that time of year when I don’t have much structure to my riding. I’m currently doing the Zwift Academy which I like to do each year. When I get into training proper after Christmas that will be on SYSTM, however I like the races and other events on Zwift so will dip into it as and when. However there’s a new kid on the block……MyWhoosh. Think Zwift with slightly better graphics (depends on device) and without all the crappy messaging and ride ons. Plus it’s currently free and you can win actual prize money in races. Win win. 
This too