I don't really understand how their customers justify the cost of the premium app.
My insurance recently started providing a year long subscription to the basic app and I have been enjoying it. I use my own treadmill and have access to seemingly all the classes, pre-recorded and live. My Fitbit gives me a large number of stats, the treadmill tells me how far I've run and the app keeps track of my workouts.
But if I pay a huge amount of money for their treadmill or bike the cost of the app increases from 12 a month to over 30 a month. It seems like all you get is a little more stats from the equipment? It really seems that if you're paying for the app at all you should be getting the stats fed into the app. How do people justify the huge price jump on top of the very expensive equipment? I had actually considered getting their equipment after enjoying the app for a few months now, but my insurance only covers three months a year for the "premium" app and it doesn't seem worth it at all.
There are other really screwy pricing going on with all of the other smart fitness equipment I looked into like Mirror and Tonal where the very expensive equipment turns into wall mounted bricks without an ongoing subscription. Even if the subscription was very cheap, if the company were to go bankrupt you're screwed.
Good point. Some expensive competitors are: live in-person spin classes (can be $20-30 per class), or programs like CrossFit which can be $200/month. Compared to them Peloton is a bargain.
Agree with your take. My hunch is many Peloton users are also members of either/both other apps and also physical gyms.
My wife and I still have our Equinox memberships on freeze, thinking that it may make sense to restart them once we're regularly at the office. We both have NYC All Access memberships which gets you access to most Equinox locations around the city. Total cost: 480/month (when not frozen)
We also bought the Peloton bike (not + model) a year ago and regularly use the app/bike 3-4 times/week. Total cost: 39/month
Finally, I individually pay for Future (https://www.future.co/). Happy to describe why if interested, but that's $150/month.
So, we're paying $189/month instead of $480/month. So, everything is relative. That said, I agree with some of the commentary about how the subscriptions work. For example - can't track heart-rate using Apple watch if you have the Bike vs Bike+ - super frustrating.
Curious what Larrikin would like to see in the basic view that they don't get today?
I'm actually very happy with the basic app. I had gotten my own treadmill at the beginning of the year but really hadn't found any programs I enjoyed. The partnership with my insurance was announced a week before my free trial of the app was set to expire and I was fully prepared to begin paying for it.
I just struggle with their pricing model structure and the justification behind it. If I shell out 2000-3000 dollar and I'm all in on their product, I'm rewarded by having to pay more and I don't really see any gain. 40 a month for my stats, that are already tracked through my watch and treadmill, to be on screen seems pointless. When I did CrossFit, which was the healthiest I'd ever been, the classes were expensive but they provided me with all the equipment.
Unlike what the other poster implied, I'm not penny pinching and was actually researching their treadmill to buy until I looked into the pricing model. It really seems like the unconnected app should be 40 a month, which would make sense for the live classes and music licenses that make the product worth it. If you get their bike it's reduced to 13.
I see some justification if it's a family and everyone is using it for their multiple memberships, but all the other reasons I've heard just seem like sunk cost reasoning, albeit with people having gotten healthier.
Heavily researched the tread and competitors and then decided that it was idiotic to pay for something I could do outside every day, for free, even in the forthcoming Northeast cold. Have one friend who really likes the tread boot-camps. That particular use case makes the tread more appealing.
What I do like about the more expensive membership is the ability to group together family accounts. That might be the only thing I actually care about. Bit easier to administer. All comes up cleanly on the bike interface.
Haven't spent a ton of time looking at the differences in the real time metrics with more expensive membership vs. basic but I assume that's a thing people care about. I personally think real-time power on the bike is mostly useless - would love to see averages over different time periods (similar to Strava's power curve).
For what it's worth, I really like Future. Joined because I actively weight-trained prior to March 2020 and wanted to keep up momentum. But a key feature for me is sending videos of movements to the trainer and having that person critique/give advice/suggestions. Exactly what I want and need. I otherwise don't need someone to build workouts for me.
I’m a big fan of Peloton and pay for the expensive option. You’re right that if you’re on a budget, you can get a very similar experience for a lot less. But for many folks like software engineers a few hundred dollars a year (plus a few thousand up-front) is relatively insignificant. For me, I lost a lot more weight than any other fitness routine in the past. Could I have done it with a cheaper indoor cycle and the basic app? Maybe, but I’m willing to pay a bit extra to maximize something important like my health.
When you say "maximize", what about the expensive bike and subscription makes you think you will lose more weight or get fitter than a cheaper bike and basic subscription?
It feels to me like you may have fallen victim to their advertising campaigns.
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 37.1 ms ] threadThat would still make it the current quarter though, so they can't know the results until after it ends.
My insurance recently started providing a year long subscription to the basic app and I have been enjoying it. I use my own treadmill and have access to seemingly all the classes, pre-recorded and live. My Fitbit gives me a large number of stats, the treadmill tells me how far I've run and the app keeps track of my workouts.
But if I pay a huge amount of money for their treadmill or bike the cost of the app increases from 12 a month to over 30 a month. It seems like all you get is a little more stats from the equipment? It really seems that if you're paying for the app at all you should be getting the stats fed into the app. How do people justify the huge price jump on top of the very expensive equipment? I had actually considered getting their equipment after enjoying the app for a few months now, but my insurance only covers three months a year for the "premium" app and it doesn't seem worth it at all.
There are other really screwy pricing going on with all of the other smart fitness equipment I looked into like Mirror and Tonal where the very expensive equipment turns into wall mounted bricks without an ongoing subscription. Even if the subscription was very cheap, if the company were to go bankrupt you're screwed.
Many people's gym memberships or other traditional fitness programs cost much more, so in a sense you could look it as a bargain.
While I am not trying to justify this entirely, it all depends on what your basis of comparison is.
My wife and I still have our Equinox memberships on freeze, thinking that it may make sense to restart them once we're regularly at the office. We both have NYC All Access memberships which gets you access to most Equinox locations around the city. Total cost: 480/month (when not frozen)
We also bought the Peloton bike (not + model) a year ago and regularly use the app/bike 3-4 times/week. Total cost: 39/month
Finally, I individually pay for Future (https://www.future.co/). Happy to describe why if interested, but that's $150/month.
So, we're paying $189/month instead of $480/month. So, everything is relative. That said, I agree with some of the commentary about how the subscriptions work. For example - can't track heart-rate using Apple watch if you have the Bike vs Bike+ - super frustrating.
Curious what Larrikin would like to see in the basic view that they don't get today?
I just struggle with their pricing model structure and the justification behind it. If I shell out 2000-3000 dollar and I'm all in on their product, I'm rewarded by having to pay more and I don't really see any gain. 40 a month for my stats, that are already tracked through my watch and treadmill, to be on screen seems pointless. When I did CrossFit, which was the healthiest I'd ever been, the classes were expensive but they provided me with all the equipment.
Unlike what the other poster implied, I'm not penny pinching and was actually researching their treadmill to buy until I looked into the pricing model. It really seems like the unconnected app should be 40 a month, which would make sense for the live classes and music licenses that make the product worth it. If you get their bike it's reduced to 13.
I see some justification if it's a family and everyone is using it for their multiple memberships, but all the other reasons I've heard just seem like sunk cost reasoning, albeit with people having gotten healthier.
Heavily researched the tread and competitors and then decided that it was idiotic to pay for something I could do outside every day, for free, even in the forthcoming Northeast cold. Have one friend who really likes the tread boot-camps. That particular use case makes the tread more appealing.
What I do like about the more expensive membership is the ability to group together family accounts. That might be the only thing I actually care about. Bit easier to administer. All comes up cleanly on the bike interface.
Haven't spent a ton of time looking at the differences in the real time metrics with more expensive membership vs. basic but I assume that's a thing people care about. I personally think real-time power on the bike is mostly useless - would love to see averages over different time periods (similar to Strava's power curve).
For what it's worth, I really like Future. Joined because I actively weight-trained prior to March 2020 and wanted to keep up momentum. But a key feature for me is sending videos of movements to the trainer and having that person critique/give advice/suggestions. Exactly what I want and need. I otherwise don't need someone to build workouts for me.
It feels to me like you may have fallen victim to their advertising campaigns.