Unhappy with downloadable "free" user's guide

[[email protected]]

When you pay that much money for the new STS series, a decent user's guide should be included. Instead, I had to print it out using a significant portion of my ink cartridges, get a binder and hole punch the lot. It is anything but "free." In addition, the quality of printer paper is not even close to equivalent of past user's guides I have from Cathe. I would have paid a few extra dollars to have a decent product. Color me, "Not Impressed." Bad decision to save a few pennies.

 

[forum_admin]

Hi mollymalone2, I'm truly sorry you were disappointed that we only offer an online version of our STS 2.0 User's Guide, but since 2014 we've only offered online versions of our workout series as free online downloads.

Also, we offer Free Worldwide shipping on STS 2.0 which would not be possible if we were to include a 145-page paperback user's guide. Besides the publishing cost of the User's Guide, just a one-ounce increase in weight to the STS 2.0 bundle would nearly triple the shipping cost, and a 145-page paperback User's Guide weighs a lot more than 1 oz. We're not talking pennies, instead, International customers would have seen an increase of somewhere between $50 to over $100 for their orders and USA customers would have also seen a significant increase.

At Cathe, we're not about cutting corners, but we do have to also balance what works for our customers and for us economically. Hence, we feel that free shipping and cheaper prices outway the benefits of switching to a paperback User's Guide.

 

[Debinmi]

Appreciate the explanation. I actually prefer the download version as I have never printed out the entire guide. I read it on my phone and/or laptop. I make up my own version of the weight worksheets. I do print-out the rotations I'm interested in so I can compare & contrast, write on it, and then often devise my own iteration.

The cost of ink, especially in a color ink jet printer would be crazy expensive. But to each their own preference....

 

[aqua girl]

Yep, it takes alot of ink, for sure! I don't print out the entire guide either........I also downloaded on my 2 ipads in Books, so I can view it there too.

 

[aqua girl]

color ink jet printer

That's what I have.

 

[Debinmi]

That's what I have.

I got so tired of buying those ink cartridges & they dry out fast... so years ago I purchased a basic B&W laser printer ... love it! It paid for itself many times over in savings on ink cartridges.

I sometimes miss the color, but most times, not.

 

[ashaw]

When I was “rotation hopping”, I’d comb through each month’s rotations and pick and choose what I liked and then take screenshots on my phone. Because I’m old school and plan my workouts on a piece of paper from a small size legal pad. And all my workout sheets are piled together with my Xtrain users guide. I need a 3 hole punch and giant binder to put everything in because I’ve had it all fall on the floor more than once. I read the users guide online but all I print are the workout sheets and rotations.

 

[[email protected]]

Hi mollymalone2, I'm truly sorry you were disappointed that we only offer an online version of our STS 2.0 User's Guide, but since 2014 we've only offered online versions of our workout series as free online downloads.

Also, we offer Free Worldwide shipping on STS 2.0 which would not be possible if we were to include a 145-page paperback user's guide. Besides the publishing cost of the User's Guide, just a one-ounce increase in weight to the STS 2.0 bundle would nearly triple the shipping cost, and a 145-page paperback User's Guide weighs a lot more than 1 oz. We're not talking pennies, instead, International customers would have seen an increase of somewhere between $50 to over $100 for their orders and USA customers would have also seen a significant increase.

At Cathe, we're not about cutting corners, but we do have to also balance what works for our customers and for us economically. Hence, we feel that free shipping and cheaper prices outway the benefits of switching to a paperback User's Guide.

So, your "sorry," but not sorry. Got it.

 

[Hazlady]

The free online guide works for me. Shipping DVDs from America to New Zealand became problematic with Covid. The last series I had shipped, Perfect 30, took a month to get here. Since then, I have subscribed to OnDemand and I'm loving the workout blender. I also don't print out the whole guide, only the workouts and premix sheets, which I hole punch and keep in a ring binder. I have a black and white laser multifunction printer/copier/scanner and can print on both sides of the paper.

 

[amberdawn]

I prefer the downloadable (digital) guides personally. In fact, I recently purchased the digital guide for the original STS even though I have the bound paper copy that came with it filed away somewhere. I find I'm going more and more to paperless in my life except for things like birth certificate, car registration, etc.

If there are pages I want printed out from the user guide, I print those pages and then can make notes on them without worrying about messing up the book. Sort of like my recipe books. I always photo copy/scan the pages of the recipe I'm going to use and print out. Maybe I'm weird that way?

I guess the only way to make everyone happy would be to have an option to buy a hardcopy guide in addition to the digital guide, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be very cost efficient or whatever unless Cathe had enough people who chose to get the hardcopy version (since I'm assuming it is cheaper per guide, the more copies you have printed).

 

[Debinmi]

...I find I'm going more and more to paperless in my life except for things like birth certificate, car registration, etc....

I find more businesses are promoting paperless too ... we get a discount on our ISP bill by going paperless & one of our credit unions said they'd charge us $5/month if we required a paper statement...ouch! That prompted us to go paperless with them.. cheezzzz...

 

[Hazlady]

I've also gone paperless with bills and statements as they charge extra if you want a paper copy. I get so little post delivered to my mailbox now that I had birds trying to nest in it. I suddenly had leaves and twigs appearing in my mailbox and then spotted these two birds flying in and out of the mail slot. I put some cat fur in there hoping the smell of cat would keep them out and it worked.

 

[Kellyro77]

I do think the option to offer a purchasable hard-copy of your user guide might be well received. But I get it - you have to find the sweet spot of how many copies to print so you don't end up with excess inventory sitting around for years and years and years.

Another suggestion to those who want to print out their user guides - you could take them to an office supply store and get them printed there. Considering how expensive ink cartridges are, you might actually save some money doing that. I'd suggest also reducing the guide to fit two sheets to a page (four pages total font and back) using a booklet format. Would reduce the number of pages significantly. Text would be a lot smaller, however. You can also use that option at home, too - the booklet option when printing. Again, text size would be a lot smaller, however, so not sure how usable it would be.

 

[nickisteen]

When I was “rotation hopping”, I’d comb through each month’s rotations and pick and choose what I liked and then take screenshots on my phone. Because I’m old school and plan my workouts on a piece of paper from a small size legal pad. And all my workout sheets are piled together with my Xtrain users guide. I need a 3 hole punch and giant binder to put everything in because I’ve had it all fall on the floor more than once. I read the users guide online but all I print are the workout sheets and rotations.

LOL! Sounds like me!!

 

[firemedic]

When you pay that much money for the new STS series, a decent user's guide should be included. Instead, I had to print it out using a significant portion of my ink cartridges, get a binder and hole punch the lot. It is anything but "free." In addition, the quality of printer paper is not even close to equivalent of past user's guides I have from Cathe. I would have paid a few extra dollars to have a decent product. Color me, "Not Impressed." Bad decision to save a few pennies.

You know you could have downloaded the file and taken it to Staples or Office Depot and they would have put in a book like XTRAIN for you, of course for a price.

 

[firemedic]

I find more businesses are promoting paperless too ... we get a discount on our ISP bill by going paperless & one of our credit unions said they'd charge us $5/month if we required a paper statement...ouch! That prompted us to go paperless with them.. cheezzzz...

I get discounts on a few of my bills when I do paperless and even autopay (don't do that much). I hate getting mail, 99% of it ends up in my shredder. I use GBC Proclick do it yourself kits from Amazon to print out and use for my users guides. I print out the pages I want on the paper that comes with it and just put it together. It is so easy and useful.

 

[Debinmi]

I get discounts on a few of my bills when I do paperless and even autopay (don't do that much). I hate getting mail, 99% of it ends up in my shredder. I use GBC Proclick do it yourself kits from Amazon to print out and use for my users guides. I print out the pages I want on the paper that comes with it and just put it together. It is so easy and useful.

Thanks for the idea - I assumed this had to be done by a printing company or at Staples/Office Max. May use this for recipes i print from the internet ... hmmmm...

 

[aqua girl]

use GBC Proclick do it yourself kits from Amazon

That looks like a neat little package to use

 

[firemedic]

That looks like a neat little package to use

It usually comes with 2 kits in the package. I love the black plastic back and the clear front so I can see which series I want. I like printing my own because I don't have all the pages in the order that Cathe puts them in. I like having the premixes for each workout right after each workout, not together at the end (if that makes sense), so I just print what pages I want and put it together the way I want. I have done every series since XTRAIN using these kits. I also have them for other things I keep track of as well. I never thought to use for recipes, I will try that too.

 

[Gobias]

I am also old-school....I prefer a physical book (I still pull out my STS 1.0 book!) However, I understand the reasons it is only digital. I have printed all of the digital guides myself and put them in a 3-ring binder.

What I would like is if Cathe offered a PRINT FRIENDLY version of the guide. Keep the colorful pretty guide as digital and have a black and white non-shaded option for us home printers!