Usefulness of alternate "sprint" powers?

[Valandar]

Rush, Dash, Quick, Surge. Do these even do anything? I've tried them on various characters, and see absolutely no effect that a normal Sprint wouldn't have, and no unusual special effects.

Am I just doing something wrong?

[Stopman]

There's a small graphical special effect that you can notice while running (duh!). That's the only difference. Quick is the easiest to see.

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Veteran_Reward_Powers

[Alaric]

The differences are purely visual. For example, with Surge, the character gains a blue aura while running. Personally, I don't claim that particular reward for my characters unless one of the visual effects is something I really want for that character.

The alternate sprints were originally pre-order bonuses, back when the game first came out. They were later lumped together and awarded as a vet reward.

[BlueBard]

You really don't -want- to claim them unless you really want the visual effect for your character... they'll clutter up your powers screen, for one thing.  Plus there's no immediate way to distinguish between one sprint power or the other on your tray without doing at least a mouseover.

One useful thing you can do with these is to slot different enhancements without having to burn an enhancement slot on a sprint power.

Want to conserve energy and still keep up?  Slot an end redux in Sprint.

Want to be faster?  Slot a run speed in Quick.

Want to jump higher?  Slot a jump in Surge.

[Uncle Yuan]

I thought they are also supposed to be a little faster than straight Sprint.  This is not true?

[captainspud]

I thought they are also supposed to be a little faster than straight Sprint.  This is not true?

Nope. Functionally, they're clones of Sprint. The only mechanical advantage is in slotting them into a "sprint toolbox" like Bard pointed out.

[DMenacer]

Well I like to use them to get my needs by using of different ones of them.

I use Sprint with a use Less Endurance Inspiritation.
I use Rush with a Run Faster Inspiritation.
I use Dash with a Jump Higher Inspiritation.

I use Slide with a Run Faster Inspiritation on a Ice Iased toon.
I use Quick with a Run Faster Inspiritation on a Super Speeding toon.

Even through I would like to have all three Inspiritation on the same run power I don't like wasting the slots so I use different sprints with ths Inspiritation needed.