It pays you if you actually consider the 10,000 mile anniversary gift as a true $100 cash value (there's debates around that philosophy). It also assumes you use the Capital One Travel Portal, which has had a reputation of posting only limited travel options.

If you can use the portal without issue, this card can work. I mentioned the V1X in terms of complementing it with a current BOA card. I'd think if I was to complement it with a PR card, I'd want better travel partners to take advantage of that. I don't get that with the V1X, especially with the C1 portal travel partner as it relates to hotels is Choice Hotels (not really appetizing) and the airline partners are mostly international. Again, it's how you plan on utilizing the travel portal. That's why I'd think of the CSR before the V1X.

I have a feeling Capital One will be nerfing the card either via an annual fee hike or squeezing some of the options via travel via the portal.

The PR isn't a bad card at all. It's just a matter of how you incorporate the other aspects when traveling (i.e. rental cars, etc.) and whether the value of the Elite as it relates to those benefits outweighs the additional annual fee (which I'll safely say reaches $100 for most people before redemptions). That was the main reason I chose the Elite over the regular PR card.