I also pay for Clear, and basically echo your take. My home airport has a separate like for Clear + Precheck, and basically only frequent travelers have both,

I also pay for Clear, and basically echo your take. My home airport has a separate like for Clear + Precheck, and basically only frequent travelers have both, so even though the line is sometimes longer it moves much faster. It's worth it for me to eliminate the variance of a first-time traveler who got randomed to precheck being slow.