The group meditation experience has been different every time for me. The solo meditation experience however has been constant for every level of change. Let me say a little more of where this is coming from.
Back in those days when there was no internet access available, The only way to learn was to find a teacher, borrow paper spiritual books from libraries and friends, join local spiritual communities and subscribe to few esoteric schools to read their books and get meditation guidance from. So before I knew it, I literally practiced all types of meditations :

. I noticed that certain types of meditation worked better for me when solo. And some others were better when in group. The mantras or vocalizations worked so well for me when in group. The harmony of many voices together had a vibration I couldn't replicate when I was alone. Visualization meditation also worked for me in group, although sometimes I got discouraged sometimes to notice that many end up sleeping during this type of meditation. Like there was that spiritual community I used to go to, some guys used to snore loud during the group meditation :

. It was so distracting.
So I had my goods and bads during group meditation. People with who I meditated with mostly made the difference. Few years later, I met some experienced meditators and meditating with them was a whole different experience. It all of a sudden became easy to reach calmness of the mind. As if their calm minds were helping my lazy mind, making things easy for me. As I closed my eyes to join them, my random thoughts quickly became less, giving me the opportunity to explore deeper peace at a degree I haven't reached solo. That is when I loved group meditation. It's only then I understand the power of group meditation. For me, a group meditation should just be avoided if it is making it harder for you to reach inner silence or clarify of mind.
Meditating solo was however something different. I started solo, slowly but surely breaking the difficulties in that road of meditation. Making a little step forward each time, as each session brought something new. So I pretty much could regroup thoughts when solo because of no other distractions. Solo, I tasted what It felt like to be calm. So it was clear when peace was disturbed or when it couldn't be reached during a group meditation. In my opinion, people should not expect to make their meditation experience better during group meditation. They should first learn to do so solo, then after come to group meditation to reinforce their gained skilled from home into the group. Though I don't mean to discourage all those who've joined my local meditation group session

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Some people out there like me, can even hear (understand) what other people's in the surrounding are thinking. And there is nothing more distrusting than to hear a different topic to the one you are trying to get clarify from. Because guess what? while you are all meditating in a group on the light for example, few guys are thinking when the session will end because they must go past the shop before it closes. You won't believe it what people think about at the wrong time. Others during meditation will think what they've done yesterday, the mistaken they have done, the wrong things they have said to a person. :

. If you have ears you won't make it in such a group meditation. And the more people you have in a different mind network during a group meditation, the difficult it gets to focus, because the mind atmosphere doesn't allow it.
We can do a lot solo. But we can do a lot more in a group. I mean in the right group :

. The feeling we get alone is great, but it is many times greater when done in group. What we can achieve alone may take many days, but in group it may take hours. Well, what is a group anyway, if not just a "bigger you" :

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