CLOCKER

Timing gates vs a phone

Gates are the right answer for a programme with a budget, and they are not cheap. Here is what the main systems cost, and the honest case for when a phone does the job instead.

What gates cost in 2026

System	What you get	Price
OVR Sprint	Single gate	$229
Dashr Blue	Single gate, laser + reflector	from $375
OVR Sprint	Starter 2-pack	$529
Zybek PowerDash 1X	Single gate	$649
Dashr Blue	Two gates, 40-yard setup	from $690
Brower Black Box	Motion start plus photogate finish	$798
Zybek PowerDash 3X	Three gates	$1,049
Freelap Pro Coach	BLE 112 pack, worn transponder	$1,265–1,389
Brower TCi	Two-gate sprint system	from $1,589
Swift Performance G4	Laser gates	from $4,887 + $199/gate/yr

Zybek has been the exclusive laser timing provider for the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine since 2011, so the $649 entry point is the same lineage as the times you see on television.

When to buy gates instead

If you are testing a whole squad on a schedule, gates are faster: no aiming, no lighting to worry about, and a time on a display the second the athlete finishes. They work in the dark, in the rain, and in a gym with bad light where a camera struggles. If your times are used for anything official or published, you need them. And a $649 purchase amortised over a programme's ten-year life is not expensive.

The case for a phone

A camera has one thing gates do not: the recording. A gate gives you a number and nothing else. If it fires early because an arm broke the beam before the torso arrived, you cannot know, and you cannot go back and check. Clocker shows the frames either side of the mark, so a time that looks wrong can be inspected and corrected on the spot.

The other thing is that a phone is already in your pocket. For a parent timing one kid in a driveway, a $649 purchase is not a consideration, and a stopwatch is about a quarter-second wrong. That gap is exactly the space a phone fills.

What a phone will not do

Clocker is not certified timing equipment and should not be used for official results, records, or qualification. It needs enough light to see the runner, and it times one athlete per rep rather than a group. Gates do not care about any of that, which is part of what you are paying for.

Try it

Clocker times a sprint from one iPhone at 240 frames a second. It finds the start and the finish itself, and shows you the frames either side of each mark so you can check the number rather than trust it.

SEE HOW IT WORKS