More than one. Timing a full meet is a team effort, with each role on its own device. The good news is that the minimum is small, and the ideal is still well within what a normal volunteer crew brings to the track in their pockets.
A minimal setup
A meet coordinator, plus one of these two finish arrangements:
- A finish timer on every lane (one phone per lane, the way most meets are hand-timed today), or
- A single photo-finish device paired with a separate bib collector.
That is enough to run a meet start to finish.
An ideal setup
Spreading the work a little further makes each job easier and the results cleaner:
- One or two devices at the start. One at the chute staging the next heats, one on the starting gun. They can be the same device if you are short on people.
- A finish timer on each lane, or a photo-finish device with a separate bib collector.
- A results device. Preferred but optional. Add it when you want real-time adjustments and reconciliation while the meet is still running rather than afterward.
Roles are not fixed to a device for the whole meet. A volunteer who leaves at lunch can hand their position to someone else, and a device can change role between heats.
Device limits by plan
| Plan | Connected devices |
|---|---|
| Free (standalone timer) | Single device, offline |
| Trial | Up to 10 |
| Team | Up to 20 |
The limit counts devices joined to the connected meet session at once. It is not a limit on how many people can view results: families follow along in a browser with no app and no account, and they do not count against anything.
Working with fewer people than positions
Real meets are short-staffed. A few honest reductions, in the order we would make them:
- Drop the separate results device first. The coordinator can keep the record.
- Combine the chute and the gun onto one device at the start.
- Switch from per-lane timers to photo finish plus a bib collector. This trades six or eight finish volunteers for two, and it improves accuracy rather than degrading it.
- Run pack heats instead of lane heats where the event allows it. One person taps crossings, one person collects bibs afterward. See collecting bibs.
The one position you cannot combine away is the finish capture itself. Everything else has slack.
Did this answer your question? If something here is wrong, missing, or out of date, tell us at support@finishlinetimer.com and we’ll fix it.