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GUIDEORGANISERS · CALCULATOR · 5 MIN READ

Buying timing equipment or hiring the service: which pays off

If your club organises several events a year, having your own equipment can work out much cheaper. Do the maths with your own numbers.

Cronomach CRONO_META finish clock on a finish line
With your own equipment, you set up the finish yourself, whenever you want.

When a club or an organiser needs to time an event, there are two ways to go: hire a timing company each time or buy its own equipment. There's no single answer: it depends on how many events you hold and how many participants they have. Here are the key points and a calculator for your case.

1 · Hiring the service

A timing company turns up on race day with its equipment and staff, sets up the finish and delivers the results.

  • Advantage: you don't have to learn anything or invest up front.
  • Drawback: you pay for every event, every time. If you organise several a year, the cost recurs indefinitely.
  • Drawback: you depend on their availability. On dates with lots of events they may not have a free slot.

2 · Buying your own equipment

You pay for the equipment once, and from then on each event only costs you the chips.

  • No annual costs: with Cronomach there's no maintenance, no memberships and no payments for updates.
  • Cheap chips from whoever you like: passive chips cost from 0,10 €, and you don't have to buy them from us: we give you the specifications of the chips to use for each discipline.
  • Software included: with the CRONOCLAS you import the entries, produce results by category and publish them online.
  • You choose the dates and you can time training sessions, leagues or other clubs' events.

3 · Work out how many events it takes to pay for itself

Enter your numbers. The calculation assumes disposable chips at every event; with reusable chips the cost per event is even lower.

RESULT
It pays for itself in 7 events

Each event costs you 30 € in chips instead of 600 €. With your number of events per year, you recoup it in about 1.8 years. Over 5 years you save 7,900 €.

Hire · 5 years
12,000 €
Buy · 5 years
4,100 €

Rough estimate. Doesn't include the chips that already come with some equipment.

4 · Which equipment to choose

  • Popular races with lots of participants: SI91 (3.500 € with 4 antennas and 250 chips, 4.500 € with 8 antennas and 400 chips) or ATL98 (2.500 € with 200 chips).
  • Cycling, triathlon, swimming and motorsport: the active system ACTSLEEP2.45 (1.900 € with batteries), for events of up to 300 participants.
  • Trail and intermediate checkpoints: the handheld reader BLUE 1 or the CRONOPISTOLA (1.600 €).
  • Time trial, enduro and downhill without chips: the PHOTOCELL (350 €).

If you're not sure which one suits your event, the guide Which chip to use to time each sport will help you decide.

5 · What if I've never done timing before?

It's the most common concern, and it's easy to solve. You have step-by-step training videos for the SI91 and CRONOCLAS, the guide How to prepare the timing for a popular race, and you can call us or message us on WhatsApp. What's more, the SI91 offers automatic timing at the push of a button.

In short: if you only hold one event a year, hiring may be enough. Beyond a few events, having your own equipment usually works out cheaper and gives you freedom over dates.

Shall we do the maths together?

Tell us how many events you organise and we'll put together a no-obligation quote.

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