Hi John,
I’ve been using Freelap for about a year, and Brower for about six years prior to that. I had used Brower for periodic testing, but Freelap is so small and easy to set up, I use it at every practice. Here are some of the features of Freelap, and a few comparisons with Brower.
Easy to set up - I’ve set up and broken down Brower many times over the years, and I can do it in a few minutes. Freelap is much faster. I can place the transmitters for a 17 meter fly in the time it takes me to walk 17 meters. I just turn them on and place them on the hurdle marks, and we’re ready to start.
Compact and Portable - The Brower tripods are relatively light weight, but the system is considerably heavier when compared to Freelap. Elite athletes who own a Freelap typically keep them in a small cinch bag. A Freelap watch and two transmitters (the most common configuration) weights 1 pound 4 ounces. A similar configuration in Brower weights about seven pounds.
Expandable - Every Freelap watch has a built-in receiver that is triggered by the proximity of the TX Junior transmitters, or the release of the TX Touch Transmitter. It is possible to time multiple athletes simultaneously, both in the same event and multiple events. For example, you can time mid distance runners in tempo runs in the inside lanes, sprinters in speed work with fly-in sprints in the middle lanes, and hurdle splits in the outside lanes. When using Brower for fly-in sprints, I would time the sprinter in one lane and put the “rabbit” in another lane, and then swap athletes, getting a time for every other sprint. With Freelap, I can time multiple sprinters while they compete in the 30 fly, for example.
Set up size - Brower requires track real estate for the tripods. The Freelap transmitters are placed directly on the line, and do not consume track lanes, which is helpful when sharing the track with other coaches and athletes.
Weather - Brower will blow over in the wind. I’ve never had a Freelap blow over in a wind gust.
Touch and Release - IMO, the Brower touch and release switch is too temperamental and not particularly useful. Athletes are more worried about avoiding a pre-release of the timer than focusing on the mechanics of the start. The Freelap TX Touch Transmitter has a nice tactile feel, and young female sprinter have no problem keeping the button depressed until they begin the sprint.
Cost - Freelap is much cheaper than Brower. For example, adding a split to Freelap is about $115. It is possible for teams to acquire a sufficient number of transmitters to time hurdle splits, for example.
Data - Each Freelap watch holds about 750 splits. Each workout session includes a date a time stamp, and it is possible to download the raw timing data to a PC using an IR dongle. Using the date and time stamp, it is possible to align the data to HR data if you have collected that using a Polar.
Accuracy - The accuracy of Freelap and Brower are about the same, in the range of about 0.02 seconds.
In summary, Freelap is a fully automated timing system that is accurate, wireless, easy to set up and use, compact and portable, and can be used to time fly-in sprints, splits, hurdle splits, tempo runs, recovery times, block starts, laps, football combine 10 and 40 yard dash, agility drills, and more. Hope that is helpful. Let me know if you have questions or need additional information.
Best,
Christopher Glaeser
Sports Technology Evangelist
http://www.freelaptrackandfield.com