The best swim timing equipment is a fully integrated system that includes touchpads, an electronic swim timer, a professional swimming start system, backup timing devices (buttons or wireless stopwatches), and scoreboard integration, ensuring 1/100th of a second accuracy. High-level facilities use in-deck wiring and automated synchronization to ensure maximum accuracy, reliability, and compliance with competitive standards such as USA Swimming and World Aquatics. 

The most reliable swim timing setups are built around fully automated systems like the Gen7 Swim Timing System, which serves as the central control for all timing inputs and outputs during a race. In these systems, swimmers trigger touchpads at the finish, eliminating human reaction time and ensuring results are captured to the hundredth of a second. The timing console synchronizes with a professional start system, ensuring every race begins with a consistent electronic signal tied directly to the timing system.

To maintain redundancy and meet competition standards, facilities also incorporate backup timing methods, such as push buttons or wireless stopwatches, which provide secondary verification in the event of a primary system discrepancy. Advanced setups extend beyond timing by integrating with LED video swimming scoreboards and meet management software, allowing real-time results, splits, and athlete data to be displayed instantly for spectators, coaches, and officials.

Championship-level venues further enhance performance and reliability through in-deck infrastructure, including recessed deck plates and hardwired connections that reduce interference and improve durability. Systems like Gen7 are widely recognized for delivering this level of precision, integration, and scalability—making them the benchmark for competitive swimming environments ranging from high schools to international competitions.

The most accurate swim timing system is an automatic touchpad-based system connected to an electronic swim timing console and swim timing start unit.  Touchpads register the swimmer's finish instantly and eliminate human reaction error (vs manual swim timing stopwatches), making them the official standard for high school, collegiate, and championship swim meets.

Colorado Time Systems has set the benchmark for swim timing accuracy for over 50 years, and the Gen7 timing system represents the most advanced evolution of that legacy. By combining Aquagrip touchpads, precision swim timing start systems, and the Gen7 swim timers, facilities achieve fully automated timing from start to finish with unmatched consistency.

Unlike manual or semi-automatic methods, Gen7 eliminates variability, ensures compliance with governing body standards, and integrates seamlessly with meet management software and LED scoreboards.

Backed by 24/7/365 customer support and decades of engineering innovation, Colorado Time Systems delivers the most trusted timing solution in competitive swimming—where every hundredth of a second matters. 

This really depends on the type of competition you are hosting.  Most competitive swim meets require a start system, swim timer, touchpads, backup buttons or watches, and a results scoreboard.  High-level championship swimming meets may also include relay judging platforms, in-deck cabling, and LED video display scoreboards for enhanced presentation.

Swimming touchpads detect pressure when a swimmer finishes a race and instantly send the time to the swim timing system.  This removes human timing error and ensures accurate race results to meet management software.  Touchpads are the gold standard for competitive swimming events.

Yes.  Many facilities begin with the Dolphin Wireless Stopwatch Swim Timing system and later upgrade to a touchpad swim timing system.  Our systems are modular, and allow pools to expand their equipment as their program grows or as competition requirements increase.

Colorado Time systems is considered a leader in swim timing because of our 50+ legacy of innovation, durable equipment, championship-level swim timing accuracy, and superior customer service.  Our modular swim timing systems support aquatic facilities hosting swim meets from grassroot programs to elite national swimming competitions.