The thread topic comes up regularly each winter. “I just hit 50mph, what’s your fastest speed?” or “Which speed tracking app is everyone using this season?” Without fail, a flood of screen captures fill the comments; digital rulers measuring everyone’s dic- *ahem* ability to slide sideways at highway speeds. Not surprising, a lot of people doubt the accuracy of these speed tracking apps. In fact, we’ve even had the debate ourselves here at Agnarchy Snowboarding. We decided that it was time to stop debating the topic and start testing it instead. Read more to find out if you can continue posting your sick screenshots, or if you’ve just been a dirty poser all this time.

How we Measured the Accuracy of Speed Tracking Apps

In order to test the accuracy of speed tracking apps, we got our hands on a Bushnell Velocity Speed Gun. According to the manufacturer specs, the Velocity is accurate +/- 1 mile per hour or +/- 2 kilometers an hour and can capture the speed of a car over quarter mile away and a baseball from 90 feet away.

Before testing the accuracy of the apps, we needed to test the accuracy of the Bushnell Velocity Speed Gun. We ran a series of tests in which we captured the speed of cars traveling down an empty road. In each test, the radar displayed the expected speed, an established cruise control setting chosen before each test.

Satisfied that the radar gun would correctly measure the test rider, we selected a couple of runs for our testing; wide open groomers that allowed the rider to pass by the radar gun without interference from others. We did not try to capture our maximum possible speed. Instead, we made sure that we captured the fastest moment of the test run. We achieved this by positioning the radar gun near the end of a decline and having the test rider scrub speed as soon as they passed the radar gun.

I’m going to pause here for an important disclaimer.

We do not recommend that you attempt to reach your maximum speed. Falling at normal speeds sucks. Falling at high speed sucks infinity more. Even worse than wrecking or killing yourself, riding out of control can also kill someone else.

I don’t try for max speed anymore, but when I do bomb, I make sure everything is 100% perfect. Perfect lighting conditions, perfect groomer conditions, and most importantly, a run where I can see from top to bottom, where there is no risk of someone coming in from a side trail or the trees.

Test Results

On the first two test runs, we ran Trace Snow, Slopes, Ski Tracks, and a resort-sponsored tracking app simultaneously on an iPhone 11 Max Plus (iOS 13.3.1). Note: I was an idiot and forgot to turn off the resort-sponsored app before driving home, so I can’t provide images, but it consistently matched the speed returned by the Trace Snow app.

Test One

The first test run was interesting for us because the resort-sponsored app, Trace Snow, and Ski Tracks all returned the exact same speed: 55.5 miles per hour, but the Slopes app returned the faster speed of 58.6 miles per hour. Was Slopes the accurate outlier? Was it the obviously less accurate of the bunch? Were all of the tracking apps completely off?

Test Two

Admittedly, I was surprised by the accuracy of Trace Snow, Ski Tracks, and the resort-sponsored app. I wasn’t as surprised to see that Slopes was over-estimating speed, as it was something that I’d suspected all season. However, we needed more data so we ran the test again.

The second test results showed some minor variation among the apps. Trace Snow and the resort app both clocked our speed at 57.2 miles per hour. Ski Tracks measured us at 57.8 miles per hour, and Slopes claimed that we broke sixty, with a measurement of 60.9 miles per hour.

When we met back at base to compare notes I attempted to guess my speed before checking the apps. It felt noticeably faster, but I didn’t max out, so I figured that I was going about 58 miles per hour. It turned about to be a pretty good guess, according to Trace, the resort app, and Ski Tracks. But what did the radar gun say?

Test Three

On the third test we swapped out devices and selected a run with a mellower slope and a few more trees. For this test we ran Trace Snow and Ski tracks on an iPhone 6S (iOS v 10.2.1). The results were surprising.

We uncovered a large disparity once we began testing the apps on an older device. In this test, Trace Snow recorded a max speed of 43.4 miles per hour, while Ski Tracks recorded a maximum speed of 53.6 miles per hour! When we met up at the base to compare notes our test rider was grinning ear-to-ear. It turns out that he was excited to see the confirmation of his speed, as he usually relies on Ski Tracks for his results. I, not realizing yet how fast his device recorded him, thought he’d be please when I showed him the radar results.

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Narrator: “He was not pleased with the results..”

Test Four

Throughout the testing, we were limited to using one device on the test rider because we were using our phones to coordinate. After test three, we knew we had to test the devices simultaneously. For the fourth and final test, our rider carried the iPhone 11 Max Plus (Trace Snow, Slopes, and Ski Tracks) and the iPhone 6S (Trace Snow, Ski Tracks).

Comparing Trace Snow on iPhone 6S to Trace Snow on iPhone 11 Max Plus, it’s clear to see how the same rider can get wildly different results depending on what device they’re recording on. The older iPhone 6 stroked egos with a 47.4 mile per hour reading, compared to the lower 39.1 miles per hour reading of the iPhone 11.

We found similar disparate readings using Ski Tracks. The older phone measured much faster than the newer device; 45.6 mph versus 39.1 mph. For what it’s worth, Slopes measured the same run at 40.3 miles per hour.

Unsurprisingly, the actual reading was closer to those of the apps running on iPhone 11 than they were to the apps running on the older device. Surprisingly, the “more accurate” apps under-reported the speed on this mellow run as compared to the steeper run in the first two tests.

Speed Tracking Accuracy- What does it mean?

In post-test comparisons, we found that the Google Pixel 3a was comparable in accuracy to the iPhone 11 Max Plus. Based on these findings, we believe that the accuracy of speed tracking apps is dependent on the device in which the app is running. If you’re running apps on newer devices, your max speed readings are likely to be in the ballpark of your actual speed. However if you’re running apps on older devices…well, we have some bad news for you. Those numbers you’ve been sharing are probably grossly inflated, and you’re a dirty, dirty poser.

Next season we will continue testing devices across a spectrum of runs to determine if slope angle affects the accuracy of the speed. Our initial tests indicate that steep slopes may return more accurate results than mellower slopes, but it’s too early to tell for now.

Lastly, and most importantly, we do not recommend or encourage anyone to ride outside of their skill level. Snowboarding is already dangerous, don’t make it worse by senselessly chasing digital cool points on a goofy app.

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