A meter reads one spot. Sports Safe watches every field you monitor.
A handheld WBGT meter gives you a measured reading where you stand. Sports Safe estimates WBGT for every field you monitor, all day, and alerts your staff when one gets hotter. Most programs are best served by using both.
Side by side
Sports Safe and a handheld WBGT meter
What you get
Sports Safe: An estimated WBGT for every field you monitor, updated through the day from current weather.
A handheld WBGT meter: A measured WBGT at the spot where the meter is, at the moment someone takes the reading.
Someone on site
Sports Safe: Not needed. Each field is watched during its alert schedule, wherever your staff are.
A handheld WBGT meter: Someone has to be at the field to take each reading.
Several fields
Sports Safe: Every field you monitor, at the same time.
A handheld WBGT meter: One spot at a time.
Alerts
Sports Safe: Coaches with heat alerts on are told when a field moves into a stricter band of your state's chart.
A handheld WBGT meter: The person holding the meter sees the reading. The rest of your staff doesn't hear about it unless someone tells them.
Guidance
Sports Safe: Shows what your state's heat chart calls for at that number: rest breaks, practice limits, and equipment.
A handheld WBGT meter: You compare the reading with your policy chart yourself.
Reading of record
Sports Safe: An estimate. It does not meet a requirement for readings from an approved instrument.
A handheld WBGT meter: Can be, if it is a model your association accepts.
Records
Sports Safe: On the Organization plan, each check is logged with a timestamp, locked once saved, and exportable as a CSV, including your meter readings.
A handheld WBGT meter: Whatever the meter stores or someone writes down.
Straight talk
Better together
Keep the meter for the official reading
Sports Safe is not a WBGT meter. Where your association requires readings from an approved instrument, take the reading of record with your meter, as your policy calls for.
Log the meter, and let the field learn from it
Coaches log meter readings in the compliance log, each one timestamped and locked once saved. Sports Safe can learn a correction for each field from those readings, and a correction only ever makes the field's reading more cautious.
FAQ
Common questions
Does my state require a WBGT meter?
Some state associations require readings from an approved instrument for the reading of record. Check your association's heat policy. Sports Safe's state heat chart pages summarize each policy it follows and link to the source.
Why might Sports Safe's WBGT differ from my meter?
Sports Safe estimates WBGT for each field from current weather: temperature, humidity, wind, and sun. A meter measures the exact spot it sits in, so shade, wind, and surface nearby can make the two read differently. On the Organization plan, Sports Safe can learn a correction for each field from your logged meter readings, and that correction only ever makes the field's reading more cautious.
Do I still need a meter if I use Sports Safe?
If your association requires an approved instrument for the reading of record, yes. Use the meter for that reading, and use Sports Safe to watch every field all day and alert your staff when one moves into a stricter band.