Sentry Driver vs TezLab

The Honest Answer

TezLab is an EV lifestyle app - efficiency tracking, charging networks, community features. Sentry Driver is a driver monitoring app - alerts when someone else drives your car.

TezLab question: “How efficient was my drive? Where should I charge?”

Sentry Driver question: “Is my kid speeding? Did someone hit my parked car?”

No overlap. Different purposes entirely.

What Sentry Driver Actually Does

Sentry Driver monitors your Tesla when you’re not driving it. The core features:

Automatic detection: Your phone connects via Bluetooth using VIN hash matching. At -75 dBm signal strength, the app confirms you’re in the car. When you’re not detected, monitoring activates automatically.

Five alert types (all configurable):

1. Speed: Set your threshold. Get notified instantly when exceeded.
2. Curfew: Define allowed driving hours. Alert on violations.
3. Geofence: Draw boundaries. Know when the car leaves/enters.
4. Accident: Choose sensitivity (2g for bumps, 4g medium, 8g hard impacts only).
5. Driving behavior: Track hard brakes and accelerations per trip.

Owner-only design: The person driving doesn’t install anything. They don’t need to know the app exists. This is intentional - teens can’t disable monitoring, employees can’t game the system.

The “only when owner absent” toggle ensures you’re not tracking yourself. Monitoring only activates when someone else has the keys.

What TezLab Actually Does

TezLab is an EV efficiency and community platform:

• Trip efficiency: Detailed Wh/mi tracking, climate impact, elevation analysis
• Charging network: Find chargers, read reviews, check in, earn points
• Community: Leaderboards, badges, comparisons with other EV drivers
• Multi-brand: Works with Tesla, Rivian, and other EVs
• Free tier: Core features without subscription

If you’re into optimizing EV efficiency or want social features around EV ownership, TezLab delivers.

What TezLab doesn’t do: real-time driver alerts, driver differentiation, accident detection, curfew monitoring.

Real Scenarios

Scenario 1: Teen driver Your teenager just got their license and will be driving your Tesla.

• TezLab: No help. It tracks efficiency, not driver behavior or rule violations.
• Sentry Driver: Set 70 mph limit, 10 PM curfew. Get instant alerts on violations.

Scenario 2: EV road trip planning You’re planning a long trip and want to find the best charging stops.

• TezLab: Great for this. Charger discovery, reviews, check-in system.
• Sentry Driver: Not designed for this.

Scenario 3: Parked car hit Your Tesla is parked downtown. Someone backs into it.

• TezLab: No notification. Find out when you return to the car.
• Sentry Driver: Instant push alert via accident detection.

Scenario 4: Efficiency optimization You want to track your Wh/mi and compare with other Tesla owners.

• TezLab: Built for this. Leaderboards, detailed stats, community comparisons.
• Sentry Driver: Not the focus. Wrong tool.

Scenario 5: Multiple EVs in household You have a Tesla and a Rivian.

• TezLab: Supports both in one app.
• Sentry Driver: Tesla only.

The Free Tier Question

TezLab offers free access to core features. This is a real advantage if you just want basic efficiency tracking without commitment.

Sentry Driver offers a 7-day trial, then requires subscription. The reasoning: real-time alerting requires active server infrastructure, which has ongoing costs.

If budget is a constraint and you don’t need driver monitoring, TezLab’s free tier makes sense.

Why “Owner-Only” Matters

Sentry Driver’s design assumes the driver shouldn’t control the monitoring:

• Teens can’t disable it: No app on their phone to turn off
• No awkward requests: “Install this app so I can track you” doesn’t happen
• Automatic activation: Bluetooth detection handles everything
• Clean separation: Owner sees data, driver is unaware

This matters for family monitoring. If your teen can simply disable monitoring, the feature is useless. Sentry Driver’s architecture prevents this.

TezLab isn’t designed for this scenario - it’s a personal app where you track your own driving.

Technical Note: Official API

Both apps use Tesla’s official Fleet API. Neither uses screen scraping or unofficial methods. This matters for reliability and terms of service compliance.

Sentry Driver emphasizes this distinction because some Tesla apps have historically used unofficial API access methods that Tesla eventually blocks.

The Bottom Line

Choose Sentry Driver if: You share your Tesla with family members (especially teens) and want real-time alerts about their driving. Accident detection and the “owner-only” design are key benefits.

Choose TezLab if: You want EV efficiency tracking, charging network features, or community engagement. Especially if you own multiple EV brands or want a free tier option.

The reality: These apps don’t compete. They solve different problems. Most people need one or the other based on their actual situation:

• Parent of teen driver? → Sentry Driver
• EV efficiency enthusiast? → TezLab
• Both needs? → Run both (they coexist fine)

Pick the tool that matches your actual problem.