Sensytec vs SmartRock

TL;DR: Which One to Pick

• The real question is not Sensytec or SmartRock, it is which Sensytec. SmartRock is one sensor architecture: fully embedded, Bluetooth, temperature. Sensytec covers the same job with SensyRoc II, a Bluetooth sensor with a free phone app that also measures electrical resistivity and whose logger comes back and gets reused, and goes further with SensyCast when you need range across a whole site.
• Pick SensyRoc II for field crews and jobsite pours: sensor, phone, done. Same simplicity as SmartRock, except the sensor body is reusable with replaceable probes instead of staying in the slab.
• Pick SensyCast when nobody can walk to the sensor: same two signals, roughly a mile of sub-GHz range to a gateway, a 3-year battery, and data that keeps arriving after the pour is buried and after the crew goes home.

Side-by-Side

Where Sensytec Wins

A second signal, not just a second decimal place

Both SensyRoc II and SensyCast measure electrical resistivity alongside temperature. The maturity method derives strength from one input, temperature history; resistivity is an independent second signal that flags calibration drift, mix changes, and unfamiliar admixture behavior, and at later ages it tracks with chloride-ion penetration resistance as a durability indicator. Giatec does sell resistivity instruments, but in their current catalog resistivity lives in laboratory devices (Surf, RCON) or the handheld, surface-applied iCOR, not in the embedded sensor you cast into the pour. On the SmartRock sensor itself, the measurement is temperature.

You lose the cable, not the logger

This is the structural difference between the two products, and it is the whole cost argument. Giatec's own description is that “SmartRock is fully-embedded in the concrete”: the entire device, radio and battery and electronics, stays in the element. Every pour buys a new one.

SensyRoc II can be buried the same way if a pour calls for it, and if you do that you lose it just as completely. The difference is that you usually do not have to. Mount the logger outside the pour, run the probe cable in, and after the pour you cut the cable and keep the logger. The consumable is a cable; the expensive part comes back and goes into the next pour. That is the same install effort, the same phone workflow, and a materially different cost per pour once you have poured more than a handful of times.

Range: choose it, do not inherit it

Bluetooth at 2.4 GHz is fine when someone walks to the pour, which is why SensyRoc II uses it. It is a constraint when nobody can. Giatec lists SmartRock's embedded range as “up to 40 ft (12 m)” and notes the signal can reach up to 100 ft unobstructed; going beyond phone range means adding a separate SmartHub gateway, and Giatec states that on SmartRock Pro “remote continuous monitoring is not available in the current version.” SensyCast's sub-GHz radio reaches a gateway from roughly a mile and keeps transmitting after the pour is buried, so the QC manager reads the bed from the office instead of the walkway.

One platform as the project grows

SensyRoc II and SensyCast both report into SensyHub, so the two are not separate systems you have to choose between up front. Run SensyRoc on the pours your crew can reach, add SensyCast where nobody can, and the history, mix calibrations, and reports stay in one place across both.

Where SmartRock Wins

There are real reasons to buy SmartRock, and we would rather say them than have you find out later:

• Nothing to get back. If you genuinely never want to retrieve, recharge, or track hardware, a sensor that stays in the element removes that job entirely. Reuse only pays if someone collects the sensor.
• Market familiarity. SmartRock is widely used in slab-on-grade and light commercial work. If your crews and your testing lab already know it, the buying decision is short.
• Ready-mix relationships. Giatec's SmartRock Plus program lets ready-mix producers supply sensors to their contractor customers. If your supplier already includes them, that is a real convenience.

What we would push back on is the idea that simplicity requires a disposable sensor. SensyRoc II is the same tie-it-and-read-it-on-your-phone workflow, and the body comes back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Sensytec have a Bluetooth sensor like SmartRock?

Yes. SensyRoc II is a Bluetooth sensor with a free iOS and Android app, built for the same tie-it-and-read-it-on-your-phone workflow. The difference is that the SensyRoc body is recovered and reused with replaceable probes, while Giatec describes SmartRock as fully embedded in the concrete.

What's the main difference between the two companies?

What happens to the sensor, and what it reads. Giatec’s SmartRock is fully embedded, so it stays in the pour, and it reads temperature. Both Sensytec sensors read temperature and electrical resistivity, and both are built to come back out: SensyRoc II over Bluetooth for crews at the pour, SensyCast over sub-GHz radio when the pour is out of walking range.

Is SmartRock cheaper?

Per unit it can be, but that is the wrong unit. With SmartRock the whole device stays in the concrete, so every pour buys a complete sensor again. With SensyRoc II the consumable is the probe cable and the logger comes back out for the next pour. Bury a SensyRoc and you lose it exactly like a SmartRock, so the comparison is really between losing everything each time and losing a cable each time. Neither company publishes list pricing, so run it against your own pour count.

Does SmartRock measure electrical resistivity?

Not on the embedded sensor. Giatec sells resistivity instruments, but in their current catalog those are laboratory devices (Surf, RCON) or the handheld surface-applied iCOR. Both SensyRoc II and SensyCast measure electrical resistivity in place, alongside temperature, per AASHTO T-358 and ASTM C1876.

ASTM C1074 compliance?

Both implement the maturity method, and both require a mix-specific calibration before use. Accuracy comes from that calibration, not from the brand on the sensor.

Range comparison?

Giatec lists SmartRock at up to 40 ft (12 m) once embedded, noting the signal can reach up to 100 ft unobstructed, with a separate SmartHub gateway required for remote access. SensyRoc II is likewise Bluetooth, for crews who can walk to the pour. SensyCast uses sub-GHz radio to reach a gateway from roughly a mile and keeps transmitting after burial.