Disclaimer: Soberlink is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or sponsored by BACtrack®
With its unique, state-of-the-art features and expert support, Soberlink's remote alcohol monitoring technology has been the undisputed leader in the industry for over a decade. BACtrack's low-cost breathalyzer may be a great budget option for recreational use but falls short in high-risk markets like Addiction Recovery and Family Law.
For over 10 years, Soberlink® has been the undisputed leader in remote alcohol monitoring technology for Addiction Recovery, Family Law, and Workplace Compliance. The Soberlink® team works closely with professionals in all these industries to understand their needs and foster client accountability. Soberlink® continuously innovates its system and improves its professional services to maintain its leadership position as the gold standard in remote alcohol monitoring technology.
Soberlink uses tamper-resistant facial recognition technology to provide verified, court-admissible evidence of sobriety while BACtrack records a video of the tester that needs to be reviewed by another party. When considering Soberlink® vs. less expensive devices, such as BACtrack®, it’s important to understand the issues that may arise due to their lack of features or support.
Court Admissibility is a term that is used by many remote alcohol monitoring systems, oftentimes without adequate support. If alcohol monitoring test results need to be presented in court as evidence, the results must be court admissible. Admissible evidence is valid, accurate, and reliable data from a scientifically verifiable source that can be presented before the judge as fact.
Alcohol monitoring data is not automatically deemed court admissible. Generally, for alcohol monitoring data to be admissible in court, it must meet certain criteria, such as relevance to the case, accuracy, reliability, validity, and attained from procedures with scientific verifiability. Additionally, the data must have been obtained legally and in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. Without the proper systems set up, demonstrating sobriety through a simple breathalyzer test with a photo or video counterpart is not enough to satisfy the admissibility criteria.
Soberlink® results have proven to be accurate and court-admissible in all 50 states and Canada for civil and criminal cases since 2011.
Utilizing facial recognition technology that can confirm the tester’s identity and tamper detection sensors ensure Soberlink’s® test results are reliable and trusted.
Soberlink® has documentation to support its court admissibility and can provide testimony and certified records to support the technology as needed.
Soberlink® experts have testified hundreds of times in court to back up all aspects of the technology.
BACtrack® claims to be court admissible but lacks many features and services to ensure scientific reliability, which is needed to be used as evidence in a courtroom. With BACtrack, laying a foundation for the authenticity of the evidence is difficult.
Further, BACtrack® often uses image or video verification methods that can easily be circumvented, making the device easy to tamper with and beat the system. Once a Client realizes they can beat the system, all future testing data is unreliable.
Analyzing test results can become tedious and time-consuming without clear and easy-to-read reporting. For example, can you determine whether the client was sober on a certain date and time, or do you have to scroll through pages and pages of test results, checking the date, time, BAC level, and verifying the tester’s identity?
Soberlink®’s Advanced reporting capabilities make it easy to analyze testing data.
Advanced Reporting uses AI to display data in an easy-to-read calendar format and utilizes colored icons so you can know at-a-glance when the test happened and whether the test was compliant.
Because Soberlink® uses facial recognition and real-time human review, a green checkmark on Soberlink’s® Advanced Reporting means that you immediately know that the Monitored Client’s identity is verified and no alcohol was detected.
Red x’s indicate non-compliance. A Non-Compliant test means the test was positive or the identity of the person testing was not confirmed.
BACtrack® does not have reporting capabilities that make it easy for Family Law professionals, Addiction Treatment Providers, and loved ones to analyze testing results.
If a client is submitting tests multiple times a day for weeks or months, users will have to look through hundreds of test results, checking each one individually to find the date, time, BAC level, and check the tester’s identity.
Because there is no facial recognition, a test with a 0.00 BAC level does not necessarily mean a compliant test because the tester could have had someone else blow into the device. Further, there is no way to know if the person tampered with it by using an alternate air source. Each video would have to be checked individually by another party. This other party will likely lack the training needed to properly analyze the data, causing confusion in all markets.
Recipients of BACtrack® reports have to spend extra time deciphering results when compared to the ease of reading a Soberlink® Advanced Report.
Professionals and loved ones need to know that the person submitting the test is the Monitored Client. Without immediate identity verification in Family Law, the safety of the children could be in doubt. Without immediate identity verification in Addiction Recovery, a small slip can go undetected, potentially resulting in a full-blown relapse that could have been prevented.
