Both of these hard folding bad boys offer you with great flexibility and their matte-black finish is awesome for giving your truck a unique style.
Both of these covers are made up of aluminum slats which are then covered with different fabrics. The construction is quite similar and both covers offer you with the same weight bearing capacity combined with good resistance against dirt and UV and with their matte black finish.
But still with a closer look, one cover still seems to provide you with a better value for your money.
Table of Contents
Overview of both:
Simply put the Truxedo Sentry CT is slightly cheaper than the BAK Revolver X4s, but the cover also compromises a little on a few things.
Like the cover has dual tail gate sealing, but it’s not as better as the X4s and sometimes, you have to re shut the tail gate to properly lock the cover.
Another thing and it was a main selling point to me, is that, this cover comes with Velcro, while the BAK X4s comes with a more sturdy construction where the the pivoted down teeth pins the covers to the rails.
And yes the cover is also thicker (.75 inches compared to BAK x4s .25″), so it’s not going to sit as low profiled.
But looking at the price point, and seeing a good sealing on Sentry CT on the bulkhead side, can make some sense in to considering this option.
Design Comparison:
Starting with the BAK X4s, the company really improved this cover over it’s previous model the X4.
I compared it here (and you don’t wanna miss it).
The cool weighs a little (92 pounds of a packed box), but the cover is very durable with its 1/4 inches think aluminum slats which are then covered with vinyl layer on top.
The cover does not use the Velcro (BTW, really dislike the sound of Velcro opening up and really glad this cover does not have that). Instead of this, the cover has pivot teeth which pin together the rails and the cover.
The cover is all black and at first it looks like the cover took some features from the Sentry CT. It is made matte black from head to toe and has black rubber links and straps to secure the rolled up cover.
And also worth reminding, when the cover is fully rolled up its about 12 inches in diameter, so it’s not going to block your rear view.
Also the cover is very flushed. It sits well above, It only sits half an inch above the bed rails and while showing up only 1/8th of an inch above, it still has plenty of space underneath and you can place your 5th wheel there.
On the other side, in case of the Sentry CT. First off, the CT stands for the Canvas Top “material“.
It is made up of high-end woven fabric that is further followed by the aluminum slats. These slats make this truck bed cover firm and durable and overall thicker (about 3/4 inches thick).
It’s basically a 5-layer woven polyester and vinyl fabric which provides you with a good deal of overall protection (as you’ll see in the durability section below).
The cover offers a all blacked out gothic looks, which is simply great (but, I get it that, looks are subjective).
But other than looks, I really like the fact that the cover has incorporated some of the features of it’s famous Pro X15 model, as this cover has 15 degrees angles on the side rails, and because of this the cover is very low profiled.
But then again note that it’s panels are a little bit thicker (0.75 inches thick), so the cover still shows up a little.
If we check out it’s mechanism design, it has traditional Velcro on sides, and when closed the cover do sticks in pretty nicely.
The cover operation is also a one mans job as the Velcro un-sticks pretty nicely as well and the cover does not weight that much (75 lbs of packed box) (Compared to 90 lbs of X4s).
And because with Velcro, there’s some vulnerability, the cover also gives an additional latch in the middle for making its security more durable.
Other than this the comes with dual tail gate sealing, which can be improved a little bit, but still gets the work done.
And this cover also gets 12 inches thick (in diameter) when full rolled up. And it has the same buckle straps to secure the cover in that position.
Though, X4S is an updated version, make sure you still check which cover is providing you better value to money.
But looking at the price point, and seeing a good sealing on Sentry CT on the bulkhead side, can make some sense in to considering this option.
Though, make sure you check out the following review of Sentry CT first.
Revolver X4s vs Sentry CT – Protection & Durability:
Let me start off here by saying this, both of these covers provides a great deal of resistance overall, against sunlight, rain, thunderstorm, wind, and hailing.
Speaking of durability the X4s cover provides you with rustproof slats and a strong vinyl covering on top which makes it capable of bearing a weight of 400 lbs.
The cover like mentioned also does not use Velcro, so the the slats effectively pins the cover to the rails.
The cover provides you with dual tail gate sealing as well, so besides its improved mechanism, the cover has good sealing overall. It covers the lip of the tail gate by almost 1 inches.
Sealing on this thing is very water tight, and the only part prone to leakage is at the end with the bulkhead with some on sides (but not always), and you can add weather striping to secure the area.
In case of Sentry CT, the cover is also very durable with its overall 0.75 inches thick panels, which bring about the same weight bearing capacity of 400 lbs, which is great given that the cover is lighter in weight (only 75 lbs of a packed box).
The more thickness of the panels have to do with its 5 layer woven polyester fabric on it’s aluminum slats.
These look great but the cover really invites more dirt to settle in. And it’s a little harder to get cleaned in comparison.
The cover also has dual tail gate sealing, but it can be improved a little. Still very minimal leakage is seen overall.
What I really like about it’s sealing is that, it has many layers which makes it very water tight. You get the cover, the metal, and 3 pieces of rubber, 2 on top and 1 under the cover.
Other than this, the cover uses Velcro and its security is further enhanced by its lock in the middle.
This lock automatically shuts so you don’t have to go to the middle on each sides and shut them manually.
But still, the Velcro is less protective overall compared to throughout locking mechanism.
Working:
In terms of working, first things first, installation. The Sentry CT take a little less time to get installed in comparison because of it’s Velcro system.
Both covers offer Cable latches on both sides, and both of them have dual tail gate sealing, so you can close the cover over the already closed tail gate.
If we talk about other similarities, both of these covers are also equally aerodynamic and you will see almost 0.5 to 1 mpg difference after installing them.
And both provide you with rubber bumpers which act as barriers between your truck and the rolled up cover.
The BakRevolver X4s because of it’s heavier design would take more energy to get rolled off and on.
But overall, the design of X4s allows it to have better security.
The cover is incorporated with rotational locking rails. And Truxedo Sentry CT is equipped with security latch in the middle and rest is Velcro. So this security latch can not provide enough security in comparison.
As in Revolver X4s, the cover is incorporated with rotational locking rails. And these rails provide the security throughout the cover and not just in the middle.
So What’s the verdict?
Well, both covers are a premium pick and the Truxedo still costs you a little less, with the same durability and water tight seals.
But the cover does come with Velcro and does not make good dual gate sealing.
On the other side, I think the BAK Revolver X4s really justify its’ price tag. The cover locks all the way so it provides you with more security and yes the seals are also very good.
But you may have to do something about the sealing on the side of the buckle head, you can use weather striping to make it more water tight.
Other than this, it’s vinyl fabric is more durable out of the two, and provides less dirt to settle in.