Sentry Mode...

[MaximusE]

Just how reliable is Sentry Mode? Noticed this morning that my next door neighbours car door was partly open, looks like somebody broke in, went though the contents of the glovebox and left.

Up until now I’d had Sentry Mode disabled at home (it’s now enabled!)

How good is it in these types of scenarios? I’m considering buying an external security camera to face the driveway, does this sound like over kill though?

 

[Durzel]

It has blind spots. You can search for videos on YouTube to get a sense of what it will and won't capture.

The side cameras have a pretty narrow field of view, and will only really capture what is happening down the side of your car. It won't, for example, see anything happening next door.

 

[gidster99]

The other thing I notice on Sentry Mode is that I often come back to see a number of events that the cameras have picked up... but when I launch the video it tells me that the video is unavailable.

It does not happen all the time which is puzzling (ie sometimes it works fine).

I also don't seem to be able to find the last however long it is of normal driving if I haven't specifically saved it.

Am i doing something wrong? Any ideas anyone?

 

[Durzel]

The jury is out on how reliable the built in dashcam viewer is. I'd pull the drive from the car (safely) and then plug it into a computer.

 

[Roy W.]

Just how reliable is Sentry Mode? Noticed this morning that my next door neighbours car door was partly open, looks like somebody broke in, went though the contents of the glovebox and left.

Up until now I’d had Sentry Mode disabled at home (it’s now enabled!)

How good is it in these types of scenarios? I’m considering buying an external security camera to face the driveway, does this sound like over kill though?

I’ve found it pretty good, but I doubt it’s infallible. As you’ve had some activity in the area, personally I would go for a security camera or two. I’d recommend the Eufy wireless cameras for quality, easy setup and reliability. I installed some for my sister last year.

 

[M3noob]

I’ve found it pretty good, but I doubt it’s infallible. As you’ve had some activity in the area, personally I would go for a security camera or two. I’d recommend the Eufy wireless cameras for quality, easy setup and reliability. I installed some for my sister last year.

The Amazon brand Blink devices work great too. EZPZ set up.

 

[Medved_77]

The other thing I notice on Sentry Mode is that I often come back to see a number of events that the cameras have picked up... but when I launch the video it tells me that the video is unavailable.

It does not happen all the time which is puzzling (ie sometimes it works fine).

I also don't seem to be able to find the last however long it is of normal driving if I haven't specifically saved it.

Am i doing something wrong? Any ideas anyone?

Also have this issue, would be great to understand why.

I'm using a partioned SSD formatted as FAT32

 

[MrBadger]

I also don't seem to be able to find the last however long it is of normal driving if I haven't specifically saved it.

Am i doing something wrong? Any ideas anyone?

Yes, you do need to save it - tap the dashcam icon or, if enabled, honk the horn. The last 60 minutes of the drive is a side effect of how the system works rather than a feature. If you want to salvage the last 60 minutes of a drive, you need to pull the drive and view on a PC/Mac. Any delay and you risk it being lost. Certainly not visible via the new viewer.

 

[davidmc]

It seems Sentry mode has been hit and miss with the last 2 updates.

Mine displays events but when I come to look at them they are unavailable.

Also it seems to not catch any events now when before I use to get half a dozen to many in a night like clockwork.

Think there is a bug with it at the moment since viewer went live. Hoping it will get fixed soon

 

[spon88]

I've abandoned Sentry for home use and now use high and low-level Hikvision wired cams. The low-level is 4K and has superb night vision. I tried with the Blink wireless cams but the night vision isn't sufficient to capture decent facial recognition. However it is useful to act as a back-up for the "line crossing" alerts from the Hikvision gear as it reliably sends intrusion notitications to my 'phone. Sad I know, but I also have a Nest doorcam which is also very good. The missus thinks I'm a bit potty but at least I'll know if someone is hanging around who shouldn't be. Did I mention the machine gun post?

 

[Fraank]

It seems Sentry mode has been hit and miss with the last 2 updates.

Mine displays events but when I come to look at them they are unavailable.

Also it seems to not catch any events now when before I use to get half a dozen to many in a night like clockwork.

Think there is a bug with it at the moment since viewer went live. Hoping it will get fixed soon

Same experience. I had to park away from my house on street this week, so left sentry mode on. Usually it has over a 100 reports in the morning. I know there is less traffic at the moment, but arriving to find just 4 events did raise an eyebrow!

 

[MrBadger]

The other thing I notice on Sentry Mode is that I often come back to see a number of events that the cameras have picked up... but when I launch the video it tells me that the video is unavailable.

I just had that with 2020.12.11.2 with internal viewer - I'll pull the card at some point and see if the video is actually on the card - the viewer recons it is 50 something minutes long, which is unusually long for a sentry event.

 

[Durzel]

Tangentially related..

I managed to get Google to add my home address to Maps (no idea why it wasn't there). As a consequence I was then able to set my home address in the car to my house and enable Sentry mode. Before that was done I could only choose a house either side about 1/4 mile up the road.

After enabling Sentry mode, I selected "Exclude Home", naturally assuming - as one might - that it would not start using Sentry mode until I drove somewhere. After a while I checked the app out of curiosity and it said "Sentry Mode Active", and was clearly already awake.

Is there some trick to the car correctly identifying the Home address and excluding it? Do I have to drive somewhere before it will realise that it already is at "Home" ?

 

[MrBadger]

I just had that with 2020.12.11.2 with internal viewer - I'll pull the card at some point and see if the video is actually on the card - the viewer recons it is 50 something minutes long, which is unusually long for a sentry event.

Well no sign of the sentry event on the drive either - I had specifically turned it on as I was expecting a delivery that day to be dropped right next to the car. There was another one from earlier in the month though, but only 4 1kB files so could not be viewed. That probably would have been done in 2020.8.x. Everything prior to that version was still intact.

I did notice a json file with sentry meta data, such as location and reason, no time stamp though of the event. And all the folders, bar one inside TeslaCam we marked as modified not long after the software update, possibly even part of.

So as others have noted for themselves, looks like Sentry is stuffed for us too. Possibly since 2020.8.x.

 

[GoTLSAGo]

I’ve found it pretty good, but I doubt it’s infallible. As you’ve had some activity in the area, personally I would go for a security camera or two. I’d recommend the Eufy wireless cameras for quality, easy setup and reliability. I installed some for my sister last year.

I'm sold to these Eufy cmaera's and just ordered on Amazon. Have been procrastinating on buying some but these sound perfect - thanks for mentioning them!

 

[Watts_Up]

I've abandoned Sentry for home use and now use high and low-level Hikvision wired cams. The low-level is 4K and has superb night vision.
I tried with the Blink wireless cams but the night vision isn't sufficient to capture decent facial recognition. However it is useful to act as a back-up for the "line crossing" alerts from the Hikvision gear as it reliably sends intrusion notitications to my 'phone.
Sad I know, but I also have a Nest doorcam which is also very good.
The missus thinks I'm a bit potty but at least I'll know if someone is hanging around who shouldn't be.
Did I mention the machine gun post?

I'm sold to these Eufy camera's and just ordered on Amazon. Have been procrastinating
on buying some but these sound perfect - thanks for mentioning them!

Can you comment how practical is the recording, such as if you receive an alert?
Does the alert or the logs indicate exactly the time to look at?
Does the recording is constantly running and recording, or only when there is an alert?
Does the recording stop or overlap previous recording when the memory is full?

 

[Watts_Up]

It has blind spots. You can search for videos on YouTube to get a sense of what it will and won't capture.

The side cameras have a pretty narrow field of view, and will only really capture what is happening down the side of your car.
It won't, for example, see anything happening next door.

I agree, the side camera on the pillar side would be preferable.

 

[spon88]

Can you comment how practical is the recording, such as if you receive an alert?
Does the alert or the logs indicate exactly the time to look at?
Does the recording is constantly running and recording, or only when there is an alert?
Does the recording stop or overlap previous recording when the memory is full?

We use the Hikvision cams on continuous record. Around 4 weeks recording for 5 cams on a 4GB DVR. The line crossing function is good and provides an alert to my 'phone with a precise time and link to a video clip. The Nest doorcam works similarly. Very practical and reliable. Both of these systems are wired and hence shouldn't be susceptible to jamming. I also run critical parts of our network on UPS.

We have a Nest subscription which stores continuous video for a couple of weeks. The Hikvision system has a dedicated DVR hidden in the house. No intervention required and a maintenance guy calls once a year to service everything. They also do the firmware updates remotely.

The Blink system is quite different in that it's "cheap and cheerful" and works on battery, at least the cameras do. It records on movement activated by PIR. Actually quite reliable if you accept its limitations. For example night vision is not really very good at all compared to the "DarkFighter" Hikvision gear. I also have some Blink cams indoors and actually one Reolink to keep an eye on the cats if we're away (remember that?) - they're OK for the cheap stuff but if I started again I'd probably look at the Eufy gear as it's getting good reviews.

Blink provides free cloud storage which holds quite a lot of clips - I tend to wait a few weeks and then do a global delete.

Ultimately the wired gear is a lot better but it also costs a lot more - depends what you need/want.

 

[Watts_Up]

It has blind spots. You can search for videos on YouTube to get a sense of what it will and won't capture.
The side cameras have a pretty narrow field of view,
and will only really capture what is happening down the side of your car.
It won't, for example, see anything happening next door.

I agree, the side camera on the center pillar would be preferable.

In Japan, the Model X is considered as an SUV and needs to have a blind spot monitor for the opposite side of the driver.

It would be interesting to be able to record the side camera when using Sentry mode.

1. Japanese Model X (Right-Hand Drive) with a blind spot monitor on the dashboard.

2. The display shows the right side of the car using the central pillar camera.

3. Overview of the car showing the image displayed by the side camera.

 

[Adopado]

It would be interesting to be able to record the side camera when using Sentry mode.

Sentry Mode records from front camera, rear camera and both side cameras simultaneously. The viewer enables you to choose which view you want to see.