Deep Sentinel Home Security Review

Deep Sentinel has something that few other security systems can match. Real humans monitor your home through cameras to give you an added layer of security. While having security guards watch your home is cool, Deep Sentinel does have major drawbacks, like a high monthly fee and lack of smart home compatibility and sensors.

Live human cover costs you a pretty penny. You can expect to pay around $399 for Deep Sentinel’s smallest kit (with $120 monthly monitoring). This kit has just one security camera. The largest kit is $1,149 ($320 monthly monitoring) and comes with six cameras.

You can also build your own kits. Like some other home security systems, you have to call Deep Sentinel to get a quote and purchase equipment. Deep Sentinel doesn’t sell its equipment online.

Deep Sentinel has one monitoring service package giving you all the features from the jump—instead of many packages you have to pay more to get more features. There isn’t just one price, though. As you add cameras to your system, the monthly fee goes up. A lot.

Friends, we’re in sticker shock.

Deep Sentinel’s $120–$320 monthly monitoring is up against the $30 industry average for most high-end systems. Of course, most security systems don’t offer a human guard service.

This isn't a system that will work for most of our audience, but if you're looking to protect a lot of assets and have the budget to do so, it could work for you.

The system does work without a monitoring plan (and guards). The cameras still have motion alerts, live view, and custom protection zones that you can see on the app. But, since the live guard feature is Deep Sentinel’s only real strong point, we’re not sure why you would opt for no monitoring plan.

Deep Sentinel has a contract term of only one year—much shorter than other security system brands. (ADT keeps you in a contract for a minimum of three years, which is the security industry's standard contract length.)

Short contract terms are good, especially in this case. If you decide you can’t afford the whopping monthly monitoring payment, you’re not stuck with it for too long. You’ve not locked into your contract right away either. Once you receive it, you have 30 days to send your system back to get a full refund.

Now for the bad news: If you miss the 30-day deadline, you’ll pay a whopping $1,200 early termination fee to get out of your contract. You get to keep the equipment, though, and use it to self-monitor your home.

All equipment has a one-year warranty. We wish it was a little longer since other systems give you a few years. And nothing can beat Ring’s lifetime warranty on the equipment.

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Deep Sentinel equipment packages are basic. Like, as basic as you can get. You choose how many outdoor cameras you want, and you’re done. There aren’t any sensor options, indoor cameras, smart home devices, or additional sirens you can add. It’s just cameras and a hub. The only accessories are a Wi-Fi extender ($30) or a solar charger for your camera ($88).

We suggest opting for the 3-Cam Kit at the very least. Since Deep Sentinel systems don’t have sensors, if an area isn’t being watched by a camera, the security system can’t help you. Someone sneaking in a back window? You’re out of luck if that window is out of the camera’s sightline. So the more cameras you get the better.

• 1–6 wireless cameras
• Smart hub
• 2–7 rechargeable batteries
• 3 screw mounts
• Yard sign
• Self-installation kit

The Deep Sentinel hub has 4 GB of storage and 64 GB of flash memory storage. It can analyze more than 50 images (10 frames) per second and discards useless footage so the memory can store important footage for up to six months. It receives information from the cameras through your home’s Wi-Fi.

Each Deep Sentinel camera is rated as IP65, so it can stand up to most climates. It has a 130° field of view, night vision, two-way talk, and 1080p resolution. These are pretty typical for security cameras.

How the Deep Sentinel camera and hub combo works is pretty smart. It all revolves around a camera system:

1. The cameras detect movement and start recording. The footage is sent to the hub and stored.
2. The system’s artificial intelligence (AI) determines if the movement was caused by something benign like your neighbor’s cat or by a potential threat.
3. The video is sent to the Deep Sentinel cloud. All of the steps so far take about four seconds.
4. The guard assigned to your cameras receives the footage at their post at the Live Sentinel center.
5. The guard evaluates the threat and decides what to do next.

When a potential threat or suspicious behavior is detected, the guard has a few options:

• If they see someone actively breaking into your house or causing other harm, they will contact you and the police.
• If someone is just acting a little strange (like walking around your porch without knocking or peeking in windows), the guard will use the camera’s two-way talk to ask them what they’re doing.
• The guard can also sound an alarm to warn you and scare off potential intruders.

Deep Sentinel is a DIY security system, but if you’re not technically inclined, don’t worry. If you’ve ever set up a smart device in your home, you’re more than equipped to set up Deep Sentinel.

First, install the Deep Sentinel app from the Apple Store or Google Play, and create an account in the app. Then, the app will run you through the rest of the setup. Just so you know what you’re in for, we’ll run through the steps:

1. Connect the hub to your router with an ethernet cable.
2. Plug in the hub.
3. Put the battery in the camera and press the power button.
4. Pair the camera to the hub.
5. Attach the camera mount to a wall using the screw provided.
6. Slide the camera onto the mount.

From there, you just stand in front of the camera so that a Deep Sentinel guard can verify that your system is working.

Deep Sentinel doesn’t connect with any smart home devices. So whether you have Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings, Apple Homekit, Z-Wave, or Zigbee, you’re out of luck. This is a major shortcoming since a lot of people like being able to arm their system using voice commands or have it synced with other smart devices to perform tasks.

You can control the Deep Sentinel security system only through the app. The app is easy to use, though. And we like that you can switch cameras to Privacy Mode when you don’t want guards monitoring you. This is perfect for when your kids are playing outside or when you’re throwing a party in the backyard.

You can reach Deep Sentinel’s customer support by calling +1-833-983-6006. You can also look for answers on its help page, send an email, or chat with live support.

We found the customer service a little hit or miss. They answered our email in just a few hours but didn’t give us an answer. It didn’t even seem like the rep read our question. On the other hand, the live chat representative was very helpful and super speedy with replies.

Deep Sentinel is a cool concept. Having a live human watching over your house is the best way to nix false alarms. The lack of sensors leaves your house vulnerable, though, and we just can’t get behind paying hundreds of dollars per month on monitoring.

You're better off choosing a system with a much lower monthly rate that offers sensors and top-notch monitoring centers, like ADT.

For our Deep Sentinel review, we took a deep dive with dozens of hours of research, scoured customer reviews, and contacted the company for more information. We combined the research with our dozens of years of security experience to bring you the best information.

Check out our methodology page for more on how we review products and services.

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