Defender Security Cameras Review

Defender Cameras Pros and Cons

Overview of Defender Security Cameras

Defender’s ethos is solidly rooted in its origin. In 1999, the company’s founder, a guy named Raj, owned a retail electronics store in Niagara Falls, Canada. One night he locked up, and the next morning hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of inventory was stolen from his warehouse. Gone.

When he reached out to local security providers, he found that an entry-level professional system would have to be installed by their technicians and it would cost over $10,000.

He used that frustration to found Defender, a provider of professional-grade equipment at consumer-level costs. He specifically wanted individuals to be able to install and operate the systems themselves without blowing their retirement savings.

Now that you know about Defender, let’s take a closer look at its equipment.

Defender Cameras

At first glance, Defender’s product offerings are a little confusing. When you arrive at the company’s website, you’ll see a ton of packages and bundles to choose from. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. After you get your bearings, though, you’ll find that Defender offers three cameras: the Sentinel, the Guard, and the Phoenix.

4K Wired Sentinel

Defender Sentinel 4K

Defender’s flagship product, the Sentinel, comes in two flavors: NVR and DVR. The distinction doesn’t change the cameras’ functionality, just how they record. Without getting too bogged down in the details, a DVR (digital video recorder) processes data at the camera, while an NVR (network video recorder) encodes and processes data at the camera before transmitting it to the recorder. There’s not really any performance difference between the two; it just depends on your current setup and your needs.2

Both versions of the Sentinel offer a long list of features, including:

• 4K resolution
• Smart human detection
• PoE connection
• 1P66 weather rating
• Audio recording
• Remote mobile viewing
• Data encryption

Let’s talk about the 4K resolution. The current industry standard is 1080p, which has 1920 x 1080 pixels. By contrast, a 4K camera has 3840 x 2160 pixels.3 In plain English: If 1080p is a poster, 4K is a billboard.

Packages start at $429 for four cameras and a DVR recording station. If you go with NVR, it’ll run you $437. Either way, if you’re looking for the best Defender has to offer, the Sentinel is it.

2K Wi-Fi Guard

Defender Guard 2K Pro

A slight step down from the Sentinel, the Guard is still a formidable camera for folks looking for something a little less intense. There are two versions of the guard: the standard and the pro.

Guard 2K vs. Guard 2k Pro

Both iterations of the Guard are solid, and they’ll likely be all the protection you need depending on how you use them.

That brings us to the final camera Defender offers — and this one is pretty interesting.

Phoenix Non-Wi-Fi

Defender Phoenix Non-WiFi

As the name makes obvious, the Phoenix does not require any type of internet to operate. We’re talking old school here. If you’re worried about your system going down if your ISP experiences an outage, the Phoenix is a great option.

Old school, however, means old school. It offers no advanced features to speak of, except for two-way talk functionality. Its resolution is a meager 640 x 480, so if you’re looking to capture fine detail, you’re not going to find it here.

The ability to run without any sort of internet access can be appealing, though, particularly in remote commercial areas such as scrap yards and marinas. In the right use case, the Phoenix performs really well. What’s more, two-camera packages start at just $285.

Now that you’re familiar with each Defender camera, let’s talk about the company’s family of products.

Defender Cameras: The Good

Here’s what I like about Defender:

• It’s affordable. You can absolutely outfit a large commercial operation or property with the appropriate amount of cameras.
• The image quality is solid. The 4K and 2K resolutions of the Sentinel and Guard, respectively, are all they’re cracked up to be. Defender calls its proprietary technology “ClearVu,” and I have to agree. Under optimal conditions, the picture is crystal clear. We won’t bring up the Phoenix, though, since its resolution is a little lacking.
• Its customizability is top-notch. Defender offers all sorts of packages you can tailor to your specific needs. It also offers pretty great customer support, so they’ll be able to help if you’re a little lost and don’t know exactly what you need.

What Defender gets right, it really gets right. We need to look at the flip side of the coin though. Now for the not so good.

Defender Cameras: The Bad

Defender hits it out of the park in some cases, but in others it kind of strikes out. Here’s what I didn’t like so much:

• All of its cameras have a pretty limited field of view. Even the best option, the Sentinel, has only a 75-degree field of vision. That means you need a lot of Sentinels to cover the same amount of ground as a wide-angle camera. For reference, check out our review of the Arlo 3. You’d need two Sentinels to see what one Arlo records.
• There are negative reviews out there about Defender’s equipment malfunctioning. I say that, though, with great trepidation. It’s rare that someone takes the time to write a glowing product review. Most folks go to their keyboard when something massively screws up. So take the reviews with a grain of salt.

We’ve covered the individual cameras, and I’ve given you a 30,000-foot view of what I think about the equipment. Let’s get down to one of the most important considerations of any security system: the cost.

Defender Security Cameras Pricing

One of the really great things about Defender’s cameras is how affordable they are.

Defender Pricing Breakdown

As you can see, all are pretty reasonable. It’s not as affordable as, say, Yi, but Defender is definitely on the budget-friendly side of the spectrum. If you couldn’t tell from the chart, you start to realize serious savings when you purchase multiple camera kits.

Bundling With Defender

This is where Defender really shines. If you’re looking for multiple cameras, it’s tough to beat these prices. I can’t think of another provider that offers 16 cameras for less than a grand. Maybe Lorex on a good day? Lorex tends to offer tons of sales, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when it’s going to offer deals on the bundle you’re looking for.

Another way to save with Defender is to keep an eye on its sale section. We’ve been tracking Defender for a while, and it seems like every week another bundle or accessory is discounted. Black Friday is another great time to shop for Defender. It currently has a sale that’ll get you 35 percent off sitewide. That’s a big deal considering a lot of these cameras are already extremely affordable.

That’s about all there is to know about Defender. We’ve covered its costs, equipment, features, and pros and cons. All that’s left is to bring it all home.

Final Thoughts on Defender

For a company born out of a need to provide professional solutions at budget prices, Defender gets a lot right. Its feature list is nothing to sneeze at, its equipment is solid, and its prices are easy to swallow. There’s not a lot to point a finger at.

That said, I’m a little hesitant to give it my full recommendation based on the scores of negative reviews I’ve encountered and some of the technical limitations of its equipment. If you’re looking to protect your home or business without breaking the bank, however, you could do a lot worse than Defender.

Not convinced Defender is right for you? Check out our roundup of the best security cameras of 2024. You’re sure to find something that’ll fit your needs and budget.

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