I’ve had a Ford (mid range SUV) and a Toyota (base model sedan) which were both damaged whilst parked, and nobody left a note. Lots of people posting in the community groups about carpark damage and no notes being left, and no luck with local cameras.
So yes, it is needed.
I am unaware of any other EV that has sentry mode on the cameras like that on the Tesla. Would absolutely love to be proven wrong.
AFAIK Kia has a Korean only release EV6 that had it, but none of the other options utilise the whole suite of cameras to record.
Yeah I ran into these solutions but unfortunately I can’t seem to find any USB-CEC adapter other than the Pulse Eight, which doesn’t seem to ship to Australia in any economical manner.
I ended up getting a Flirc USB, couldn’t get the existing TV remote to work with that (once paired with the TV it stops sending IR signals, and the TV wouldn’t let me select the PC input as needing to activate the IR mode on the remote), ordered the Flirc Skip 1s… and now that’s working well enough we’re using the Skip1s as the primary remote for the TV as well. About 150AUD down the hole for this solution, and it’s not truly turning the PC off, but close enough!
We sold our PS and now have a gaming PC hooked up to the TV.
Been a few teething issues with convenience issues like being able to turn it on from the couch, but the experience has gotten pretty smooth now.
It’s not specifically “the” bar, but the original comment was saying they didn’t see how Tesla would even be considered, and I felt this feature is one reason why someone may still consider a Tesla.
For me, my dash cameras have come in handy when my vehicle was running, but the hardwire mode has not been able to handle what I wanted it to. I want my next vehicle (whenever that may be) to be an improvement over what I already have. I have personally had my vehicles damaged more than once whilst it was parked, and I have always parked well. Sentry mode would have been very bloody useful to have the responsible parties pay up. Instead, I was left with a damaged car, which was notably rather heartbreaking when one incident occurred within the first month of ownership.
EDIT: My motorcycle was hit and if I hadn’t had known, I wouldn’t have been aware enough to take it to the shop to be inspected in case any of the internals had been damaged. Sometimes damage can be internal and without an alert, you would be putting yourself in danger.