Hardware Review: The Wave Sentry Pro

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26 Dec 2025

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The Wavesentry is a fun bit of educational hardware that’s great for learning.

Some things are universal, and it’s fair to say that most tech nerds typically love getting their hands on some new hardware. Even for people who might prefer to build their own hardware, getting hands-on with something new is still a good time.

Today, we’ve got the Wavesentry Pro on the test bench. Sold by our partners over at OpenSource SDR Lab, it’s a pretty cool bit of kit that you can use to learn more about both Bluetooth and WiFi.

Before we check it out, if you want your own WaveSentry, get one via this link.

What Is It

The Wavesentry is a handheld, multi-function RF tool built around the venerable ESP-32 board. Based on the original Marauder, the Wavesentry uses both firmware and hardware expansions to help increase the functionality of the system.

Rather than focusing on simply Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the Wavesentry adds an onboard Radio Receiver, while the pro variant includes a basic, yet still useful, thermal camera system.
The original Marauder was a beast that included plenty of offensive tools on top of information-gathering capabilities. The WaveSentry tones it down a little by sticking purely with the information-gathering side of things. While this does remove some functionality, it’s still a pretty useful tool. The addition of an SD card slot for expandable memory also means that you can spy until you’re content.

In the box is the WaveSentry Pro, an expandable SMA antenna and a USB-C cable for charging.

So, how does it look?!

Build Quality

The WaveSentry has a pretty good build quality considering the size and design. While many ESP-32-based products end up looking a little rugged or simplistic, the Pro has a neat, clean housing that includes a jog wheel, two buttons (Reset + Flash), as well as the power switch.

The single antenna jack is a standard SMA design, meaning that it’s slightly different to the average WiFi antenna, which typically uses an RP-SMA. Despite this, additional hardware or extra antennas are still pretty easy to find.

Overall, the enclosure is good quality, meaning the internals should stay well protected while out and about. While it’s not a great idea to get rough with it, the overall design means that it should comfortably withstand the occasional accident during regular operation.

Operation

While it does come with a jog wheel, most people are going to use the touch screen for regular operation as it works much more naturally. The WaveSentry operates smoothly when using it and the interface, and for the most part, it’s a pretty fun bit of kit to use.

Boot time is less than 4 seconds from start to option screen, and the battery charges quickly while giving a discharge of around 4 hrs depending on the type of operation. An interesting quirk is that you’ll need to keep the device switched on to ensure that the battery is able to accept a charge.

One thing that could run a little smoother is the radio receiver. While it is functional, it’s a little user-unfriendly. That’s about the only hiccup, though, as overall, the WaveSentry works pretty well.

While the thermal camera on the pro is only low resolution, it’s still useful for finding hotspots on boards and general lab use. An ESP-32 module won’t be competing with the FLIR units anytime soon, but it still adds enough additional functionality to be worthwhile.

One thing to consider for serious users is the single-channel scan operations. If you’re planning to take it into congested or heavy traffic areas, this is a definite limitation that you’ll hit pretty quickly when things get busy.

Overall

One thing that might be appealing to those looking at the Marauder is the ability to reflash it with the Marauder’s custom firmware. While the pro version uses a locked firmware that is not available to the public, the standard WaveSentry firmware has been uploaded to GitHub for the world to see.

This means that you can buy yourself a WaveSentry, reflash it with the standard firmware and unlock the full range of tools that you might want or need to experiment with, while keeping the housing and adding in the SD card functionality.

It’s a good tool, and the addition of both flipper and airtag sniffers for Bluetooth and probe sniffers for WiFi also gives the system basic utility for counter-surveillance operations.

It’s fair to say that some might be able to build it cheaper. But overall, if you’re looking for a simple, yet useful tool that comes in at under $100, you could do worse than to take a look at the WaveSentry.

Don’t forget that readers can get an extra 5% off hardware purchases like the WaveSentry thanks to our partners over at Open Source SDR Lab.

Simply enter the code “radiohackers” at checkout to score your discount. It’s our holiday season thanks to you, for reading and supporting the publication.

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