TP-Link Tapo 2K QHD Security Camera Indoor/Outdoor, 2024 PCMag Editor's Choice, Color Night Vision, Free Person/Pet/Vehicle Detection, Baby Monitor,

This is a great little camera.Don't be put of by the small size, this is a very good wireless ip cctv camera with great image quality, night vision and functions.Mounting options for this camera are extremely novel! It can be screw mounted directly to any surface as normal, but can also be mounted magnetically to any metal surface, or mounted to the supplied metal disc plate which can be either screwed or stuck to a surface with the supplied adhesive pad.It can even be used just sat on a shelf or table top without mounting.The magnetic mounting option is very good and strong enough to mount securely.Image quality is very good and it has options to use either infra red night imagery or use the two led spot lights for full colour image at night.It also has a lot ... MoreThis is a great little camera.Don't be put of by the small size, this is a very good wireless ip cctv camera with great image quality, night vision and functions.Mounting options for this camera are extremely novel! It can be screw mounted directly to any surface as normal, but can also be mounted magnetically to any metal surface, or mounted to the supplied metal disc plate which can be either screwed or stuck to a surface with the supplied adhesive pad.It can even be used just sat on a shelf or table top without mounting.The magnetic mounting option is very good and strong enough to mount securely.Image quality is very good and it has options to use either infra red night imagery or use the two led spot lights for full colour image at night.It also has a lot of clever motion and sound monitoring alert features, including sounds of baby crying, cat meow, dog bark, glass breaking and identifies movement of people, cars, pets etc.It has a loud alarm feature and you can even listen and talk through the camera.No fees or subscription is required to view live or recorded footage on the free Tapo app. (You will just need to purchase and install a micro sd card).Or you can subscribe and pay for their cloud based service if you want it, but it is not required.This is a fantastic little camera especially at the low price.I have purchased numerous differnt Tapo wireless cctv cameras and this is one is very impressive for its size, image quality and features.I have replaced two wired cctv dvr systems (home and business) with various Tapo cameras and am more than happy with the cost, image quality and funtionality.I have no hesitation in recommending Tapo wireless ip cctv cameras.This is a genuine review of the camera purchased by me.

A flexible, crisp, stand-alone camera with feature-packed playback

I have quite a few smart cameras around the house, but this was my first Tapo and…I’m impressed!As a standalone camera, this one offers everything one would expect—and more—without a subscription.Of course, to use these features without a subscription, one needs the Tapo App and a (sold-separately) microSDXC card.Even so: this camera shines in the Tapo App—its timeline feature for reviewing continuous recording (to a MicroSDXC card) is easy to navigate, with color coded categories based on your detection settings and the ability to speed up to 16x (as of early December 2023).I was also surprised to find that it had decent 2-way audio (though, note that 2-way audio on most of these cameras isn’t stellar): it has reliably delivered clear enough audio messages ... MoreI have quite a few smart cameras around the house, but this was my first Tapo and…I’m impressed!As a standalone camera, this one offers everything one would expect—and more—without a subscription.Of course, to use these features without a subscription, one needs the Tapo App and a (sold-separately) microSDXC card.Even so: this camera shines in the Tapo App—its timeline feature for reviewing continuous recording (to a MicroSDXC card) is easy to navigate, with color coded categories based on your detection settings and the ability to speed up to 16x (as of early December 2023).I was also surprised to find that it had decent 2-way audio (though, note that 2-way audio on most of these cameras isn’t stellar): it has reliably delivered clear enough audio messages whether from the phone or from the camera. And I found that I could adjust the microphone sensitivity within the Tapo app, something that is lacking from some other cameras I have.Many similar cameras often lock all of these features behind a subscription and don’t do as good of a job as Tapo does (particularly with respect to playback and 2-way talk).Now—here’s the caveat—I might review this differently if I was thinking of building an entire ecosystem of cameras, but I don’t believe that that’s what this product is for. I see it as intended for a user who wants just one (or a few) cameras and, for that person, this camera is as as good as others out there, if not better.

Easy to install camera that just works

I have a few of TP-Link’s Tapo lineup of cameras (and the Kasa lineup that came before it) and I continue to be impressed with the quality and value that the bring to the line. This camera is the best of the lot (for indoor cameras, that is), particularly if you intend to mount it on the wall. The camera uses a magnetic base that can sit on a flat surface OR attach magnetically to a metal surface (or the metal disk that comes with the camera, which you can screw onto a wall with the included anchors / screws). The hold is surprisingly strong. Once either placed or mounted, the camera “neck” is quite flexible and easy to position so you can capture just the angle you want. (I suppose it does also look nicer than the prior cameras as well, though it’s not quite a ... MoreI have a few of TP-Link’s Tapo lineup of cameras (and the Kasa lineup that came before it) and I continue to be impressed with the quality and value that the bring to the line. This camera is the best of the lot (for indoor cameras, that is), particularly if you intend to mount it on the wall. The camera uses a magnetic base that can sit on a flat surface OR attach magnetically to a metal surface (or the metal disk that comes with the camera, which you can screw onto a wall with the included anchors / screws). The hold is surprisingly strong. Once either placed or mounted, the camera “neck” is quite flexible and easy to position so you can capture just the angle you want. (I suppose it does also look nicer than the prior cameras as well, though it’s not quite a conversation piece - I can’t imagine that any security camera would be).Setting up the camera itself is almost as easy as physically installing it. You install the Tapo app (if you don’t have it already) and create an account, you then use your phone’s wifi to connect to the “hotspot” on the camera. You simply name the camera and tell it which WiFi network you want it to connect to (you can set a few other settings if you want, but you don’t have to) and it updates/reboots and you’re on your way. The quality of the image is great at full resolution and you can insert a MicroSD card to store videos locally if you want (you can also turn down the resolution to save storage/bandwidth if you want). The night vision can be set to automatic or manually controlled the picture is sharp at night as well. The signal is strong and the audio is clear (in both directions actually). Like all the other TP-Link products that I’ve previously had, it’s well-built and should prove to be durable.So if you need a bit extra security - or just want to keep an eye on something while you’re not around - this is a great camera to get. Give it a try today!

For the price, this camera is awesome

What I liked:Well packaged and well designed. The camera is very easy to setup through it's app. You must create an account, which is now standard for most devices, but the process is very simple. Once the camera is up and running, I was very pleased with a few things. First the image quality is great. I read some reviews that stated they didn't like the image quality, but I don't see it on my end. I was able to take test footage from the SD card I put into the camera and watch and my phone, and downloaded to watch on my monitor. The details were great in both day and night time viewing. I installed this camera outside on a panel near the right end of my house front entrance. The camera does a great job of picking up motion and people, giving you alerts on each ... MoreWhat I liked:Well packaged and well designed. The camera is very easy to setup through it's app. You must create an account, which is now standard for most devices, but the process is very simple. Once the camera is up and running, I was very pleased with a few things. First the image quality is great. I read some reviews that stated they didn't like the image quality, but I don't see it on my end. I was able to take test footage from the SD card I put into the camera and watch and my phone, and downloaded to watch on my monitor. The details were great in both day and night time viewing. I installed this camera outside on a panel near the right end of my house front entrance. The camera does a great job of picking up motion and people, giving you alerts on each type of movement. Since having this installed, it has not given a single false positive, meaning, if the camera stated it recorded a person, sure enough when I review the footage, it's a person. The same for motion detection. The app allows you to setup a zone that you can split up, say one zone for motion, one for detection, for animals, etc... You can also set the app to record on a schedule, don't' record anything, record only things it detects, etc.. The camera does come with a free trial to the online service for recording, but I found no need to use it since I want everything local on my sd card. This is another advantage this camera gives, as some companies do not include a sd card slot. The camera has a metal base that attaches and sticks really well, so this gives you the ability to have a simple install with only two screws being used for the metal base, and then sticking the camera on it. I have had mine outside for about 1 week with rain, lot's of wind gusts and it simply does not move.What I didn't like:The camera has only one position. So you must install it knowing that it will only capture what the view is, other cameras do allow you to have a 360 view moving the camera view through an app. Another issue I found with this camera was the app. When I go into the app, at times it will say it can't refresh the feed. I found that if you tap the refresh icon quickly around 4 to 5 times really fast, it's comes back online and you can watch the feed live. This isn't an issue with the wifi signal, as I tested this with the camera right next to the router and it still did the same thing. Even when mounted outside the front entrance overlooking my driveway, the app reports full strength, as does my phone on the 2.4ghz band. And I found by tapping the refresh icon quickly several times, each time the feed comes back so my guess is this is a bug in the app, but not something I would say is a deal breaker. This doesn't stop the camera from recording anything, it's still recording any detection you setup, the issue is only seeing the live feed. The other issue I had was the cord length wasn't long enough to install outside and route to a power source. I think the cord may be around 15ft or less, and so I had to buy another cord that works great and gave me all the length I needed for this camera to be installed outside and routed to the power source in the garage. For those that buy this camera and need a cord long enough to work I bought this and it works great with this camera: iMangoo USB to USB C Power Cable for CCTV Camera, 33FT/ 10M Type C Power Extension Cable for Xiaomi Mi Security Camera Outdoor Indoor Cord Include 10 Wire Clips Cable Nails(No Data Transfer SupportOverall for the price and what you get, this camera is awesome and will be used to watch over the front of our house for hopefully years to come. The AI detection is great, and gives you notifications based on each. The app is easy to use and camera setup is very simple. The quality of the camera in both build and picture is great. I have found no issues with false detections. Overall I would highly recommend this to others!

Forget the others, go TP-Link!

I've been experimenting with security cameras for many years. I've tried most major brands, as well as setup CCTV and DVR systems. This style of camera, with their inexpensive entry cost and ease of setup, is by far my favorite.I was shy to start with TP-Link, really just because there are so many models available that I didn't want to deal with figuring out what was right for me or accidentally ordering an old model. Ultimately I settled on the new C120 and am glad I did.Install was easy, of course. The base is magnetic, which works great for me on a metal building. One little gripe; the cord comes straight out the back, so if you want to mount the camera on a vertical surface, it hits the cord. You can see that in one of the pictures posted.The app was easy to ... MoreI've been experimenting with security cameras for many years. I've tried most major brands, as well as setup CCTV and DVR systems. This style of camera, with their inexpensive entry cost and ease of setup, is by far my favorite.I was shy to start with TP-Link, really just because there are so many models available that I didn't want to deal with figuring out what was right for me or accidentally ordering an old model. Ultimately I settled on the new C120 and am glad I did.Install was easy, of course. The base is magnetic, which works great for me on a metal building. One little gripe; the cord comes straight out the back, so if you want to mount the camera on a vertical surface, it hits the cord. You can see that in one of the pictures posted.The app was easy to install, the camera and app hooked up to wifi right away (2.4ghz networks only). I set the camera up with a small memory card (like 32 or 64gb) and then set it to record constantly. That way, if the camera doesn't pick something up, you can still go search. On the small SD card, it can only hold about 24hrs before rewriting.I signed up for the cloud storage, free for 30 days. It's pretty much the same as the SD card storage, but off site. I've actually had someone steal a (different) camera and I have video from the cloud showing them stealing it. If you only recorded to the card, you wouldn't see that.I have five cameras from a different brand (with four letters, many from the end of the alphabet) and I'm getting a little tired of some of their bugs and security issues. I'm going to start replacing them with Tapo.

Good value, simple, versatile camera

We wanted a camera that we could easily place inside our dog's crate to be able to look in on her when away. We had a Eufy camera that was nice because of the pan and tilt function, but didn't have a lot of mounting flexibility and would always get knocked out of position. This appealed to me because of the flexibility of how you angle the camera on its articulating arm and the fact that it had a magnetic base, I hoped would just adhere to the top of the crate.Overall, we have been really happy with this for the intended purpose. The positives include:1. We were able to mount it just using the magnetic base to the top of the crate and easily angle it into position to capture the whole base of the crate. The app allows you to flip the image, so we were not looking ... MoreWe wanted a camera that we could easily place inside our dog's crate to be able to look in on her when away. We had a Eufy camera that was nice because of the pan and tilt function, but didn't have a lot of mounting flexibility and would always get knocked out of position. This appealed to me because of the flexibility of how you angle the camera on its articulating arm and the fact that it had a magnetic base, I hoped would just adhere to the top of the crate.Overall, we have been really happy with this for the intended purpose. The positives include:1. We were able to mount it just using the magnetic base to the top of the crate and easily angle it into position to capture the whole base of the crate. The app allows you to flip the image, so we were not looking at an upside down dog all the time.2. The app is pretty intuitive to use. It's got a lot of functionality for playback and recording (we added an SD-card for local storage). It connected easily to our eero network (and didn't have to turn of the 5Ghz to make it connect).3. It has a spotlight you can turn on if you want a full color image in the dark (although that's not friendly for our dog).4. The overall image quality is pretty good and the regular night vision works fine.5. There are a lot of bells and whistles (like there is a voice call function, which I'm not sure how that differs from just the "talk" button which lets you speak through the speaker).6. There are lots of motion recognition type settings, an alarm, and other things we probably won't use. But nice enough that they are there.The downside is the relatively frequent nagging for the cloud subscription, which I refuse to do. There are certainly some features that you lose out on -- for instance rich notifications with imagery -- but I'm ok to live with out those for our needs. In general, I'm pretty averse to paying for any of those cloud subscriptions -- both for cost and privacy.Other than that, it's a really simple, functional camera with a nice app. For ~$35 not a bad deal at all. And the fact that we could move it outside if we wanted to repurpose it is a nice bonus. But for now, it'll let us keep an eye on our pup.

Hits 5 Stars on What Counts

...What counts in this price range!Excellent picture quality, excellent movement alarm and notifications, surprisingly good speaker and decent microphone - again for the price.I've been using Tapo and Kasa devices now for about 2 years (both are TP-Link products). I love the fact that they combined Kasa into Tapo as it was annoying having both apps. The integration is simple and works great for me. Both brands have proven to be reliable and excellent.My attached photos show some of the features of the app on my Google Pixel 7 Pro (Android) phone. Everything was installed without a hitch.Only complaint Is probably the sort of thing that is hard for a lot of people, especially those who are not quite as willing to work through technical issues as I am. When ... More...What counts in this price range!Excellent picture quality, excellent movement alarm and notifications, surprisingly good speaker and decent microphone - again for the price.I've been using Tapo and Kasa devices now for about 2 years (both are TP-Link products). I love the fact that they combined Kasa into Tapo as it was annoying having both apps. The integration is simple and works great for me. Both brands have proven to be reliable and excellent.My attached photos show some of the features of the app on my Google Pixel 7 Pro (Android) phone. Everything was installed without a hitch.Only complaint Is probably the sort of thing that is hard for a lot of people, especially those who are not quite as willing to work through technical issues as I am. When starting this camera up for the first time it told me it had a firmware update and it was insisting I do it. I thought that I had only tapped yes to the first question, and then everything I pushed including canceling out and going back resulted in a message that the update failed and to drag in later. What I realized however, is that it had already initiated the update on its own because I had already toggled the automatic update. Therefore, I think I clicked at least three times to update it and got an error message - and the reason I did, is because it was already updating. You think that's the sort of thing it would tell you, you know, something like "hey I'm already updating please wait". The other small annoyance was How it chose to format my sd card. When starting this camera up it let me know there was no SD card and I should follow the instruction in the manual (both on my phone and an Australian sounding man's voice). As I did this, as in immediately after I did this, it was nonresponsive surrounding the SD card, and then it came up with a message that I needed to initialize it, which I checked. It then froze and I didn't know if I should wait or come back or whatever. Ultimately it allowed me to toggle back to the main window and then later on upon checking things out after all the updates occurred, I noted that the card was active and recording already. So, two instances where the app didn't communicate with me very well although everything happened as it should have and we got through it fine.Again besides the above challenges now that the camera is up and running it's awesome and I love it just as much as I have loved my other topo camera that is outside on my deck and has worked flawlessly for I think a year and a half now, or thereabouts.I also have multiple items and cameras from a competing company with a name that sounds wise. I consider Tapo superior now, particularly in it's image quality, app reliability once things are set up, and the app itself. Price-wise I think the other is a little bit cheaper, but general quality wise I prefer Tapo (oh yeah, and Tapo uses now USB-C as main connection, that's beginning to be important to me).

I'm very happy with this as an outdoor camera so far.

Given that I was very happy with the Tapo indoor camera, I decided to give this outdoor camera a try. So far, I'm very happy with it and I'm very impressed with its performance so far. The one thing I was very impressed with about this camera is the image quality. Since it's getting closer to winter and the days are shorter, the sun starts to go down at 6 pm, and by 7:30 pm, it gets very dark. I decided to look at my camera's live footage and noticed that it looks like daytime still. At first, I thought that the camera image was stuck at when it was 4 pm but the timestamp shows that it is indeed 7:30 pm. I had to wave something in front of the camera to make sure that it was actually working. Indeed it was working. Turn turns out that the camera has an EXCELLENT ... MoreGiven that I was very happy with the Tapo indoor camera, I decided to give this outdoor camera a try. So far, I'm very happy with it and I'm very impressed with its performance so far. The one thing I was very impressed with about this camera is the image quality. Since it's getting closer to winter and the days are shorter, the sun starts to go down at 6 pm, and by 7:30 pm, it gets very dark. I decided to look at my camera's live footage and noticed that it looks like daytime still. At first, I thought that the camera image was stuck at when it was 4 pm but the timestamp shows that it is indeed 7:30 pm. I had to wave something in front of the camera to make sure that it was actually working. Indeed it was working. Turn turns out that the camera has an EXCELLENT image sensor that allows the camera to show a great amount of detail at nighttime. None of my big-name brand cameras can do this.Another big hit that made me want to keep getting Tapo cameras is the fact that the app is really good and very easy to use. I've tried a TON of cameras and the one thing that always kills a good functioning camera is a terrible app. Not with the Tapo app. If you have other Tapo cameras, you can add up to four and view them all at the same time in the app's live view.The one drawback I want to point out is that, despite it being an outdoor camera, it still requires a USB C cable to be plugged in to provide the camera with constant power. There's no battery in this camera. A solar panel would not work with this camera since you will lose power once the sun goes down and your camera would turn off. I do wish that this camera came with a flat USB C cable like what my other brand-name camera uses. A flat USB C cable would allow you to still close the window over the cable. I had to do a lot of modifications to get the cable to go from the outside to the wall plug inside.Speaking of mounting the camera outside, I was very skeptical about the camera being able to be magnetically attached to the included metal mounting plate. It turns out that the base of the camera attaches very well and very securely to the metal plate. However, I would say that if you're experiencing excessively high winds, the camera will most likely fall off of the plate. So make sure to have a secondary way to secure the camera if you're in an area that is prone to excessive wind and weather.A great app and a great camera make for a five-star worthy product. While I would like to attach some images and footage of what this camera is capable of, unfortunately, it would go against the guidelines since it shows private properties and car license plates. All I will have to say is that I'm planning on replacing all of my name-brand cameras with a bunch of these. While your mileage may vary, I'm confident that you find this camera to be above others in this price range. Highly recommended.

Quality, versatile camera.

I am pretty well wrapped into the TP link/Tapo ecosystem, so this camera looks to be a perfect fit for my existing system that I have built.The image quality is top notch for a sub $50 security camera. The "person detection" works very well as the algorithm draws a blue box around what is suspects to be a person. I have not had a chance to dig into the more granular setting of detecting other types of objects and animals, but there inclusion is much appreciated. Two way speaker is a nice feature to either yell at your loved ones or a ask the burglar to politely put your TV back.The UI of the app is pretty clean overall. If you are mildly adept with tech you should have no issues using, setting up or navigating the app and all the controls and options it provides. ... MoreI am pretty well wrapped into the TP link/Tapo ecosystem, so this camera looks to be a perfect fit for my existing system that I have built.The image quality is top notch for a sub $50 security camera. The "person detection" works very well as the algorithm draws a blue box around what is suspects to be a person. I have not had a chance to dig into the more granular setting of detecting other types of objects and animals, but there inclusion is much appreciated. Two way speaker is a nice feature to either yell at your loved ones or a ask the burglar to politely put your TV back.The UI of the app is pretty clean overall. If you are mildly adept with tech you should have no issues using, setting up or navigating the app and all the controls and options it provides. The night vision quality is very good. Cheap camera tech has really come a long way in the last 10+ years.The mount and goose neck stand that is built in give a lot of flexibility in mounting options as well as adjustability of the camera field of view. The base of the stand is magnetic and will securely attach to any ferrous metal surface. If you don't have said surface, a metal dish with screws and anchors is provided in the pack. Couple that with a generously long USB A to USB C cable and a power adapter that is slim and easily fits in a crowded power strip round out your accessory pack.The micro SD card slot is appreciated so you are not locked into using yet another subscription service after you already bought the hardware. Yes you have to setup an account, probably you 300th or 400th account, since every last thing on the planet requires an account now. Unfortunately you have to take it or leave it in this current time in history.Overall, for the price, I am happy with this camera.

Versatile Security Camera With Plenty Of Useful Features

The TP-Link Tapo C120 2K Security Camera is a wired camera that is fit to be placed in many different places. It is listed as being suitable for indoor and outdoor (IP66 rating, though I would probably add some extra tape at the USB-C port for extra measure if using outside with no rain cover), has roughly 10ft of USB-C to USB-A cable, a standard wall power brick, and a few mounting accessories. The camera has a strong enough magnetic base that can stick to various metal surfaces, as well as the metal base plate that can be ******* or sticked (with provided adhesive) onto a surface. It can also be quite portable, being able to be tucked into a compact cylinder. The joints are maneuverable to reasonable angles and there’s even 2 LED spotlights and IR lights for night ... MoreThe TP-Link Tapo C120 2K Security Camera is a wired camera that is fit to be placed in many different places. It is listed as being suitable for indoor and outdoor (IP66 rating, though I would probably add some extra tape at the USB-C port for extra measure if using outside with no rain cover), has roughly 10ft of USB-C to USB-A cable, a standard wall power brick, and a few mounting accessories. The camera has a strong enough magnetic base that can stick to various metal surfaces, as well as the metal base plate that can be ******* or sticked (with provided adhesive) onto a surface. It can also be quite portable, being able to be tucked into a compact cylinder. The joints are maneuverable to reasonable angles and there’s even 2 LED spotlights and IR lights for night and dark environments. Everything is controlled by the App, which fortunately is not laggy and reasonably easy to navigate. The many features are quite welcome and are quite modern and useful for different applications (two-way communication, alarm, privacy zones, detection, alerts, and light sensor). Storage wise, it has a Micro SD card slot for local recordings, as well as being applicable with the subscription cloud service (optional) and even 3rd party NAS networking solutions. Overall, it is a good camera with a good form factor and that packs plenty of features.