Easy to set up, image quality very good. Worth searching Web manual to check out all app options. Video recording on local micro sd memory card (bought separately). Bought to replace Ring doorbell as do not want to pay subscriptions.Just bought tapo hub H100 and smart button S200B, set up button via easy to use tapo app so when pressed camera private mode (no recording/detection) enabled for 10 mins-maintains privacy when coming and going.*All default camera video image settings is 720, you have to change to get the full 2K QHD.[Tapo App] has option to set up smart action privacy mode, with an inbuilt delay. So I can start privacy mode (no recording or detection) and it will end after a delay. So it's possible to leave and enter without recording anything ... MoreEasy to set up, image quality very good. Worth searching Web manual to check out all app options. Video recording on local micro sd memory card (bought separately). Bought to replace Ring doorbell as do not want to pay subscriptions.Just bought tapo hub H100 and smart button S200B, set up button via easy to use tapo app so when pressed camera private mode (no recording/detection) enabled for 10 mins-maintains privacy when coming and going.*All default camera video image settings is 720, you have to change to get the full 2K QHD.[Tapo App] has option to set up smart action privacy mode, with an inbuilt delay. So I can start privacy mode (no recording or detection) and it will end after a delay. So it's possible to leave and enter without recording anything (privacy). This app function alone.Will now be trying a 4gb sd card, as do not need endless copies of recordings. I would like to limit recording retention to 7 days, but not possible, so old recordings would be constantly overwritten.I just use to alert deliveries to safe place and as a visible deterrent.Camera cable a bit short and ethernet adapter means drilling a hole has to be quite big. If installing outside you might need a waterproof junction box.** You can view camera footage locally only (no remote camera internet) access, if you install the app on your viewing device, but enter the wrong WiFi password-the app then defaults to local only viewing.Not sure about usefulness of the motion alarm and associated inbuilt spot light features (disabled). Colour night-vision seems to require spotlights to be on, think this will draw far too much attention to the camera, would suggest adding separate motion detection night time welcome lighting. Running energy efficient outdoor LED lights can be quite cheap.

Another Great camera from Tapo

I bought the 2 pack Tapo security camera last month as a upgrade from a similar camera. On my review of that order, I noted that I planned to expand my system with more cameras in the future . About a month has gone by and my feelings for this system are still the same. I added this OUTDOOR camera to replace an older camera on my driveway. The COLOR night time view literally blew me away. At first , I started getting too many false alerts picking up cars on the road. I then made a "BOX" for the motion sensing that didn't include the road...Boom..No more false alerts.. I did notice if I enable the " AI "mode for vehicles..It still picks up the cars that I didn't include in my motion area I chose...it seems Like it overrides the box and looks at the whole screen. This ... MoreI bought the 2 pack Tapo security camera last month as a upgrade from a similar camera. On my review of that order, I noted that I planned to expand my system with more cameras in the future . About a month has gone by and my feelings for this system are still the same. I added this OUTDOOR camera to replace an older camera on my driveway. The COLOR night time view literally blew me away. At first , I started getting too many false alerts picking up cars on the road. I then made a "BOX" for the motion sensing that didn't include the road...Boom..No more false alerts.. I did notice if I enable the " AI "mode for vehicles..It still picks up the cars that I didn't include in my motion area I chose...it seems Like it overrides the box and looks at the whole screen. This was easily fixed by disabling the AI for AUTOs. Setup was a breeze , just adding it to my other 2 Tapo cameras . Details are clear and I can easily read a license plate anywhere in my driveway. Alerts are sent almost instantly , and I will probably activate the free trial on this camera for offline storage. Remember to buy the 256 gb SD card when you buy these cameras. 2 screws must be removed to put the SD card in , and they are tiny tiny screws. Once you insert the card , you will be good to go. The software will format the card , and you can choose 24/7 recording , or motion activated recording. Record the motion clips that you want , save them to memory , then go to memory and you can view , download , or delete the clips to your phone. You can do all of this without a subscription. It's a great addition to my security system , and I plan to add the Battery Powered cameras in time so I can view my backyard . Tapo has proven to be a great family of security cameras for all situations. Whether it a baby monitor , outdoor , wireless , battery powered, or motion tracking , this collection is great and all work together with one well written ,easy to use app. Keep up the great work Tapo !UPDATE : After a couple of months use , I thought I would add to this review. Now , someone user left a Lengthy review and 90 percent of it is user error. You can EASILY record video to your phone from the SD card without removing anything. If you get a notification ,So .... The way to save videos does actually vary between my indoor and outdoor cameras .The Indoor cameras have 3 dots after the clip , and if you select the 3 dots it gives you the option to DOWNLOAD the clip . Selecting this DOWNLOADS the clip to the MEMORY of your SD CARD ... Then if you look up toward the top of the screen .. You will be able to select " Memory " and all the clips you downloaded will be here .... Selecting the clip you want will give you the option to delete , view , or even Download this video to you phone .NOW ... the Outdoor camera has changed a little bit on how to do this without a subscription....When you are watching the selected video , you must press the little camera button while viewing the video , then press it again to stop the recording ... It will the save the clip you recorded to the " MEMORY " section of the SD CARD.. At this point you can click on the clip to view , delete , or DOWNLOAD it to your phone! It's 2 easy steps to save it on your phone...Once you know how to do it , it's very easy....Don't believe the users that say you can't save clips to your phone ..Now for an actual small issue I had . My outdoor camera has an occasional issue ...I attribute this to the distance from my router. Last week , the spotlight stayed on for a couple days???...I unplugged the unit..Rebooted it...multiple times and it was not working correctly... I will admit I was a little upset..but I decided to do a factory reset by pushing the reset button that's in the SD card cover...That was the best thing I could have done ..I reconnected it to my app ..And the camera is now working correct again.... No dropouts , Motion Spotlight works , and I am happy it was just a factory reset that it took to fix it .. It's been working good for 2 weeks straight now ...We did have a power outage a couple weeks ago , and I think that may have messed my outdoor camera up a bit ..Overall...I still think it's the best budget camera system you can get.. No monthly fees and still does everything I want it to do .After months of use, I came up with the following way to set my camera up as the best for my driveway ,and sidewalk . I DISABLED motion sensing , as ANY motion including trees , shadows , distant cars , would always trigger alerts , I disabled the vehicle sensing as it would alert me of all the cars on the road .. I set " Person " alert and this picks up all " people " riding or walking and works perfect ... The other setting I enabled was " Line crossing " and made a line that gives me a notification if anything crosses the middle of my driveway . The combo of Line crossing , and Person alert has made this system work the way I wanted it to .. I see my driveway , and the road b

Best resolution of any of my cameras

I'm admittedly hesitant to provide reviews of security cameras and have been waiting to do so on the Tapo 2k camera. There are very few security cameras from the many brands available these days, which check all the boxes I look for when buying them. I prefer "open source" cameras, where I don't have to use the camera's app and still get the resolutions sometimes only obtained by using the camera's app. I've been using microseven cameras for years and they are still my go to security camera. However, when I see a camera with the specs this camera has and at this price point... Well, I'm off course skeptical, but had to try them out. The setup was very easy, using the Tapo app of course. But after setting it up, I was still able to get my nvr to add the camera ... MoreI'm admittedly hesitant to provide reviews of security cameras and have been waiting to do so on the Tapo 2k camera. There are very few security cameras from the many brands available these days, which check all the boxes I look for when buying them. I prefer "open source" cameras, where I don't have to use the camera's app and still get the resolutions sometimes only obtained by using the camera's app. I've been using microseven cameras for years and they are still my go to security camera. However, when I see a camera with the specs this camera has and at this price point... Well, I'm off course skeptical, but had to try them out. The setup was very easy, using the Tapo app of course. But after setting it up, I was still able to get my nvr to add the camera because of the onvif option. I purchased a Kasa camera, which is also TP Link, but for whatever reason, it does not have the same option and they are a little more expensive.So, setup is easy. Cameras are accessible quickly when using the Tapo app, as well as my nvr's app. The clarity is amazing, day and night. Price is great. What else is there? Very happy.

Good Camera, Good price, 1 flaw

I have a specific situation that makes this camera not ideal for me, so I had to return it. I have mine pointing to an area with decent ambient light. Picture is bright and clear even in Daylight color mode. However the spotlights only go off with motion if the camera is in night mode. So when set to Auto there is too much surround light to ever go into night mode. That means the spotlights never go off.For me the spotlights going off is an extra deterrent. It draws a potential thief attention to the camera and they might decide to move on. Right now the spotlight is dependent by the lens determining if it needs it on based on the amount of light available. All that is need is a setting that tells the spotlight to go on with any motion from Sunset to Sunrise. That ... MoreI have a specific situation that makes this camera not ideal for me, so I had to return it. I have mine pointing to an area with decent ambient light. Picture is bright and clear even in Daylight color mode. However the spotlights only go off with motion if the camera is in night mode. So when set to Auto there is too much surround light to ever go into night mode. That means the spotlights never go off.For me the spotlights going off is an extra deterrent. It draws a potential thief attention to the camera and they might decide to move on. Right now the spotlight is dependent by the lens determining if it needs it on based on the amount of light available. All that is need is a setting that tells the spotlight to go on with any motion from Sunset to Sunrise. That way at night with motion it will go off even if there is enough ambient light.The Color Pro C320WS model also has this issue. If there is enough ambient light, the spotlights never turn on. I have made a feature request with TP Link, but who knows if they will ever add it.Currently there are only 2 cameras that work with the Spotlight going on anytime motion is detected at night. The Eufy c24/e220. It doesn't matter if the camera is in night mode(black and white) or day mode (color), the spotlight turns on anytime motion is detected at night. And the Ring Spotlight camera. It has a setting to turn on spotlight with motion from Sunset to Sunrise.

Quality security camera.

I'm writing this review after a week of having this security camera operational.There are 4 multiple detection options that you can run simultaneously, or omit one or more to suit your needs.The options are motion, AI (person and or vehicle), line crossing (you can have up to 4 lines) and area intrusion (you can have 4 zones with this as well). I personally have AI (person), line and area set up. With motion and AI, anything that comes in the cameras view will trigger it, so be mindful of where the camera is aiming. I live on a cul-de-sac so it picked up cars turning on their drives 4 houses up the road, so I turned off motion and AI for vehicles and it still gives me adequate protection, you can see in the photos how I have it set up. With area and line zones ... MoreI'm writing this review after a week of having this security camera operational.There are 4 multiple detection options that you can run simultaneously, or omit one or more to suit your needs.The options are motion, AI (person and or vehicle), line crossing (you can have up to 4 lines) and area intrusion (you can have 4 zones with this as well). I personally have AI (person), line and area set up. With motion and AI, anything that comes in the cameras view will trigger it, so be mindful of where the camera is aiming. I live on a cul-de-sac so it picked up cars turning on their drives 4 houses up the road, so I turned off motion and AI for vehicles and it still gives me adequate protection, you can see in the photos how I have it set up. With area and line zones I've set a schedule to turn them off when it gets dark, otherwise flying bugs will trigger those settings and like me you'll end up with 75 notifications between 10pm - 6am, very annoying.The night vision is great, you can set up 3 options, they are infrared only, full colour or smart mode, which is infrared in live view and it changes to colour when triggered.It's my first security camera, so I cannot compare it to any others, but I purchased it after reviewing several of them, and people who are familiar with security cameras gave good reviews with this one after owning different brands in the past. The memory card is on a loop recording, so no worries about the card running out of memory. It's really easy to set up, and I love the fact it's plugged into an electric outlet, not battery powered, which would need to be taken down to recharge a few times a year. The wire from the camera is approx. 10 feet in length, and the plug is a brick, so it may not be suitable to be plugged in outside.Overall I'm happy and I would recommend this Tapo security camera.

Slightly better than a Wyze v3 pro

Highly comparable to the Wyze v3 pro and slightly better. Just about all of the same features with several differences.RTSP support here.Both have starlight sensors so you can leave this cam in daytime mode if you have a flood light so as to have color night time. You can do color night time outside of daytime mode but its slightly worse and it puts the built in lights on with no way to never do so.The other biggest positive is the app works better than the Wyze app (in my experience with both installed).The only real negative I personally have is that this cam requires a subscription if you want photos with the notifications. Everyone will have their own negatives but that's the same for anything.This cam also includes 1080p for instance and Wyze doesn't for ... MoreHighly comparable to the Wyze v3 pro and slightly better. Just about all of the same features with several differences.RTSP support here.Both have starlight sensors so you can leave this cam in daytime mode if you have a flood light so as to have color night time. You can do color night time outside of daytime mode but its slightly worse and it puts the built in lights on with no way to never do so.The other biggest positive is the app works better than the Wyze app (in my experience with both installed).The only real negative I personally have is that this cam requires a subscription if you want photos with the notifications. Everyone will have their own negatives but that's the same for anything.This cam also includes 1080p for instance and Wyze doesn't for the v3 pro. So there's a trade off either way you go.I knock one star for putting notification photos behind a paywall and other minor things like being unable to turn the cam 90 degrees to the side as the pipe they use with the mount isnt long enough to take the antennas into account that way (they didn't think of it or chose not to). Etc.Based on this I will be switching from Wyze to TP-Link for cams. But, Wyze has its own slight differences and is fine that I will be keeping those cams in use too until they are end of life.(Night vision here 4 stars as TP-Link has a more expensive cam with better vision. So... not 5 stars here.)

Works great. Much better than Arlo

I had to stop using my Arlo cameras( which were DOUBLE the price of this Tapo outdoor camera) as Arlo was charging me $5 per month per camera to record any videos. Arlo would record a maximum of 20 to 30 seconds of any video even if the object or person was still in the view and moving!This Tapo outdoor camera was relatively easy to set up and install as well as easy to connect to my WiFi all the way in the back of my garage. Only issue I had was to purchase separately a 256MB SD card to record videos locally. I have estimated that I can have continuous recording at 2k for at least two weeks or more before old ones get overwritten. Individual videos can be set once triggered to record for various length of times which could not be done with the Arlo cameras. Then I ... MoreI had to stop using my Arlo cameras( which were DOUBLE the price of this Tapo outdoor camera) as Arlo was charging me $5 per month per camera to record any videos. Arlo would record a maximum of 20 to 30 seconds of any video even if the object or person was still in the view and moving!This Tapo outdoor camera was relatively easy to set up and install as well as easy to connect to my WiFi all the way in the back of my garage. Only issue I had was to purchase separately a 256MB SD card to record videos locally. I have estimated that I can have continuous recording at 2k for at least two weeks or more before old ones get overwritten. Individual videos can be set once triggered to record for various length of times which could not be done with the Arlo cameras. Then I can review videos anywhere from 1/4 speed to 16x! Very useful. I can then save the videos I want to my photos on my phone. 2k quality is good. Electric wire does not detach from the back of the camera which is a flaw but the wire is thin enough to get past my garage door opening and the garage door. The camera is very easy to adjust to get the view you want unlike the Arlo camera.Half the cost of Arlo with no monthly fee and about 10 times more features than Arlo.Only problem is the SD card slot and reset button is underneath a 1/2 inch plastic piece secured by 2 minuscule Philips head screws. One screw was impossible to remove but somehow the plastic piece could be bent without breaking to expose the area underneath. This was a big problem as after about 2 months suddenly I could not connect to the camera even with all kinds of manipulations. Finally I had to climb a ladder to access that minuscule screw to open the latch and press the reset button. After all that the problem was not fixed. I then removed the camera from my network and got it back onto my network in about 3 minutes. The system remembered my WiFi password so the connection was seamless and it is working fine now.The camera is outside but under the eave of the garage roof. So far it seems to be fine outdoors.There is no easy way to get hold of customer service. They encourage you to read many troubleshooting steps before getting in touch with them as they state that all the steps would have to be done anyway if I contact them. For me none of the steps worked until I removed the camera from my network. I will try that first next time as that step was easy to do.So far this is a good buy. I wish I had not wasted my money on the Arlo cameras.