These Might Be My New Favorite Smart Security Cameras! (Tapo Wire-Free Mag Cams)

Something simple without a subscription. I don't need this model with solar package, but I'm sure they offer others.
Kudo's 2 U for the video..

Much better than anything coming from Wyze!! Better picture, sound and value for the money! :-) Excellent review.

Can I view livestream of this camera with echo show 10 continously? Thanks

I like your review but your video is too long. You can talk quicker

Great review, we have been looking high and low for a decent security camera setup and I think these may be the ones. I run Homebridge, with connects to HomeKit and there is a TP-Link TAPO plugin for it. May have to get one to test the waters.

I would like to get an update of battery life after the cold season passes

So very helpful and comprehensive thank you. As with you, nights here in the UK seem very dark suddenly and I was thinking about my first external camera(s) purchase.

Brian, yes these camera's look very promising - short of the Google Home integration you mentioned. Followed the links you put in but not seeing any CDN retailers for this model?

Brian, great review & coverage of this Tapo camera. Love the fact that you don’t need a subscription to get the features your really need & want. Love the fact it works well with Amazon Alexa! I think this is the camera to beat that’s feature rich with NO subscription necessary! Thanks!

Well, at least you can see who has stolen your camera. With that magnetic attachment it is quite easy to just take it off and be stolen. Or am I missing something?

Hi Brian, I have a disturbing dilemma which I hope you can provide your guidance and opinion to determine if this security camera solution would help me address a problem we are having around my home. My husband and I live in a small 300 home NJ lake community. We have a modest 1800 sqft corner home that sits on less than a 1/4 acre lot so the front and right sides of our property face the road. We are a quiet couple with no children. We keep to ourselves but get along well with most neighbors although at times, you can compare our community to high school where you have clicks and bullies of all sorts especially those who have generations of family that have lived here so entitlements out weigh individual peaceful enjoyment and many dictate how things should be done.
In the last 3 years, someone in our neighborhood has taken a significant dislike to us and has been going out of there way to intentionally defile our property on an ongoing basis. They leave bags of dog poop on our property sometimes 2-3 times a week and we have been unsuccessful in catching them. We have found bags half way up our drive way with a rock on it to secure it when it’s been windy. They have thrown it over our 4 ft fence into our backyard lawn. They have left it in the middle of our front lawn and on the walkway into our home. Unfortunately, we have been unable to afford a security camera system but this may finally be the solution we need to catch the culprit. I have a few important questions before making such a significant investment and would greatly appreciate your opinions and guidance to determine if we should move forward with the purchase.
Take note that my husband is not handy in the least so the ease of the installation here is definitely a plus.
First question may be a bit difficult but would you have any guideline on how far away from the home can you position a camera and still connect to the WiFi?
Not sure if I can get a clear line of sight to where people walk with the fence in between on the side of the backyard so I may need to resort to attaching it to a tree or possibly my neighbors tree across from me. This is why I am concerned about distance for connecting to WiFi.
Since I also live in the suburbs, there is no sidewalks or street lights so there is no lighting in the backyard. Since the side of my backyard fence is approximately 20-30 ft from the home with no lighting, will the security camera be useless at night to actually see a person walking with their dog 30 feet away and will the motion sensor even detect from this distance?
Also with a 512GB Micro SD card, do you have any guidance on how many video recording hours will it hold at 2k. I was having trouble finding an answer online with certain unknown variables. My husband tries to walk the property often so we typically find the poop bags within a day or two which you can tell now especially because the bag is on top of the fallen leaves vs covered by leaves. So we think we would only need a few days of storage. Will 512GB be enough? Can we actually use a smaller card size considering they are expensive and the plan would be to buy the 3 or 4 device package. So would need 3-4 SD cards.
Also, what happens if someone takes the camera since it is magnetic, they could possibly pull it off the base or throw a rock to break it. If the device is stolen or broken and because the SD card stores the videos would I not be able to see who did the deed?


Thank you in advance for any information and guidance you can provide.

I'm in the process of adding a few outdoor security cams as part of a kitchen reno. In our (Eastern Canada) winters, battery-powered solutions really don't make sense - and the abundant heavy sticky snow here isn't likely to play nice with a solar panel either - so I've opted for POE-powered wired cams exclusively (though I haven't ruled out a battery-powered option inside the garage).

I have a NAS for local storage as well - though I'm not ruling out a monitored security subscription (if I can get one) for when we're in travel mode...

The 300 day battery is interesting....but what about environmental effects....ie..the cold. Tends to have a lot of affect on how the batteries last.

Do you think the lack of integration with Google home is moreover a Tappo issue or a Google issue?

Hey Brian, Do you know if Smartthings integration is forthcoming?

What is the maximum clip length? That is a problem with these wireless cameras.

Nice video. This seems to be a good contender, although I love my Wyze cams

I didnt hear anything about the camera having a siren?

Another great video, might pick a 3 pack when I move house 🤔

Can this camera work without a WiFi connection? In particular does it have to be a client on a WiFi network or is it possible to configure it as its own hotspot so that anyone with a WiFi phone - provided they know the camera's WiFi password - can connect to a camera to see and download footage stored on the local SD card? I have a music player that can work in this way - either have it as a client on my home network or set it to hotspot mode and connect directly to it from my phone to control it using an app; the latter of course is useful when out and about hence not connected to my home WiFi.

I ask because my scenario is living in a block of flats with a bike shed at the end of a 70 metre garden that has been broken into twice now. The people managing the block are considering a ridiculously expensive full security system and I'd love to be able to suggest a cheaper option but it is way out of range of WiFi, and even if it was in range I don't think any of my fellow flat owners are technical enough to be able to manage it on their network, so something that could run completely disconnected once set up (and I would be willing to do that using my own network before carrying it out to the garden) would be ideal.

good review ! clear content

Will Tapo cameras work with smartthings bud?

I use Arlo Pro 2 as wildlife cams (They are NOT security cameras for several reasons).
so, I like your review and added them to my Z wishlist. Thanks..

What's the difference between the Tapo TC85 & Tapo C425 (from this vid) cameras? The Amazon link calls it out as both and the tp-link website has both as separate as well.

This hit all the points I have been trying to satisfy in my search for the right cameras with the right combination of features. It feels like users designed it.

The time you need these cameras they are going to fail you if you get a determined criminals at your house. How many time have we seen videos of criminals re-aiming the camera. With the mag mount he will just toss it in the bushes unless you spend more money on real mounts, the mag mounts are useless for security applications, if you just want to monitor something they would be OK. I have found the cheap china cameras and the HiP2P software are the best choice for me and loop recording as you miss nothing.

Unfortunately -4f low operation temp is a no go for me. It can stay below that for days if not weeks here.

Thanks for the video Brian. Do the cameras have the ability to be turned on or off (or armed / disarmed) in Alexa or Smartthings or IFTTT automations? Thanks!

If I ever went for a batter cam I would want replaceable batteries. I'm not spending another 500 in a few years because the batteries have gone bad.

Very well done.

Can you must plug a usb power cable into to charge it all the time instead of solar? I assume no 24 hr record? This one looks nice. Great review. Have had the tapo color pro for short time and notifications are very fast and A.I is really good.

Thank you for the review. Just wondering are these available in Canada yet?

Thanks for the detailed video! Do these cameras support RTSP or ONVIF. I would really like to be able to use them in Blue Iris.

This really looks like the ideal setup for us. Wire-free, great video quality, and easy to use/setup. Just have to find them in Canada now.

Thank you for this. :)
What do you recommend as a permanent display, say on your kitchen counter, for all your cameras? Old tablet?

Great video ! Will they trigger alexa routines?

On a more serious note, Brian, I own a small business: a workshop where we work with PVC. It’s a very dusty place. Do you think this would be a good option for this kinda rougher environment?

Hmmm… Conor McGregor’s smart home brand: El Tapo 🤨

Thank you sir. 👍🏼

It's hard to get cameras that actually give the quality of image that should be expected. 4K cameras, even in expensive ones, do not ever give 4K resolution. I mean, compare your 4K security camera to 4K TV. They should be equally clear as they are all meant to be 4K, but in most cases CCTV / IP Cameras are very disappointing. But people still get caught up in megapixels, and megapixels are not the name of the game.
On the WiFi thing, 2.4GHz is ideal for cameras. Even hard wired cameras are so often 100mbps ethernet, not 1gbps, and you will easily get 100mbps out of 2.4GHz WiFi, even on single stream wifi N. 2.4GHz is ideal for for these cameras and has plenty of bandwidth for multiple 2K cameras.
For a wireless camera offering, these look pretty decent and that solar panel, if you have a place for it, is definitely a great option. SD Cards, however, are not good for camera storage. Even high quality ones will fail quickly with constant write/rewrite cycles. Writing is what wears them out quickly. If you are serious about using cameras for security you would not bother with an SD Card and run it into a NAS or some other CCTV Software.

Brian, this camera looks really interesting, but for me it has to also work in Homekit. While it doesn't have native Homekit support there is a Homebridge plugin called "Homebridge Tapo Camera" which I think could bring in the camera feed as well as some notifications for automation purposes. The plugin appears to be being maintained as there was an update last April. I'm hoping one of your viewers will read this and comment on it. I don't know if you have a Homebridge, or Hoobs set up there or not. Anyway, thanks for the review!!!

I bought 2 a few months ago. I love them!

I really wish does cameras comes here also,. and in single or dual pack. would be perfect for my balcony where i got a Tapo C320WS. Ofc if it would work with HA or ST in the future.