TP-Link - Tapo Smart Home Security Kit - Motion Detector, Contact Sensors x2, and Smart Hub w/ adjustable chime/siren Included - White

When our neighbor's house was broken into, we decided that we needed at least a basic level of protection for our home. Prior to this purchase, we already had 3 Tapo battery powered mag-cams, so we chose to stay with Tapo components. We purchased 2 of these kits which gave us the ability to place door sensors on all 4 of our entry doors and place 2 motion detectors inside, and have 2 hubs to sound in the event of an intrusion. All of the components except for the hubs are battery powered and this allows maximum flexibility in placement and relocation. The door sensors are of good quality and are typical of most other common door sensors. They connect to the hub and can notify you of when/if the door opens, and how long its been open. The motion detectors are extremely small, and do what is expected of them, detect motion. Once installed, there are many fun and creative automations using the IFTTT protocol (If This, Then That) which you can create using this kit and other Tapo components. You can set a specified time that when any sensor is triggered, if certain conditions of the sensors are met, then certain actions take place. Some of those actions can even be multi-step shortcuts that you've created for other unrelated activities. For example, if our automation is enabled for "STAY AT HOME" and a door sensor is opened, then both hubs sound an alarm, a shortcut is triggered to turn on outside floodlights and interior lights via Kasa or Tapo smartplugs (not part of this kit, but purchased separately), AND a notification is sent to my mobile device. If enabled for "LEAVE HOME", then any door OR motion sensor will trigger the same actions, or you can create completely different actions. Our cameras integrate in a similar way and the new hub that will be coming soon from Tapo will also be able to store video from our cameras. I believe the hub is the weak point in the whole kit. Even though there are many different alarm and doorbell sounds, it just is not loud enough, even on its highest setting. You need light and sound to deter an intruder. We have 2 hubs and even the 2 together are not loud enough and can barely be heard 2 rooms away, let alone outside. The hubs are also plugged into a wall socket which will allow someone to simply pull them out of the wall if they are discovered. However, the smart actions of this system, and a bit of creative programming will allow you to install a smart plug with an additional siren somewhere else in or on the house. This is not a professional alarm system, and gives you no options for professional monitoring. There are limitations with it, but it doesn't cost thousands of dollars either. It will give you some peace of mind that you will be alerted if someone opens a door when you are home or away, but it is up to you to take any other actions to get emergency personnel to your home.

The sensors seem to be really good at sending notifications. And like the smart action features. But I don't like how when the alarm is tripped the sound only goes to the hub and not to the phone. The phone will only gets a regular notification like a regular text message. That's not good if your not home because you wont know that the alarm was stripped. And some of the sensors go off line most of the time because they are too far from the hub. It would have been better if they didn't need the hub and just needed a wifi connection because the hub just restricts the distance.

I acquired this device to facilitate the integration of Tapo devices into HomeKit, and its functionality has been seamless. To accomplish this, you will need to access the device’s settings and generate a Matter code. This process may require some effort, as I initially encountered difficulty locating this information. I specifically sought motion sensors for my HomeKit ecosystem, and the Tapo sensor included in this kit proved to be an excellent choice. Notably, the standard HomeKit sensors were quite expensive, while the Tapo sensor offered a cost-effective solution that delivered satisfactory performance. Additionally, this device is compatible with SmartThings and Alexa, making it a versatile addition to any user’s ecosystem. I highly recommend purchasing this device if you intend to explore the Tapo and HomeKit integration.

Bought these before a long trip where house would have been empty. Great for peace of mind. Continuing to use them with different settings. You can set up alarms for each different sensor. I do wish you could also combine them to make more complicated scenarios. Like I’d like to get an alarm if front door is opened after 11 but only if there’s no motion detected inside right before that. But I couldn’t find a way to do that. I was easily able to connect it with my Google home as well.

So far I’m very pleased with this kit. I installed the motion sensor in my garage and the contact sensor on the door between the garage and mud room. I have a TP-Link light switch controlling my garage lights. So now when I open the mud room door or when I drive into the garage, the lights come on. I set a timer in the app to turn them off again after 10 minutes. Previously I was using sensors from another company and connecting them with IFTTT. That was slow to operate and was not reliable. Having everything in TAPO is a big improvement.