Customer Ratings & Reviews

Ring cameras through a Homebridge plugin are a much better option. The TP Link app wasn’t horrible but viewing through Homekit was basically unusable.

First impression: My first impression of the TP-Link Tapo C125 Home Security Wi-Fi camera is that is a well-made camera with mounting options to make it easy to mount in just about any location. It is well packages in all recyclable materials, and comes with the camera, USB power supply, metal and adhesive base mounts, wall hardware for permanent mounting on drywall, a quick start guide, a wall template for drilling holes, and user setup guides for Apple HomeKit. The camera works with the TP-Link Tapo app, Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Home. Installation: The installation of this camera is very versatile. For the review I just let it sit on the base. This might be a camera that I move around, depending on what I want to watch. The quick start guide, and app are both very clear and easy to follow in getting the camera up and running. App: The app is used to set up the TP-Link account, set up the camera, and monitor the camera. The app installed quickly and easily and is very lightweight on the phone. It offers more motion detection options than my other cameras and is easy to follow and find what you want to adjust. After installing the app, I created a TP-Link ID, and started configuring the camera. As soon as I was done with the initial configuration, it notified me that the firmware needed to be updated and it was updated. I then created a TP-Link ID for my wife. I sent her an invite and she accepted it. She installed the app, and it opened with the camera ready for her to accept. As soon as she did that, the camera appeared. Now one really nice feature is that both apps can watch the cameras at the same time. This is the first camera I have had that provides that option. Thank you TP-Link! Performance: The performance of this camera is good. It is currently in an area of my house that has weak Wi-Fi, yet it is running at 2K. The default setting for the fps is 15 fps. I bumped it up to 20, then 25, and finally 30. At 30 fps, the video quality is nice and sharp with no noticeable degradation of the stream. The TP-Link Tapo C125 offers a few different options for recording. You can use a micro-SD card, record to a NAS, or buy their cloud storage. Right now, I am recording to a 256 GB micro-SD card, and it is doing just fine. I am upgrading my Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi 6 with range extenders. Once I do that, I will create a camera account, and stream it to a 16TB volume on my NAS. Conclusion: I didn’t know what to expect from this camera. I have quite a few different camera systems in different locations, and they all have pros and cons. This camera has more pros than I expected, and I honestly cannot come up with a single con. This is not the best camera out there, but for the price, the feature set, and the high-quality image, it is better than any other camera I know of in its price range. I usually have some type of complaint about the camera apps, but it seems like TP-Link really did a great job with UX in their app. And with me being able to look at the camera when I get a notification at the same time my wife is, that is an absolutely great feature. On my other camera systems, I will get knocked out when she signs in. I have 2 camera systems at my home. I have a wired and a wireless. It looks like my wireless is getting replaced. This is a better camera with a better app. I highly recommend the TP-Link Tapo C125 Home Security Wi-Fi camera.

I had high expectations when I got the TP-Link Tapo C125 AI Home Security Wi-Fi camera since I knew that TP-Link made good Routers at good prices. So I was excited to get this TP-Link Tapo set up to try it out. I have to say that this little camera has exceeded my expectations in almost every way. First, it is very well made and has a unique magnetic mounting system that none of my other cameras have. However, the mounting system is just the start of features that I have never seen until now on a security camera. It has a very good 2k picture and video quality along with the clearest zoom I have seen so far. It still does get a little blurry but not as bad as other cameras that I have used. It actually stays pretty clear up to about 75% zoom and although it does get pixelated you can still make out the images and objects. Another feature I have never seen is the telephone symbol that lets you call the camera with your phone from in the app. This is a separate feature from the mic button that acts as a walkie-talkie type of communication like other cameras I have used. The phone feature is something unique to this TP-Link from my experiences with cameras. That makes this camera great for use with someone who is looking after an elderly adult that lives by themselves or for a caretaker when they may be out of the house at times. It is especially useful for someone with limited mobility that is being cared for since it can be placed near them for easy communication through the camera mic using the two-way audio feature. TP-Link did not stop there however because yes there is still yet another stand-out feature and that is the privacy shutter. This is an awesome feature when you are using it in the house and want to temporarily turn it off when you are home and in the house doing chores and such. Moving on to storage options compared to other brands I have used the TP-Link Tapo is definitely more comprehensive and just like my previous experience with them and as I mentioned their pricing is very good for cloud storage. Not only that the cloud storage and the Micro Sd Card storage work side by side at the same time. Which just happens to be another standout and much-appreciated feature. Did I mention that the cloud storage is unlimited for only $2.99 a month for one camera for the first 6 months then $3.49 a month which is less than one-third the price of every other manufacturer I have used and for up to 10 cameras $9.99 the first 6 months then $11.99 a month thereafter. It has me considering a TP-Link Mesh system with more cameras. I would want to be able to have wireless outdoor cameras with removable batteries though and I am not sure that is offered. I prefer a hub to onboard storage for exterior cameras. One that you can keep inside that the cameras connect to. They do have a couple of hubs but the one that works with cameras is limited to 4 cameras and 64 devices. I do not understand the camera limitation they need to make it up to at least 6 cameras but preferably 8 or 10. Not sure if you can daisy chain hubs or not. You can buy solar panels for exterior cameras so there is that. All in all the TP-Link Tapo CV125 is a great indoor camera with a lot of good features. There are a lot of add-on smart home devices if you want to expand your system and get a hub which the smart home devices connect to on their own wireless network that is claimed to save battery. This is a good camera and a good system to invest in at a reasonable price with good performance. Especially for the average-sized home. I would not hesitate to recommend it or other TP-Link products.

Camera folds out from it's base magnetic stand, A relatively small camera that has exceptional mobility. Very nice it has a built-in magnet and a mount but it could stick to the air conditioning that I found in my room. 2K resolution night vision two-way audio you can actually talk to somebody while monitoring. A object detector so you could monitor pets, childen, babies, seniors. It's angle of view is exceptional and it all fits in the tiny box The interface is Bluetooth to your phone works with Android I haven't tested out iOS it's reception is excellent the pictures are excellent and I use the RS TP on the internet to stream the video to edge browser window which I found impressive It's only drawback is that it doesn't work with a competitors sensor devices only because it's broadband signal does not match the same broadband as the sensor units that I have. The other issue is most of the features have nuances that cause them to be dysfunctional I still haven't been able to concatenate all the small clips from video captures into one large clip to move to a laptop and view a whole days worth of video, it also provides a weekly breakdown which doesn't work and a scheduling system that is impossible for me to figure out The other issue I found was it's night Time recording was po or mostly because it's set for auto and it drops to 15 frames per second at night and you can see the interlacing video which looks poor at night very poor the infrared is easily fooled by any light source so that is a distortion and the settings seem to get lost sometimes it doesn't record person in the room and sometimes it does. Support is entirely web-based and most likely community-based so web support is marginal but ask for a cheap effective camera that's extremely portable and gives you some outstanding video I would recommend it.

Truth be told ive used a few brands of home security cameras at this point looking for the best option for my family. I have to say for the price the features you actually get here cannot be beat compared to almost all the major players out there. First your not forced into a subscription cloud based storage system like most others (though you do get a complimentary month when you sign up) instead you can use a micro SD card which is beautiful in this day and age. Being a “wired” camera (power brick and wire) and yet WIFI means you simply need an outlet to get started which is great not to have to worry about and recharge a battery all the time like I did with others. The app is excellent and allows you to find the cameras via bluetooth then have them connect to your wifi network via wifi (even wifi 6 if you have it). Mounting the camera is up to you and these actually have the most versatile options ive seen as well. You can two sided tape, drill and screw, a mounting base or even a magnet which is an interesting idea. Since these are for indoor use this means you can pretty much use it wherever you need it. Cant forget the cord is 10ft long. One thing that makes or breaks these type of cameras is the software and I have to say that TPlink / Tapo did this one RIGHT for once. It’s everything you need and nothing you dont. The “AI detection” is fairly accurate In detecting motion, person, line crossing etc and it will also detect audio like a baby crying if you use this for monitoring your Childs room which is a great feature. Of course there is two way audio here through the app though there is some lag it actually does work well. To top it off this can be used with most major home security suites like google home and apple HomeKit which pretty much seals the deal for the best overall value on a camera ive seen to date. If your on the fence and dont want a app breathing down your throat to “unlock its potential” with a purchase every 5 minutes this is the one!

I must preface that I can repair computers and can swap out parts and motherboards on a myriad of products. I am not stupid. But this cam was one of the worst ever to set up. I had a several year old similar cam by a different company that just worked and was easy to set up. Set up was frustrating. Illustrations or instructions on how to open device to set up was very poor. I felt like I was risking breaking the device to try to fold out the base. Not clear at all how to deploy. After I figured out deploying, I was able to get the base to fold out but the instructions were useless. Also obtaining the TP code was problematic - in short it took at least five minutes to get the code only to find out that the code was good for only 10 minutes! Because it took so long to receive, I hit resend only to find out the first code then came in and was useless. I had to wait another 5-7 minutes for the next code to arrive. I ended up ignoring instructions and just waded through installation on intuition alone. Instructions do not tell you to have wifi access code and to bluetooth pair your device. Amazing how limited these instructions were! EXPECT TO INSTALL AN UPDATE ONCE ACTIVATED. MINE WENT INTO AN ENDLESS LOOP INDICATING TO UPDATE. Clicked update. Updating. Then back to update. Repeated several times to have it indicate failure. Tried both with auto update on or off. Nothing changed. Ultimately the cam worked and gave an image. Overall it is okay if you can endure the indifferent instructions. Not sure if the update will ever install but at this point I've given up.

Let me start out by saying I love this camera! It was so simple to set up. I already had the Tapo app downloaded on my phone for my smart dimmer switch. All it took was finding the camera via Bluetooth and setting it up to my wifi network. Simple! I wanted something that I could monitor our front sidewalk, as well as my car parked out of the street. I placed it in a front window near to our front door with a clear view of the street. It does this job very well during daylight, but come nightfall, the glare from the window where I have it placed is too great to make out any sort of image. The motion detection is top notch. The app sends me push notifications if it detects movement. So far, it detected when I've had deliveries and when a car passes by on the street, nearly 100 feet from my house. The video is crystal clear any time I've looked at captures during the daylight. I like that you have the choice between cloud storage or via SD card in the camera. The two way audio works great. I can hear what's going on clearly and the audio is clear when I talk through the camera. This camera has so many options for detection, from sounds (baby crying, cat meowing, glass breaking) to motion detection. I only have the glass breaking set up right now. I hope I'll never have to test how well that works.

4.5 Stars The picture quality on these cameras is really good. The low light performance is also impressive. Like many people I mostly use them looking out windows so I turn off the infrared (set the mode to day). The app is pretty good and after awhile fumbling around I managed to find the settings I needed. A big plus with these is you can set different detection zones for different types of triggers. With most cameras you have a choice of either setting the detection area too limited and possibly missing something you'd want to record or getting non-stop notifications from motion you don't care about. With these I can set it to record anytime there is motion in front of the house but only alert me if a person is in the area close to the house. This way people walking by on the sidewalk get recorded but I only get alerted if they approach the house. The only negative I have found is the only way to get a picture of what triggered it with the alert is to subscribe to their service. If I could just get a quick picture with the alert it would be the perfect camera. With a different brand of cameras that do that it is nice because then in a glance I can see if it is the UPS guy or someone with a crowbar.

There’s a lot to like about the TP-Link Tapo C125 AI Home Security Wi-Fi Camera. Good price, plenty of features, easy to use (once set up). Like other smart, wifi-enabled security cams, the Tapo C125 offers: * Good image quality in both daylight and night with HD resolution of 2560 x 1440 * Wide angle view covering a broad area * An app that is easy to use yet offers a full-range of features * A decent price In addition to the above, the Tapo C125 offers some things that are not always included in security cameras in this price-range: * Recording: If you insert a mini-ssd card (purchased separately) into the provided slot on the camera, it will record (continuously if you like) and save to the card. Once the card is full it begins to erase earlier recordings. What I especially appreciate is that you can do this without needing some kind of subscription. Although you can setup an account to record to the cloud, I am glad it’s not required. Some offerings in this category won’t let you save recordings without a paid subscription - a very unfriendly stance. * Compatibility: Not all cameras work with smart home standards, and most that do only work with one or two. The Tapo C125 works with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and SmartThings. That is a big plus. Especially as it’s not unusual to find yourself switching from one standard to another. * Installation: Installing the camera to a fixed location is made simple by the fact that you just need to fix a metal plate (supplied) where you want the camera (with screws or adhesive) and the camera simply attaches magnetically to the plate (the camera is very light). Add to this the fact that the thin wiring from the charger to the camera is nice and long and it’s a thoughtful touch. * Form-Factor: It may be a minor thing, but I really like the way the camera and stand fold together into a tight unit - another thoughtful touch. It’s worth mentioning that the initial set-up of the unit with the app was slightly confusing. Not overwhelming, but it did take a little more thought to understand the process than I’ve experienced with others. However, for me, it was still over quickly and it has worked as expected without any glitches ever since. I should also mention that the C125 includes 'AI' recognition of people, pets, etc. and these can be turned off or on. I did not get a chance to fully test this so cannot evaluate this feature. However, when used inside with people present it successfully and separately identified each person. Because of this, I would expect the pet-identification feature to work equally well. The TP-Link Tapo C125 AI Home Security Wi-Fi Camera, is a very good offering and I recommend it.

Great camera for a piece of mind while you are home or away. Have you ever been at work or on vacation only to wonder how your little friend you had to leave at home is doing ? Or you get a call from a neighbor telling you someone is creeping around your house or worse yet your at home and your hearing noises out in your entranceway ? Well that's where this comes in handy. You can easily mount it anywhere with the included magnetic mounting template. Just make sure you have a power outlet near by to power it up with. It has some very nice features for a smaller price,so you can't really go wrong with this security camera. A few of the features i really like were one you have an option to record rite to a SD card on the camera but you are limited to a 512 memory size but you can also record to the cloud,so your covered for smaller events or the longer recordings. Another nice feature is the low intensity IR light, so you don't have a high beam of light that lets everyone know you are recording at night. And lastly i love the smart AI detection and notification because now i know if i hear a dog barking or a car or a voice who is what,as in if it picks up the sound of breaking glass and nobody is home it notifies me. But if a car drives by my house it's not going to send me unneeded notifications. All in all for the price and the features this security camera come with it's a smart choice to go with. Oh also it's compatible with Google home that i already use for my other camera so setup was a breeze but also works with Alexa and Apple home.

This device is great. It is a 2K wired Smart Security camera. It works with Apple Homekit, Google home and etc and easy to setup with wifi as well. It also has a magnetic base as well so you can place it anywhere as long as its metal so you just need to add a metal plate on a wall or like on a fridge or whatever. I just set it up on a table in my Room. If you are renting a room I find it important to see whats happening and if anybody has gone in my room I have actually lost money in my room and if I had a camera in my room I would of known for sure who did it. Anyways This is a 2K resolution camera which is great to see the details and you can see everything. Yeah 4K might be better but I find anything with a good 1080P or higher resolution sensor can do the job quite fine. It also hasa privacy shutter so you can make sure nothing is being seen if you don't want it to record anything as well especially if you're using this in your room or bedroom. You just need to supply a micro SD card for storage.

Since I received this product, the "TP-Link Tapo C125 AI Home Security Wi-Fi Camera, White," it has been operating flawlessly for a year. Although the resolution has improved, Tp-Link has demonstrated its value and performed well in home security products, as evidenced by the numerous routers I have purchased over the years. Although I don't have a favorite security product or DOCSIS router device, I must admit that TP-Link's products and their quality were exceptional!

Dealt with shoddy cameras for years. Finally upgraded to these reasonably priced cameras and they just work! Using ONVIF with AgentDVR