Customer Ratings & Reviews

Garbage. Stay clear of these cameras. Never keeps WiFi connection (and yes I have WiFi extender) and cannot access live view unless your phone is on the same WiFi - so I ask, how is this a good system. Seems like Tapo paid for positive reviews everywhere to push sales. Poor customer service and juts disappointing. If I could rate 0 stars I would. For your own benefit, save time and money and look elsewhere.

Stay as far away from this product as possible. I had two cameras fall from their magnetic base. Luckily I bought the bestbuy geek squad warranty and they allowed me to exchange for a different brand. I had just started a year subscription to the tapocare plan. I reached out to their customer service to see about a prorated refund and they denied any amount to credit me back for.

I was pleasantly surprised when I received these Tapo indoor/outdoor wireless cameras. I thought it only contained one. These cameras are some of the best that I have ever used in our home security system. I only wish I had found them sooner as I would have used Tapo exclusively. I was in Law Enforcement for 26 years and I have tried to have a system that when I travel I now know that our home is protected w/ video and other devices. I had a “soft spot” in the perimeter of our home and was in the process of searching for the best wireless camera that it out there, and these are it! I downloaded the Tapo App which I already had since they also make bulbs, sockets, etc that are wireless and the process of pairing the camera to our smart phones and tablets was easy, the App even formats the micro storage cards that I purchased separately, I highly recommend that you use the App and not your computer to format the card. Mounting these was easy, they include three small stickers that I placed on the wood that I was going to mount them to and pre-drilled the holes, and I mounted them w/ the supplied screws (be careful here, the screws are the only complaint I have, they are not well made and I stripped two of them and decided to use my own to finish the job) Once you mount the provided magnetic mounting plate you simply pair the camera and place it where you want it and its easily directional, you can literally put the camera in places you wouldn’t think possible w/ this system that Tapo has. As far as the video, it is very, very clear and the App is very easy to find what you need, the alerts the first couple of days were picking up vehicle movement that passed our home and a quick adjustment of the camera cleared that up. These are EXCEPTIONAL wireless cameras and they are very simple to install and use. If you are in the market to purchase security camera’s I HIGHLY recommend these.

The magnetic party was what i didn't like. I live in the second floor and if someone the something at one of the cameras it would have fell off. Or if it was very windy and something was flying around and hit it they would fall off

Poor connection, poor video quality, poor battery life. If its anywhere that has any activity at all, the battery lasts about 2 weeks. The other two I put up on much quieter areas (1-2 triggers per day) and seem to last about a month. Video is very grainy and cannot make out any details if the lighting is not 'perfect'/

The camera’s motion detection is not sensitive enough to capture all movements.

battery backup does not last a month picture quality is ok

Was to complicated wouldn't connect kept having an error message

Unboxing was simple. Well packed, and easy to prep. Comes with everything you need. I had hoped it would stick to my eaves but they're not magnetic. So they have options for smooth surfaces, you can use a precut double sided sticky tape for their metal circular base that this can attach to, or you can screw that base in. Either way, you use their circular base then to attach this to non-iron surfaces. Setup is simple and quick. I already had a TPLINK account for some other smart devices (and probably a router or two in the past) so I just logged in with that when the time came. Each camera, when initially booted, hosts its own WIFI that you have to connect to. That is an annoying feature at this point, as I have over 150 smart devices on my various wireless networks at home, all for voice controlling EVERYTHING, and it's been a long time since I had to go this route to do the initial connection. But it worked, flawlessly, so I'll give them that. First downside - no 5 GHz support. The other cameras I've picked up recently can use 2.4 or 5 GHz, so this one is less flexible that way. But the signal is strong, so definitely does better than some other devices with being able to grab and hold a good signal strength. I have used a TON of outdoor security cameras over the last 15 years. Started with Logitech, loved them, best field of view EVER, until they stopped supporting them. Went through many cheaper overseas ones, and one was awesome, best AI and NEVER a false report or email about movement that wasn't a person or pet. But it used a horrible free app that so many of the cheap ones use, and when it got overblown with ads, I switched to Reolink. Loved it and the app, but I could only ever get three working at a time - the fourth always would set up fine, and within a few days just vanish. Hard reset like original, and it was good, two days later, gone again. So that's where these may come into play. I prefer an NVR, and I see that these support RTSP. But first let's just get them working with the app. Getting them going was easy. All came up just fine after the initial setup. But the setup is annoying - there are a whole bunch of NEXT screens you have to go through with all the setup instructions. Some steps have four or five lines to read, and you get an annoying COUNTDOWN before you can click NEXT. It's annoying the first time, but each successive time for each camera increases that annoyance level. They really need to remove that wait. Once you're done setting up, you can get into the app and the settings and tweak things. It has all the expected settings I'd look for - removal of the logo, disable the LED indicators, setting of the brightness of the spotlight, and different privacy options. You can set detection zones, enable a camera local account (for that RTSP option), even set up scheduled reboots. If you don't trust firmware updates until they've been proven, you can disable automatic updates. The quality of the video during bright daytime is very good. I absolutely LOVE the field of view compared to what I've been using for the last few years. I have a much wider view of my yard now using these. Night vision isn't nearly as good as the Reolink though, which makes sense as this has to really keep the battery life in the front of everything it does. You also do have options to try to stretch battery life and how it responds to events. I need to have the review finished before I can really test that out though, so I can't speak to how well that works. I live in Wisconsin, so we're used to below zero temps for long periods of times, sometimes we may get a week at 20 below (not windchill, simply air temp). So these may or may not be as viable during those months. I don't mind having to charge these a few times a year, but I hoped they would end up lasting long enough over the winter since getting a ladder out there around the house when there are a few feet of snow does NOT appeal to me. I really like the way these mount and how easy it is to adjust the angles. No screws to tighten or loosen, and it stays where you point it. Only time will tell how it stands up to 60 or 80 mile per hour winds during storms. I won't worry about tornado winds, since if a tornado comes by, even the Reolink cameras would likely get ripped from the eaves despite the screws. I'm connecting to these with my iPhone 13 Pro Max and an new gen iPad Mini. Both work with no issues. I wish there were a PC app, so that may be another thing that will prevent these from actually replacing my Reolink system. I used reservations with my DHCP server so they always get the same IP's so I could program them for that NVR, but they only responded sporadically to ping so I wasn't sure how that will play with the NVR. I don't have issues with video viewing, and when I wanted to see if they still showed video when not pinging, they started pinging. I assume viewing video "wakes up" the network connection. Which tells me then that the battery life will be way, WAY less than advertised if I set this up with RTSP and my NVR since it would then have wireless on 24/7 and likely will have no battery life at that point. All of which was moot - my Reolink NVR supposedly supports RTSP but it would not connect despite having the IP and username and password and port set correctly. I initially spent an hour or so with VLC and other options, and I was never able to get any RTSP streams going from any of these, regardless of the format of the address I tried, based on normal standards as well as their own support people's answers on some online forums. This is something that, at least when I'm inside on the same physical subnet as the cameras, shouldn't be such a pain. Ultimately by the time I gave up, I spent three days trying various things for PC viewing via RTSP, never succeeded even following the instructions on their own forum. The night vision is just a fraction of what I need, can't even illuminate people on the sidewalk that's not far at all from the front porch. I get a lot of laggy viewing. It was really bad when I was trying to position them outside, like 8 to 10 second delay sometimes despite the awesome signal strength. The battery, over the course of three days, dropped less than 2 percent, so that's good. But they spent that time inside, staring at my ceiling, only alerting me for motion when I walked through that room. Out in the real world with alerts from people walking down the sidewalk, I'm sure I'd have used more battery life. So I'm torn with these. For me, they won't work, so they'll get boxed back up and tossed in my basement where they'll be forgotten. I need something I can view on my computer as well as on apps on my phone. I prefer something that I can get recordings on my NVR. Had the night performance been better I may have been able to lose the NVR altogether and use these, but it wasn't. And since I like to have my cameras up sometimes, such as when waiting for a UPS or Fed Ex delivery, the battery only simply will NOT work in my situation. Even if these actually were able to get RTSP to work right, the battery life would simply vanish. But, if you're someone who just wants something you can get alerts from on your phone though, and view on the phone, then these may work fine. Battery life is still unquantifiable, there's no way to know if it will meet it's lofty claim, or anywhere even in the upper half of that timeframe once you get regular traffic that it has to wake up to identify and alert about. But you can't beat it for simplicity - no wires at all. Which makes them even easier to work with than the wireless cameras I've been using for over 15 years since I still needed power ran to each point in the eaves. And I really LOVED their field of view. So wide compared to almost all others. It's the field of view that made me want to find a way to use these. But even that wasn't enough to overcome the lack of other features I need. So if you want a full fledged system, these will not handle the need. But if you want something simple and quick and don't need much distance viewing for night, they may work. In that limited instance, I'd say these would get 4 stars. For my situation, 1 or 2 stars. It really depends on your needs.

Tapo Smart Wire-Free Security Camera TC85 V1 is a very well-assembled camera. Out of the box, you can see the cameras are assembled with high-quality materials. And they boast a straightforward setup process. You can access charging ports and the SD card slot on the bottom. You need an SD card to add internal saving of clips from the camera. And with the magnetic mounting system, you feel like a secret agent or Batman putting them up with such ease. Once you place the mound, you can move the camera at any angle and adjust quickly. They have a 10,000 mAh battery that, once charged, can almost go unattended for months. But you can also use an optional A200 solar panel for even more freedom from charging. The 2K and live view resolution is clear and will blow you away. I also like the color night vision and the automatic light flood system that comes on when needed. They also have an eye detection that works well. Once installed, you can use the app that has pretty good functionality. You must pay for a premium account for more options to open in the app. That was the only thing I did not care about when considering this camera system. But other than that, this is a solid camera system for almost any placement around your home indoors and out, as it's all waterproof. I recommend checking them out.

These cameras are very versatile. Very easy to install. Have great images. Do not require a subscription, but it is offered. Above the windows and doors of our brick house we have metal plates that support the wall above the windows and doors. These are a perfect place to mount the base for the cameras. The back of the base is magnetic, and it strong enough to keep the base in place. The manufacturer recommends mounting 7-10 foot high, which the window frame is perfectly in that range. There are also metal plates that are included with options to screw them in or use adhesive pads. If you have a metal area you can use, it just saves a little time. After attaching the base the camera will also connect magnetically. This gives me hesitation that they would be easy to remove by someone snooping around, but if they don't know how they are mounted they would not know to try and grab them. The cameras each take a internal micro SD card for local storing of video and images. This is especially nice for power outages and network issues. The cameras will still record. The SD cards are formatted by the camera and will do loop recording, where it will overwrite the oldest video. Motion sensitivity is adjustable and it is recommended not to have the camera pointing in the direction someone may be coming from but at an angle so the motion can be detected more consistently. For example you might set up above the front door, but put it in the corner rather than directly above the door so there is an angle to detect people. You can set recording schedules, zones to monitor and ignore, and you can access the cameras from a PC or Laptop with a program called iSpy that is not offered by TP Link but is referenced on their web page support documents. Battery life has been exceptional. I have had the cameras over a week and we have barely touched the battery. They are all between 95% and 97%. Full charge takes a few hours to charge with a micro USB cable. You can also purchase solar charging panels. One odd configuration I did notice. To change Wi-Fi networks you have to remove the camera and readd it to your configuration. I am really pleased with these cameras. I have not tried the free 30 day trial cloud storage yet, but I have been quite happy with the SD card configuration. These are definitely recommended by me.

The TP-Link - Tapo 3-Camera Indoor/Outdoor 2K QHD Wireless Home Security Surveillance System with adjustable magnetic base is a simple yet powerful and diverse security system. It should first be noted that this system does not require any sort of subscription, but a service called “Tapo Care” is available for purchase which provides 24/7 cloud storage for those who are interested. I personally am not interested in having a security system with an ongoing subscription cost at this time so I really like the fact that this Tapo system can be used with a MicroSD card for local recording and that I also still have the option to subscribe and receive 24/7 cloud storage at any time as well. Another thing I really like about this system is how simplistic it is. Since it is wire-free and a central hub is not required, the cameras are easy to setup. Everything is done through the TP-Link Tapo app and it was all pretty straightforward. Installing the cameras themselves was easy as well. I like how the cameras and bases are magnetic so you just have to install the base and then the camera attaches magnetically. It is actually quite a strong connection which really holds the camera in place regardless of the angle. When it comes to performance, the 2K recording quality is really nice. I feel like this is the sweet spot when it comes to resolution because the higher the resolution, the more storage space it takes up. The quality is better than 1080p while requiring less storage than what is required for 4K recordings. Some of the other features this Tapo security system includes which are also really nice are the built-in speaker and microphone so you can communicate through the cameras, the bright spotlights which can be manually activated through the app, and the powerful 10000mAh battery which should last a long time, reducing the frequency of recharging each of the cameras. Overall, the TP-Link - Tapo 3-Camera Indoor/Outdoor 2K QHD Wireless Home Security Surveillance System with adjustable magnetic base is a great home security system and I highly recommend it!

Camaras don’t work as expected, the video recording only can be viewed once then is deleted from SD card

Adhesive not strong enough. All mounted cameras broke within 2-days falling from less than 10-feet.

I purchased these for my daughter to place around her house I trusted the brand, and well, the price was too good to pass up Packaging is simple enough to protect the product, and inside instructions walked me through the set-up process Following the quick set up guide, the units (3) took a few hours to get a full charge. They were not drained when I got them, so it was a good start Mounting with the tape that they supplied was simple, and I also used the supplied template to drill a few holes and anchor with the supplied screws I will just say it now - no longer will be a location be determined by an available outlet. In addition, no tacking and hiding cords anymore. The cameras can be in the best location and be either hidden from view to capture everything, or up front to deter any issues Since I am on the iOS format, the app was quickly found on the app store and downloaded. The QR link made it error proof Connecting the cameras to my account was quick and easy, and the results exceeded my expectations Clear views and a simple interface. Also, 2k versus 4k is fine and will not throttle your bandwidth as much I would recommend this product to anyone

I have a variety of cameras in and around my home ranging from Arlos, DLink to Wyze. Setting up these cameras was very simple, perhaps easiest of them all. Charged them up, downloaded the app, setup new account and started adding the cameras one by one to the app. As a side note... why MicroUSB?? Who thought that was a good idea? Makes it seem like this camera was sitting on the projects shelf a little too long and was just pushed out. The app seems a bit dated as well and sometimes when connecting to the app celluarly, it takes a bit of time to get the stream going (this is where you need local recoding), but most wireless camera systems are the same. USB C would've offered faster charging speeds. Hopefully the claimed battery life will hold up, but that has yet to be seen. I set them up in various spots around the perimeter of my home and overall I am satisfied with what they have to offer. The magnetic bases are strong and will super pinch your fingers (ask me how I know they will make blood blisters). TP Link provides a variety of mounting options by either using the base on a metal magnetic surface, or the metal base plate which can be either screwed to or double sided taped to the surface. Range of positioning was very good. With the 150deg viewing angle, I am able to cover the whole of my backyard covering all entry points to the yard and house. One of the biggest benefits is no need for base station unlike my Arlos which do require one, however the one benefit of the base station is that I can record locally to the base station and not have to pay for another subscription service. I can add microSD cards to the Tapos so there is still the ability to record locally albeit clips of events. I would've been great if there was an option for the Tapos to push a screen shot of what it's notifying you of. When connecting remotely I usually see the camera well after an event has occurred. But even my doorbell camera will have me wait from time to to time. The local SD card will record events but only clips and not continuously. The Wyze cams will record continuously to the MicroSD card (but the wyze are wired so power is not an issue). I have already had them out during the rain with no issues. They do not seem to send endless notifications due to water hitting the lenses. Unless in a covered housing, I have yet to see cameras that perform well in the rain. Neither Arlos or Wyze handle that well. The 2K sensors do offer better clarity than both my Arlos and Wyze during the day, but at night it is a slightly different story. The IR punches a little further than my Arlo 3s and Wyze v3s offering sligthly further distance of visibility, but the color night vision can only be used if the lights on the camera are activated, which will definitely draw attention to them. The Wyze do much better with color night vision. But jumping into the app, I can relatively switch on the lights with little trouble. The alarm siren is not something I would rely on outside, but the speaker rather clear when talking over it, although the app is a little glitchy to respond to pressing the mic. The alarm is rather loud indoors however. The object/person detection works pretty well and quick. I've only tested these in my backyard where there isn't much movement outside of trees and battery life seems impressive in that regard. I will need to set this up in the front of my house pointing toward the street with more cars and people moving around and see how long it lasts. For what the cameras offer in this moment I would be able to recommend them if someone were looking for a SIMPLE setup. There are so many options on the market but the Tapos seem to be built well and have a nice sensor. If the color night vision were like the Wyze and the app wasn't clunky at times, I would probably forgive the sin of MicroUSB. But that being said the Tapos are worth looking into if you need a quick and easy camera solution.

Security Camera Hints: The model is: TC85 The first thing they say is to charge it to 100%. There is no way of knowing when that’s completed, apparently because you haven’t installed the camera. The instructions say a light will blink on the front of the camera a few times when you plug it in to charge. This never happened for me although they did charge. You can tell by how warm your wall wort gets. I have seen it blink, but I think that was only after I had installed the camera (or perhaps after an update). When I charged some cameras initially, I left them on the chargers for a long time. Well past 100%. After I got them installed they still said 100%. When I took some off the charger as soon as they said 100%, by the time I installed them up they were down to 98 or 99%. Once installed, you will get a notification on your mobile device that charging is complete. I’d leave them charging, say 30 minutes, after you get that notice to ensure a full charge. Give the camera a name such as its location. Like front door, back door, east, west. They ask you to give the location as another field. Give it the same name. I wrote the name, in pencil, on the bottom of the cameras during set- up so I wouldn’t mix them up. Tap ‘device info’ at the top right under the name of your camera. At the bottom, tap “firmware version“. You’ll need to upgrade it. Also, here you’ll see a signal strength meter, a green Wi-Fi signal indicator. Tap on it and you will get the RSSI. The closer that number is to zero, the stronger your signal. I think it says poor if it’s -60 or less. A poorer signal will give you an increasingly negative number. Very handy. If you’re between -67 and 0 (usually in the 30s) you’re good. Apparently, when you set the cameras up, that’s ‘current’ mode. If you want to set up a ‘home’ mode and ‘away’ modes, it resets the cameras to default. That sets them to do pretty much everything they will do, including set off an alarm. Oops!! Sorry Mr. UPS man. It never fails, some things you’ll only find out through trial and error. I have never set any alarms. If you have multiple networks (I have a router and an AP at opposite ends of our house), install the camera to the network closest to where the camera will be placed. If you want to change the network, go to the bottom of that camera’s settings page and ‘remove’ the camera. Then reinstall it. You will lose all of your settings, but now that you’re familiar with the app, you’ll reconfigure it quickly. Display and Video: I set the night mode settings at full color mode, video quality at 2K and the frame rate at 25 FPS (more on this later). For now I’m thinking the cameras have a long battery life and are easy to recharge so why not go for max quality? Date stamp yes, but no on display text and display logo. I haven’t set any privacy zones yet. I have set notification zones to avoid street traffic. Live tag & speed tag yes. I left the status LED light on. For the time being, I set the spotlight intensity at 2 where lights are on all night long. The others I set to 5. If the camera is placed in a corner, the reflection of the camera light on the walls may darken the area you want to observe. Don’t forget to set it. One of my cameras, the default was zero. When in ‘Home’ mode, I only have notifications set for the front door. When working in the front yard, I’ll tap “privacy mode” to turn notifications off. On the home screen, tap on a camera. You’ll see the camera’s name at the top. Immediately below you’ll see the current connection speed in KB/s & the state of charge of the battery. Very cool. A firmware update turned on notifications for all cameras and deleted the notification zone for one of the 2 cameras for which I have zones saved. A quick note here, this is one of the few pages where you actually have to ‘save’ your choices. That’s not the first time I’ve noticed change issues with an update. I purchased nine of these cameras, and gave some away. One of those that I gave away had the frame rate option of 30fps. Odd, I thought. Mine say 25fps. The cameras didn’t call for a firmware update when I checked. I did a paper clip reboot on one of my cameras. Now the choice said 30fps not 25fps. I thought I would do the same to the others the next time I recharged them. The others still said 25fps. Later that evening, hours later, they all said 30fps without a paperclip reboot or any intervention by me. A small red dot indicates an update available. When the update is completed, a notice may say, ‘all cameras are up-to-date’ yet you may still see a red dot. Rinse and repeat. I do have automatic updates, turned on. You may get a notification on the lock screen of your mobile device that an update is available. Nice. I understand a separate ‘camera account’ can be created to allow Tapo cameras to work with third-party devices, such as NVR‘s and NAS via the RTSP protocol. Programs/Apps to use might be Frigate or Blue Iris. First, go to advanced settings and choose camera account. Apparently that’s where you get started. I haven’t investigated this yet.

I have been using the TC85 3 pack security system for the last week. The cameras appear to be of a high quality. The magnet mount and adapters allow for easy mounting. First off, I found the app to be problematic. It was not as easy to navigate, I had the hardest time trying to find functions and it took me quite a while to figure out how to format the MicroSD card. After that the rest of the installation went quickly. Within an hour and a half, I was recording. The playback was an excellent quality in the daylight. The 2K QHD clarity allowed me to read the license plates of passing vehicles. After dark the 2K color night vision is ok, but not as detailed as the daylight. The cameras were able to distinguish between a human and an animal, there appears to be a problem with getting notifications. Using the app to set the sensitivity and block out trees and bushes did reduce some of the false notifications, but not all. There is no delay in receiving a notification, as they come quickly. The video is recorded to a MicroSD card, not provided with camera package, you can purchase up to a 256GB SD card for each camera. This is expensive but cheaper than purchasing cloud storage. There is a setting that allows for overwriting the older files. This is just like your dashcam. The charging of the camera battery tokes over 5 hours and utilizes a micro-USB and only comes with 1 short cable. TP-Link says the battery will last 300 days with 230 seconds of use per day. There is also a solar charger option you can purchase to eliminate the need to recharge the battery. I also found the further away from the router the more dropped signals.

I got the Tapo cameras because I needed some extra coverage around the perimeter of my home and have had great luck with TP-Link devices in the past. Unfortunately, I should have done more research before pulling the trigger. First, these things are much larger than I expected. Not necessarily huge, but they are certainly not blending in anywhere and will definitely be noticed. The setup process was unnecessarily frustrating to say the least. One of the three cameras took multiple attempts just to get it to recognize my wi-fi network and then it timed out and made me start the process all over. Those kind of things just shouldn't happen. But that was just the beginning. As large as these cameras are, one would think the wi-fi reception range would be immense. Not so. It is extremely limited. I wanted to place these cameras outside my home to view the pool and patio areas, but I kept getting "low signal" messages only a few feet away from the house even though I can connect other smart devices from anywhere in my yard (and sometimes in the neighbor's!). Sigh. Back to the drawing board. I moved them to not so ideal locations where they would actually connect. That's when I realized one of the most basic features I rely on in my other camera systems is completely missing--geofencing! Yup. The only way to arm/disarm the cameras is to open the app and press a button, which sometimes works, sometimes only changes the state of one or two of the cameras, and sometimes completely fails. The Alexa integration skill doesn't seem to allow for voice commands to control the on/off function either so that's not a work around. Also, the live feeds will absolutely not show up in Google Home alongside all my other cameras so there's no way to see everything in a single app. I finally got so frustrated with these cameras I took them down and stuck them in a box. Maybe someday there will be an update to add in the missing functions and I will use them. But I'm not holding my breath. I gave the system 2 stars because the video quality is pretty good and the spotlights are a nice feature. Otherwise, I see the Tapo camera system as little more than glorified paperweights. There are lots of other, better options out there.

I am so happy I purchased these cameras. They work great and are easy to setup. Well worth the cost.