Tapo TP-Link 2K QHD Security Camera, Indoor/Outdoor, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗣𝗖𝗠𝗮𝗴 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲, Color Night Vision, Free Person/Pet/Vehicle Detection, Invisible IR Mode, SD Storage, C120

I purchased this security camera yesterday, it arrived at my house this morning and this afternoon I have it installed and I have it linked to my WiFi Network and running on the TAPO app on my phone.I not overly techy at all and I found the app, and the bluetooth pairing with my phone, and the connecting to my house's WiFi etc... to be extremely easy to set up an use.I can see my front door, talk to people out there, turn a light on and I can even make a little alarm noise too. LOL.Local storage:I bought Extreme SanDisk 256mb Mini SD cards for local storage. Whatever card you get you will need a minimum rating of V30. 256 mb should record about 2 weeks on a loop, I think. this camera could support a 512mb card, but they are more than twice the price.Subscription:I signed up for the 30 day free trial of their membership subscription.I could run this app and view this camera on my phone and utilize my local storage without the subscription.The subscription adds cloud storage.Beyond Cloud Storage I do not relly know what other benefits I gain from the subscription, but will probably find out when it runs out. I'll try life without it and then determine if I want to sign up.Installation:I found the metallic mounting plate for magnetic mounting to be useless on a vertical wall application. The camera would just slide down the metal plate, the magnet was not strong enough.I drilled holes through the camera base and mounted it that way, worked very well and was easy to do and looks professional.There is a USB C or similar power supply plug on the camera end and the supplied power cord has a regular USB power plug on the other end.They supply your with a USB to 115 plug power block included in the box.I used a plastic handy box I had on hand anchored to a piece of truss framing to mount a regular 115 outlet that spliced into an existing 14/2 electrical wire running in the soffit above my camera mounting location.I have this power block plugged into that and the power cord for the camera plugged into the power block. I'm glad nobody will ever see it, looks crappy.I had all of this on hand and have wired multiple houses.If purchasing on outlet for this installation I would recommend purchasing a USB 115 outlet that mounts in a handy box.I bought two fo these cameras, these re my first security cameras.I am happy with these two for $25 a piece but before I buy more I will research and try to find a tapo option that just has a couple bare wires sticking out of it so I can just hardwire it directly to my house's electrical system.My cameras were purchase don sale. For $25 a piece and $25 a piece for the cards, so $50 a piece total, I am loop recording 14 days of security footage that I can access from the other side of the world via my phone and home WiFi system. Not to mention I can also talk to people on my front door.Who can complain about that?Of course if someone just cuts my internet cable, it'll all go to s*** anyways. I suppose the cameras would continue recording on my SD cards. Of course if they could see your cameras, they could take the cameras or just the SD crds too. But its better than nothing, I should have done this sooner.

These are great little cameras and the software app is very good. Looks more like and indoor cam but works great outside even at night. The starlight option makes video at dusk very clear. The IR night vision works well too. I added extra IR lights to give clearer night time video because everything bad happens at night. I tried another TAPO camera, the C520 and I like this better. The C520 has a patrol mode and can pan and zoom and follow people if you want that but the picture on this at night is slightly better. It is pretty wide angle too and setup and connected easily.Interesting, when I bought a second C121 camera to replace the C520, it had a slighly hazy image. I tried to reach out to support to see if there is an easy way to clean or refocus it, but that was seeming like a waste of time, so I just returned it. Interesting that the replacement I just got didn't have any plastic film over the lense like the other 2. So maybe it was a return too but it works fine so I don't care. I hope they don't sell my return to someone else, it is almost OK, but in comparison to my other 2, the picture is hazy.These are smaller than I expected (which doesn't really matter I guess) and the magnetic mount and mounting arm rotates in all directions making it easy to position. You can put a screw through the mount too so it can't just be knocked down by someone, but they could rip it down easy enough if they can reach it. These look a little delicate, so I mounted it under the eave to keep it out of the rain and snow.The Tapo-TP-Link software is better than some chinese ones I tried. I had weird glitchy issues with a couple other brands, like the dates not matching up, or going off line and needing to be reset. This just works well. You can zoom in on videos which is nice. It does not have 2X or 4X speed like my other ones did which was helpful when scrolling through a bunch of clips looking for something, but that is the only feature I miss.It does not record 24x7 to the card, but you don't want to have to replay that much anyway when looking for something. The motion video indicates whether it is a car, person, pet or general motion and you can set the level of sensitivity to get more or less recordings. I turn off notifications and just use these as security cameras to look back through if something happens. This can take a big microSD card so you have lots of days saved, more that I would ever need I think. I am using a 64 and 128gb card but it takes even bigger ones.Price was great too, especially on sale. So far I am very happy with it. I will post a followup if anything changes in the next several months.

This is a great versatile camera. I have a 4 year old 32 Channel NVR that uses the onvif Protocol and 1080P resolution. Several of my original cameras died of old age and that I was using indoor cameras outside. I have tried many replacements but couldn't find a compatible replacement. I saw this model on sale and decided to try it.The setup was very easy through the TAPO app and I was able to use the Advanced setup to create a camera account and password. I was also able to change the resolution to 1080P. My NVR was able to detect the camera and the required port (2020). It connected with no issue. The picture is great even in low light conditions. There are multiple mounting options and the hardware is included. I can access the camera through both the app and my NVR. The motion detector works great even at 35-40 feet. The zoom feature works great through the app. Security is good but degraded slightly because of the local account created for my NVR. The only negative I have found is that the camera's time is off by 20 minutes. I like it so wel;l, that I have purchased a second one.