TP-Link Tapo 1080P Indoor Security Camera for Baby Monitor, Dog Camera w/Motion Detection, 2-Way Audio Siren, Night Vision, Cloud & SD Card Storage, Works w/Alexa & Google Home (Tapo C100)

Installs and operates quite easily; great picture; good value!
This is a very-easy-to-set-up and very-easy-to-use home security camera. I got this camera to help my wife and I keep an eye on her elderly and sickly mother, who lives with us. We can’t be with her 24/7, and since she spends most of her waking hours in our den (where the large-screen TV is), watching her in case she falls is very convenient with this camera. The picture is great, in daytime or at night, and the fact that it has 2-way audio is very handy. We also very much appreciate how it has a built-in smoke and gas alarm, especially since our den is right next to our kitchen. Before this camera, we had never heard of these features being part of a security camera. Inside the box there is an easy-to-read Quick Start Guide that helps you get the camera up and running with the help of an easily downloadable app. We are very grateful for this security camera, and only wish we had gotten it a lot sooner. It’s made quite well, and so far has functioned flawlessly. Five stars all the way!

A very good addition to my security camera system
I bought one of these to replace a more panoramic double lens Reolink camera on my Blue Iris-managed security system in hopes it would not drop connections the way the Reolink cams (I have three of them of various models) seem to. So far, it has been working great. Dropouts are rare but the camera is little less wide angle. Full disclosure – I’m using a TP-Link mesh system and there could be some compatibility benefits beneath the hood that I’m oblivious to since Tapo and TP-Link are from the same source. There are some concerns about TP-Link being a Chinese company, but you’ll have to resolve that issue in your own mind.
This cam was easy to set up with the Tapo app initially and took only a bit of tinkering with video parameters in my Blue Iris NVR software to make it work. There are subreddits and TP-Link postings to help with this. For your reference, my setup uses software running on Windows, not the separate hardware NVR. You may find the Tapo app sufficient but I have a mix of camera brands and some of them have much worse apps than Tapo, so a unified management system works best for me. (I’m looking at you Amcrest, Foscam and Reolink.) If you go all Tapo, you may not need anything else, and a cloud storage subscription is an option they offer.
The C120 has excellent night views and works best for me with the IR disabled to avoid rain and fog issues and because there is already some help from street lighting. The night color is beautiful and clear. The camera’s own motion detection seems to work well enough (continuing to evaluate and will post updates if there are findings) although I rely on Blue Iris to manage motion detection events and video clip storage.
I’m also working with an indoor Tapo C100 with similar experience so far, although this may be the topic of a separate review.
I strongly recommend using optional microSD cards in these cameras, even if you use Blue Iris for your primary motion detection and video clip cataloging. It costs very little extra for, say, 64GB cards and they backstop your main system.

Quería una cámara para las siestas de mi bebé y es perfecta de día y de noche. Me avisa cuando detecta movimiento, llanto, tiene muchas más opciones pero al menos para lo que la uso es perfecta sobre todo por el precio, vale mucho la pena. Tengo ya casi un año con ella y todo sigue funcionando bien.

The photo you see is from the Tapo app, taken at night, during a fairly heavy snowstorm in Quebec Canada ey! The camera is setup in the bedroom, so picture is seen through a window, not bad ey! I also own an Ezviz indoor camera(CN6060 I believe) setup through a window also, but the light on the camera reflects in the window so I can’t see anything at night.
Tapo says night vision extends to 30 ft, but as you can see, houses on the other side of the street are at least 75 feet away and you can still see them, although I am sure streetlights help a lot. Night detection is 30 feet, maybe more. I set up the camera to detect persons only, and it works fine as long as persons step on my property. It does detect some persons on the street, if they walk on my side of the street.
Audio is decent too, have not really used it, but did hear my wife that was standing at least 15 feet away from the camera. She made me turn audio off, camera is in the bedroom after all! :- I
Setup is very easy, done in 10-15 minutes on both iPad and iPhone. This thing is so light, I taped it to the top of the window, upside down, adjusted the angle, reversed the picture in the app and I was done.
You can view the camera feed on a computer through VLC media player (VideoLan, it’s free to download). You need to setup a separate, free Tapo account account for this, I have read somewhere in the Tapo help that you can do everything with one account, but it did not work for me. Doc should be made clearer about this. After 3 days, the feed does not show on VLC anymore (still works fine on iPhone and iPad), but I will reboot eventually and it will probably work again. I need to input username and password in VLC everytime I want to see the feed, maybe I will dive into the VLC help and automate this.
I have bought a micro SD card (128Gb max for this model) and will install it soon. Doc says that if you put in a card, the feed to external device (VLC in this case) will not work. I hope this is not the case, will see.
Best part is that no membership is required. You get a 30-day free trial, but external feed will not work with membership or free trial, so I cancelled it before trying it out, so I can`t comment on membership.
There is a 2K and maybe even 4K model of this camera, but since I own over 20 smart devices, my Wifi is not as fast as it used to be, Full HD is enough for now.
This is a great camera, even more so if you’re new to smart devices. I will probably buy a few more soon, especially if it stays or goes on sale again. ”Alexa, show me camera two”!
Update Jan 23rd: Viewing the camera stream through VLC Media player stopped working after 2-3 days, VLC cannot connect to the camera. I setup Agent DVR free software instead and it works OK, but the picture is a bit grainy, but it does record detected persons automatically.
Update Jan 28 2024: I have seen a review that says you have to pay the subscription fee for motion detection to work, this is not true. Motion detection (I set it to person detection only) works fine, I get a notification on my phone (see photo in french cause my iPhone is set to french) when a person is detected.