This Camera STOPPED Me In My Tracks - TP-Link Tapo Wire Free MagCam

[@miketheknife2]

The first 3 minutes already answered most of my questions, but I did watch the whole video. Thanks for sharing your experience with these cameras.

[@dankelley9361]

Steve, just wanted you to know that I picked up this camera on Amazon Prime due to yours & Brian’s great coverage on this feature rich & subscription free camera! Thanks for all your efforts!

[@YukonHawk1]

I have the C425 and the C320ws. Two really nice cameras. My only wish is that they allow you to change the time format from military to regular time.

[@DanielE-ww5ui]

Awesome vid... Glad I found this cam setup. I have an iPhone and wondering if it's seamless to get notifications when away from home reading what's on the SD card through home wifi and not cloud storage. thx

[@johnprahl7124]

This was a paid promotion not a review

[@TheCuriousOrbs]

Then you dont know what either of those words mean.

[@johnprahl7124]

@@TheCuriousOrbsplease educate me then

[@TheCuriousOrbs]

@@johnprahl7124 No ones got time to educate the slow-kids. Go figure it out yourself dummy.

[@kito1san]

@@TheCuriousOrbs You do realize if you did watch 0:33 he said he was sent with a camera for review from TPLINK and the key word he noted is he is "sponsored" meaning he got paid to do this video by TPLINK. John WAS correct it's a paid promotion and not a review.

[@TheCuriousOrbs]

@@kito1san You've no idea how little I could give a... 👉👌

[@catherineirene9147]

What type of mount do I need for a more permanent installation…these are great!!

[@jackwilson2304]

Maybe the solar panel mount would work if they sell them as a replacement part.

[@SteveDOES]

I couldn't find any that are TP-Link branded, but I like Wasserstein mounts. Here's a link to a pair that i use. amzn.to/46V5oL2

[@catherineirene9147]

Thank you!!

[@DwayneMeredith]

Hi Steve, good review thanks. I'm curious on your NAS (?) setup and how to do that. I don't like the idea that the camera's on a magnetic base, can be easily removed (placement location important) and the means to review what happened is on the camera. Can you let me know how to do the NAS recording elsewhere? Thanks.

[@thegingerturner5727]

great video very imformative, 1 question though, does it continuously record to the card even when no motion is detected, or only records to the card when motion is detected, thanks very much

[@iAmRomeeee]

Since you got the 3 pack of cameras do you also need 3 solar panels? Do you need a memory card for each camera or will all three feeds record to one card?

[@drmckinley]

You need three solar panels

[@carlw]

Very helpful thanks. Im thinking about putting two on the rear corner of my house, one pointing along one wall and the other into the backyard. QUESTION: I'm also wanting to use the solar panel. Do you think or have you heard if you can charge both cameras using a cable splitter to the one solar panel? It's be dumb in 2024vif we couldn't do that? Thanks

[@TeeGeeAu]

Hey Steve, does this model have the same issue as the C420 model which often fails to activate night vision mode at night?

[@obedboateng8392]

Does the Tapo override the storage when it's full?

[@sx20Ramar]

yes

[@hottractor1999]

Looks like a nice camera/app. I thought this was a pretty good demonstration. I like the local storage and the idea of object identification, would be interesting to see how well it does. One thing i struggle with is motion alerts. Night time with IR, fog, rain/snow and insects overwhelm the camera alerts i have now and i needed to setup a rule to turn it off at night. Kind of an observation, it seems like a bunch of people on youtube got these cameras sent to them, there is a slew of Tapo camera reviews of various models.

[@uw91]

Are you unable to snooze the alerts? Ring allows you to do a 2 hour snooze on stuff, and this would be a deal breaker for me.

[@cryengine_x]

umm, security camera 101 you only set alert for when people, pets, and maybe vehicles are detected. otherwise you'll get bombed with pointless motion alerts as you are

[@sx20Ramar]

I have my motion detection OFF. Just people and pets are on.

[@jacobhilts7279]

What’s the little mounts you got on your fence? Can u send the link to them?

[@Harvester88]

This seems like a substantial upgrade from Blink. I got them for cheap but the service is so slow now.

[@MorbidGod391]

Honestly, the Nest camera has better sound and picture quality. Clearly showing you don’t need more than 1080p video for good picture quality.

[@mariviclexus5141]

How will this hold during winter time?

[@darknovum]

Just an update from me to you. I bought one of these for my home and the camera works as shown. However, I am having trouble with their solar panel not registering it's connect half the time or not showing it's getting any power from the sun. I have taken my camera down and done some controlled testing with both the cam and panel on a table in my backyard will full sun and still no power from the panel. If I connect the camera to electric outlet power it recognizes it's got power and charges with no problem. Have you seen this to be a problem?

[@Slimhaven1]

Nest Cam is hit or miss where the Tapo does not fail on instant response on letting you know hen there is motion on your camera

[@sx20Ramar]

Looking at a live feed about 10-15 times a day, and maybe 15 alerts of people walking by, I have to recharge my cam around every 10 days. Other than that, it works fine. I recharge it & format the 256 gig card.

[@greghwong]

Thank you for the review. One of the best ones out there

[@Hdic2018]

Awesome video. Is there any delay in the live view when using the cloud or local storage? How much is the monthly subscription fee for the cloud service? On the video 12:36 the video is so blurry on the face. Is that a normal night recording?

[@MiscellaneousMcC]

The video quality on the Nest beats the Tapo hands down judging by this comparison, especially the night video. For some reason the spotlights essentially erase your face on the video, making it much less usable.

[@cryengine_x]

guess you need glasses bud lol. theyre similar. except for as you mention the night spotlight thing

[@onanysundrymule3144]

Subscription for Nest he said, not for Tapo though. Big difference.

[@saurabhtyagi7543]

Thanks for thr video. Can we trigger the alexa routine when person is detected?

[@dankelley9361]

Great review of a very good Tapo camera setup. Love that it just all works without a subscription fee! Feature rich, does everything most people would desire, but agree, the facial feature at night with the spotlight feature turned on is really diminished & needs to be tweaked to make this a great camera.

[@SteveDOES]

Hope that tweak is just a firmware update away. :)

[@jackwilson2304]

Can the 3 camera set be broken up and given as gifts?

[@SteveDOES]

Yes, i believe so.

[@JZ2674]

Thanks for your in depth review Steve. I am hoping you can answer a question since you have experience with a few wireless, battery or solar power video surveillance cameras I'm interested in including TP-Link, Reolink, and Eufy. If I am traveling and turn off my home wifi, will any of the surveillance cameras still give me a notification on my phone through their respective apps, and can I see live footage while I am away from home? or does the wifi have to be on all the time?

[@jbb66]

Will need Wi-Fi as link to internet. Otherwise the devices would need a cellular connection. In process of looking for security system myself.

[@JZ2674]

@@jbb66 Thanks Jarrod. I recall a reviewer saying Eufy home base can store the video if wifi is lost, or power went out, so I was looking for clarification.

[@jbb66]

@@JZ2674 thanks for pointing my direction to Eufy. I kind of like that setup. To get notifications would still need WIFI, but since it has local storage would record still. I would assume once wifi is restored you would be able to access video feed again or recordings.

[@Ryan-iw3dj]

I think the only cellular providers that offer security camera options are AT&T and Verizon. AT&T offers support for the ARLO GO and the Reolink GO. On the contrary, Verizon offers support for Canary, Arlo and Nest. I'm not sure if they are specific to those companies, but those are the only security cameras that I have heard of offering cellular back-up options. I'm sure they offer primary options, but the data would be somewhat costly I'd imagine.

[@jacquesreilly1850]

So, can you access the SD storage from the app or does the card need to be removed from the camera?

[@CalikL]

...I assume it ic C425? Because you didn't mention what product you actually review

[@JeremyWheeler-z2i]

I hear these might work with a NAS. At least the older Tapo's did.

[@GaryV-p3h]

I'll wait for a 4k version.

[@SteveDOES]

Might be waiting a while.

[@drunken_moose]

Does this work with Apple HomeKit and stream to the cloud? Their website doesn't quite say and I didn't see it in your review. Thanks.

[@alvint4944]

This camera does not.

[@karensurgery3845]

@@alvint4944 yes it does... it absolutely works with homekit

[@flolou8496]

This model seems to lack an official Zoom Lens feature, but how can the pinch zoom option within the camer's app compensate for this? my limited experience is that when you pinch and zoom in you lose clarity and details, and worry in this case a burglar's face or other indentifying features won't come out clear in the app, to help identify the burglar,

[@tonycapil1022]

I like the night video. You turned everything into minecraft but much more blurry.

[@jeanie68]

How do you turn on just the star light? Instead of using infer red or spot lights?

[@vladasss]

No HomeKit support - no deal.

[@Keeeeeb]

How does this fair against -30 to -40 Canadian winter?

[@paulg.5997]

Anyone have issues with the camera not wanting to format the sd card? What brand and size SD card did you use for this video? I am hearing of many issues of people not being able to format their SD cards.

[@EOTE_TX]

Ok, based on your review I thought the camera was possibly a good one. Ordered it from Amazon and after installing, I fount out it does NOT support RSTP for 3rd party apps. Constantly looking at your cellphone to view the camera is not a good option. Sending it back to Amazon.

[@alanjane07]

Can you order additional magnetic bases so you could move the camera say from your house to your RV when you travel?

[@neilhansen3365]

Good question

[@jesseedgell8698]

Well it's just a useless camera if it sorta blurs ya face out everything else good but we need to see the faces clear as day. I was thinking about getting one but after the face not being clear mmm I'm having 2nd thoughts now but if I do buy one do you need house internet for it to work at all

[@lexlopez15]

does this allow for loop recording so as not manually pull out the sd card to format it every few weeks or months?

[@trsdarrin]

How do you connect two or three cameras to one solar panel?

[@darknovum]

I didn't see the SD card you use/used in your desc. Also would you please do a vid to show this cam and setting it up in Synology...

[@SteveDOES]

Sorry about that, i just added the link. Thanks for reminding me. I haven't done an RTSP setup myself, but i probably should. I'll look into that. :)

[@mmitchum3826]

@@SteveDOES l would be interested in seeing your RTSP setup as well. I just setup my camera a few days ago. While I was able to connect to it via iSpy, it doesn't always capture motion clips via iSpy. I'm trying to figure out the pattern of when it does and when it does not.

[@jeremy_trent]

@@SteveDOES Where were you going at the time?

[@loririnz6282]

I have 2 c425 and have one working and trying to get the other one to work but it keeps telling us that it can’t connect to the internet and isd card, we have reset it and done everything 😢also do we need a solar panel to make it work 😢

[@lesleywilliams1210]

I charged mine using mains power before setting it up. I think the solar panel is to help minimise the number of times you need to charge the battery using mains power, which is useful if, like me, you don't have a tall ladder to retrieve the camera. Apart from the saving on electricity costs.

[@suzannegaeta3988]

What if I need four cameras? Can I buy the three, and then buy an extra one and put them all on the same app?

[@jeremy_trent]

Where were you going at the time?

[@felixleon1431]

can you use hot spot from phone ?

[@adamlewis3064]

I have another of their cameras and it too only let's you use the useless local storage or subscription cloud scam (like printer manufacturers trying to force you to buy their inks). Even using ONVIF to connect to a third party NVR it will not send snapshot alerts. Avoid!

[@jeffborkowski]

have you found a wireless cam that will push clips to an NVR? so if the camera with SD card are swiped you still have your clips.

[@RetiredEE]

What is the range of the wifi in this camera? 100' 200' more?

[@SteveDOES]

I don't believe the camera transmits a signal. The distance is going to depend on you Wi-Fi routers range.

[@davidbell7094]

Awesome review,I agree entirely with your comments on this camera.

[@famousdalton1]

I love cool gadgets thats why am gonna play this in repeat 😁

[@SteveDOES]

Me too, lots more videos to come.

[@johntourjee6900]

Those paying for this camera and not receiving it for free have a different perspective. Of the 11,000+ reviews on Amazon, fully 9% of them are a 1-star rating. Many of these reviews report the same issues, so there are definite issues for one to consider before putting down their hard-earned money…

[@lifeuhvriley]

Is the nest cam way sharper, or is that just my phone?

[@cryengine_x]

looks the same to me or win for the tapo since it has a wider fov in battery life lol no contest, the tapo beats nest at least two to one

[@kchaney56]

Steve: You set your clip length at 10 sec. but what if the incident goes for 2 min where an angry neighbor is trashing you house? Would you only get 10 sec of that ?

[@user-sl4ul4nc3t]

The recording usually will record in 10 second increments. You can lose some of the event. The event recording is to give you an overview after an alert to see what's going on and hopefully you'll go live and check it out.

[@flolou8496]

Does anyone know how long the motion light can stay on at the maximum, it seems most stop after 30 seconds, but I need one to like 1 minute if possible, (it takes me extra time to get from my dark driveway into my home due to limited mobility and bad eyesight) (I often have my hands full so it's awkward to carry my flashlight in my one hand and everything else in my other hand )

[@Stephyayy123]

Does anyone know if Tapo/TP Link plans on selling NVR's?

[@Latvijasfans]

Well, when somebody steal the camera, all your recording are gone... Not the smartest way. It's basically not the security cams purpose - to be stolen with evidence 😂

[@josephmartin7673]

The fact that i cant store on my server makes it a non starter for me

[@drmckinley]

NEEDS A RAIN/SNOW SHIELD..SAYS BATTERY GOOD FOR 300 DAYS. WRONG TRY A COUPLE DAYS. ADD IS WRONG .

[@Coolruiz19]

Not worth 250 but I bought it for 150 , seems more fitting

[@gliderspace]

why is your face blurred in the camera footage?

[@tonycapil1022]

Especially at night. It's awful! Everyone will look like a minecraft character. lol

[@guitarhero9592]

Thanks for the great video! Just bought it and detection is great but the live view loads rather slow and the playback from what is recorded on the sd card loads extremely slow. I’m using a 64GB card Any tips?

[@SteveDOES]

It might be a WiFi signal strength issue. Try moving the camera next to your WiFi for a few minutes and then test it again.

[@guitarhero9592]

@@SteveDOES I tried that and yes it did load much faster. However I have some Eufys that load within 1-2 seconds where this one takes at minimum around 10 seconds and playback from sd card takes even longer. I’ve called their support but they just suggested I check that the 2.4ghz channel isn’t crowded and if it is then change channels but not much else. I’m gonna remove camera then reinstall and see if it improves. My Eufys load fast but inconsistent detection and this one has great detection but loads slow.

[@guitarhero9592]

Still trying out this camera. Love it’s detection. Wish there was a more comprehensive user guide that explains a little more. Do you know if there’s a way you can turn off spotlights while watching night time Live View when the night time setting is on Full color mode? I thought by pressing the lightbulb icon below the talk button would turn it off but it doesn’t. Seems like the only way would be to have the Night mode settings on Infrared mode. Just wondering if I missed something and you might know. I couldn’t find anything on the website

[@jedidiahspencer3437]

I just checked it out on Amazon and it has really bad reviews it's only like three and a half Stars which is lower than even the most generic cameras

[@nicolasfox]

Why can't I see your face at night-time?

[@BlueThailand]

I have bought this camera set and the battery is draining very quickly : From 100% to 56% in 3 days ! Even if i set all the parameters as lower as possible. The image quality is not so good.

[@learnerlearns8837]

at 13:12 min, This cam is noy good , cannot see face at all NO MEANING

[@thefulchman]

I just cannot understand the use of micro-USB in 2023/2024.

[@PettieBettie]

Commercial.

[@hajduadam]

Well, none of them are a security camera. They both crap at night and half crap in day time. This is an other great example to use real security systems for your security needs. If you want to see your cats go with these ones though

[@steveblanchard7293]

Night vision is terrible. artefacts and washed out colours.