Tapo C530WS Pan/Tilt Outdoor Security Camera, 3K 5MP WiFi
Tapo C530WS Pan/Tilt Outdoor Security Camera, 3K 5MP WiFi Outdoor Camera, 360° Vision Motion Tracking, No Monthly Fee, AI Detection, Starlight Colour Night Vision, IP66, Works with Alexa & Google
From the brand
Smart Bulbs & Strip Lights
| Weight: | 347 Grams |
| Size: | One Size |
| Dimensions: | 12.2 x 12.3 x 9 centimetres |
| Model: | Tapo C530WS |
| Part: | Tapo C530WS |
| Colour: | White |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Dimensions: | 12.2 x 12.3 x 9 centimetres |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | One Size |
Love Tapo cameras , have lots a different types and this is the latest. The cameras have great features , easy to set and and great connectivity , super durable and allow for easy recording. This particular camera has a great appearance also
The Tapo C530 is a truly excellent camera. The image quality is noticeably better than many other cameras I’ve used, and overall performance is very impressive. This is actually my sixth Tapo camera, which shows how much I trust the brand.
However, my only criticism relates to the power adapter. These cameras are designed for outdoor use, and most outdoor spaces have waterproof socket boxes with protective covers. Unfortunately, like other Tapo products, the supplied power adapter is around 6 cm wide and quite bulky, which means it does not fit inside a standard waterproof outdoor socket box.
I contacted Tapo support about this issue, but sadly I did not receive a helpful solution and was simply advised to purchase a different adapter myself. As a loyal customer who has bought six Tapo cameras, I expected better support.
In the end, I contacted Amazon customer service and they kindly provided a 10 gift card as goodwill. Many thanks to Amazon for their support.
Overall, the camera itself is excellent, I just hope Tapo considers improving the size of the power supply for outdoor installations
The Wifi connections seems to be only to their special hub, not your home Wi-Fi; so we have to buy this cabled one that works great. No false positives so far. No ‘Hidden Subscription’ required. We have to replace our previous one with this because they introduced a pay wall for additional profit after it working fine for over a year.
Make sure that its easy to swaps these cams as consumables eg cable slack on the LAN cable, the Power cable is very long. There is motion lag, eg up/down control. Storage Capacity is based on the micro-SD card you put it (works fine with 1TB). The vision quality and zoom are great, as is the build quality. The App needs a bit of getting used to, but assumes you might want to connect up to 32 cams! The app was easy to install and get up and running (unless you are using Wi-Fi they you will face the ‘Invalid Password’ hell, and the admin of segregation of your once smart hub into 2Ghz and 5Ghz channels, as this ONLY works on the 2.4Ghz system).
Now lets see if it works with Alexa 🙂
First off the bat, very easy to install. I went wireless and it is approx 10 meters and 3 walls away from the router and signal is steady.
I was disappointed with the length of the power cable approx 3 meters of black power chord which then connects to approx a foot of white cable outside where the camera is located. I ordered a white 5m extension cable and that resolved the issue of distance from the router to fixed camera location and the white and black cable outside which would have just looked odd for me. Also the benefit of this is the power connection male to female is now indoors out of the elements so that a bonus.
MaxSell 3M/5M/10M CCTV 2.1 x 5.5mm White DC 12V Power Extension Cable Male to Female
Now the zones you set for the alerts are a bit fiddly. Eventually I forgot those zones and disabled them all and went with “line crossing detection” In this mode you set lines from points/boundaries and if anything crosses a line it starts recording, dead simple. Now I have an alert when someone steps on my drive and the camera then follows them and records. You do need person detection mode ON for this so that needs a zone setting. Once the activity has ended the camera reverts back to its starting position which is really important.
I opted for local storage rather than cloud subscription and went with a 256gig sd card. This has been operational for a few days now and with all the playing about and multiple alerts initially I have used 8gig of 256 gig so its ample storage space for my needs. When its full its starts over writing but expect that wont be for some time. Replaying video is very very simple. The SD card needs formatting before use. Before you install the camera install the Tapo App on your phone and the formatting can be done through this app once you have the SD card inserted into the camera (very easy to do).
All in all and absolute bargain on prime day and worth the money even if full price. Highly recommend. Will answer any questions you have just ask, tara.
SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO micro SD card + SD adapter
Quality of picture is pretty good but in all honesty struggle to read number plates beyond my driveway so perhaps 25 feet away its a struggle on the highest resolution but for me I am more concerned about people coming up my drive.
The two way audio is okay but louder outside (visitor listening) than on the inside with app (me). I will have a play with that soome more. There is a snazzy option to have AI overlay the live video with subtitles of live conversations on the doorstep and that’s just like subtitles on tv. Again hit and miss with that.
If you’re looking for a reliable security camera with excellent picture quality, smart features, and a well-designed app, this one is a solid choice. The auto-tracking feature is particularly impressive, smoothly following movement to capture everything in view, and the app is intuitive and easy to use.
That said, there are a couple of areas that could be improved. When setting up zones, it would be much easier if you could add individual nodes to a zone rather than having to create multiple zones to cover irregular areas. It would also be great to have an option to adjust the timeout on the auto-tracking feature so the camera re-centres more quickly after losing sight of an object.
Apart from that, it’s a fantastic all-round camera and definitely worth the money. I’ll be buying a couple more, and if you’re considering one, I’d highly recommend hard-wiring it instead of relying on WiFi for the best performance.