TP-LINK Tapo C200

The Tapo division of the Chinese company TP-LINK is engaged in "smart" devices for the home. At the beginning of 2020, a compact C-200 surveillance camera was rolled out under the brand name.

compact ball

The model resembles a kind of small ball on a pedestal with a swivel "head". Its rotation in the horizontal plane is made in a circle by 360°, vertically tilting the camera lens is possible within 114°. A two-megapixel CMOS-matrix of the device records video in the maximum resolution of FullHD (1920x1080 pixels), but with a frame rate of only 15 fps. In the night shooting mode, the IR illumination of the camera finishes at a distance of up to 9 m.

Proprietary software

The wireless camera connects to the Internet via a Wi-Fi network. All settings are made through the proprietary Tapo Camera software. It has virtual buttons for lens rotation, stream quality selection, microphone sensitivity settings and motion detection mode. When the motion detector is triggered, the device immediately sends an alarm signal to the linked smartphone. Also, a light and sound alarm can be turned on on the camera itself in order to scare away uninvited guests.

Home video surveillance

Privacy when using the camera provides a privacy mode that disables the lens. In general, video from TP-LINK Tapo C-200 is saved to the "cloud" or directly to a microSD card up to 128 GB inclusive. The camera will not become a full-fledged “guard” due to the presence of vulnerabilities in the manner of dependence on the Internet and power supply, however, as a link in a home video surveillance system, the model can and should be recommended for purchase.