TP-Link Tapo C210 is an improved version of the Tapo C200 which I’ve reviewed before. At first glance, it doesn’t look very different; it still has a motorized pan and tilt camera with speaker and microphone built-in. But, TP-Link improved the camera and this should result in better image quality.
Build quality is really good here thanks to the high quality plastic material. The camera is pretty compact and lightweight. TP-Link hidden the MicroSD card slot which means you need to manually turn the camera up in order to access the slot and the reset button.
Being a WiFi security camera, it will connect to a WiFi network and let you to see the video footage on the Tapo app remotely. You can see what’s happening at home or monitor your pets. There’s also a motion detect alarm function which can be used at a business after working hours as well.
The camera support recording to a MicroSD card or Tapo Care cloud storage service. However, the cloud storage feature will be released soon. TP-Link gave me an early preview of the feature and I will talk more about it once it is released.
According to TP-Link, the maximum recording length is up to 21 days with a 256GB MicroSD card. I will recommend using a high endurance MicroSD card for better stability.
Hardware and Specification
| Video Resolution | 2304×1296 at 15fps, 1080p, 720p |
| WiFi Connectivity | 2.4Ghz Wireless N 1×1 20Mhz |
| MicroSD | Up to 256GB |
| Cloud Storage | Coming Soon |
Inside the box, you’ll find a power adapter and the mouting accesories. The camera can be wall-mounted but drilling will be required. The length of the included power adapter is 5m.
The Tapo C200 is not a weatherproof camera and it doesn’t have any IP rating. I will not endorse using it outdoors but it should be fine as long as it’s shielded from rain or shine.
Excellent Camera Quality
The image quality is significantly enhanced on the new Tapo C210 with a new sensor that supports up to 3MP. While that doesn’t sounds a lot, it’s actually 44% more pixels than a Full HD 1080p IP camera. This results in more detail and clarity in the footage but at an expense of larger files size.
TP-Link will let you to use a smaller recording size down to 720p or 1080p on the app. I added a 300% zoom crop image to compare the image quality.
Night Vision Test
Being an indoor security camera, Tapo C210 has a really good night vision capability which can illuminate up to 10m distance. The camera will automatically switch to night vision mode when the scene is dark. However, when night vision is enabled, the image will be black and white.
Dynamic Range Blind Test
The next image is the blind test on both condition by using a really bright flash light. Tapo C210 seems to be able to compensate for bright light and adjust the exposure for better dynamic range. This will be useful if the camera is facing bright lights constantly.
User-friendly Tapo App
I’ve tried many IP cameras and surprisingly, the Tapo app is certainly one of the best. It loads the video stream quickly even on a slower Internet connection and works with any WiFi routers. The camera pan and tilt angle can be adjusted on the Tapo app remotely as well.
I prefer the built-in motion detection recording rather than continuous recording as it will reduce storage usage significantly. There’s also an alarm feature which willl sound the alarm and send a notification to the app when motion is detected.
Reviewing recorded footage can be done on the app with the timeline feature. The timeline will indicate when motion is detected and the recording can be downloaded. However, since the footage is recorded on the MicroSD card, this will only work when the camera is connected to the Internet.
Tapo C210 is also a really good baby monitor or pet monitor. It will let you to listen to the camera in real-time and send your voice with the built-in speaker and microphone. In fact, the audio quality is surprisingly good compared to other security cameras that I have tried.
Security and privacy is an important factor here. The app service is hosted on Amazon AWS service. Besides, the camera connection is encrypted and secured with your own TP-Link ID. There’s also a privacy mode which will disable all recording and remote viewing function when enabled.
Lastly, the Tapo C200 will only works with the Tapo app for Android or iOS devices. Although TP-Link offers ONVIF support, there’s no easy way to view the stream on a PC computer. This is why the Tapo app is so good as the app is the only way to view the camera stream.
Closing Thoughts
There’s really nothing bad to complain about the Tapo C210. It offers a great image quality at day and night with a well designed app that’s very user-friendly. At just RM139, it offers better performance and a much better app than competing products. I think that the Tapo C210 is probably the best budget IP camera in the market right now and I highly recommend this.
TP-Link Tapo C210
8.6
Tubi Rating
PROS
- Reliable and fast app
- Good camera quality
- Good design and small size
CONS
- Can’t view on computer
Works well with Synology Surveillance Station. Easy setup.
Hi Thank you for your review. May i know if the home wifi is suddenly down eg. disruption of power supply, will the C210 automatically connect to the wifi again when power is back and both routers and C210 are restarted?
Yes, it will reconnect to the Wi-Fi network automatically as long as your Wi-Fi name and password stays the same. It will even reconnect to the Wi-Fi when you changed to a new wireless router as long as the name and password remain the same.
You can watch the camera stream on pc, I do this via vlc media player, media–>open network stream–>network, type the url of the camera, in this case is, rtsp://camera_ip_address:554/stream1 then it ask you for the camera user and password, both of them you can configure via the tapo app
have a good one 🙂
Is there any difference in field of vision between c200 and c210 ?
There’s a very small difference in field of view of the camera. My Tapo C210 is very slightly wider than my Tapo C200. However, they are very minor difference.
Does C210 able to record and store its videos and images into a local NAS rather than the microSD?
Yes, it does provide Onvif support. But, it will depends whether the NAS you have can support such configuration. I know that Synology NAS are able to support Onvif technology.
Without wifi it’s record videos or not?
Once you configure it properly, it can still record the video even when the Internet connection is down. However, you need an Internet connection to setup and view the camera stream remotely.
Cant view on computer? Just install bluestacks lol also you forgot to mention that the motion tracking feature that requires monthly subscription
Yup, you can install an emulator but it’s not a native way so I did not mention it in the article. TP-Link already releaased the motion tracking feature for free to all Tapo C210, C200 and TC70 users recently.
Thanks for the review. Agreed with the visibility and quality of item. However, I have quite a bad experience with the durability. Bought 3 Tapo 320WS and 2 Tapo C210. less than a month of using it, 1 C210 and 1 320 WS already damaged. Any thoughts or experience regarding this? Tq
All my Tapo are still running strong but I didn’t install mine under the rain or shine. What issues are you facing and where do you use them? Just make sure to use a high quality or high endurance MicroSD card if possible. Cheap MicroSD card don’t last long enough in frequent write and read cycle.
Is there a feature in Tapo C210 to adjust the alarm sound. Currently the Tapo C200 has a built in alarm of only one tone / sound. It would be good to have options – to allow users to choose a few
alarm tone/sound. Thank you.
Unfortunately, I don’t think TP-Link offers such option for now. However, I think it’s a great feature especially volume adjustment. The alarm sound is rather loud!
Is Tapo account giving alerts if someone log in my Acc from other devices. I read this issue from forum long ago . And It seems likely no improvement on this security. I tested . My model C200.
Hypothesis, someone know your Acc pass . And there you are in big trouble, being watched without any alteration’s Tapo .
You will be automatically logged out if someone managed to login into your account on another device. This has been the default user interaction on Tapo since day one.
wait, what?
Is there any way to use the app on multiple personal devices without been logging out?
If not this can be misleading if someone else login in your account but you think that you got logged out because of your other device.
Thanks for the review.
Yup, you can actually use the built-in device sharing feature and each shared users will have their own login ID and password.
this means multiple “tapo” accounts (one for each device) for the same camera.
That’s a huge mess.
I hope they will fix this.
Thanks
Great news, I just tested and TP-Link allow login to the same Tapo account on multiple device at the same time.
Thank god, good to know.
Thanks for the test and letting us know!