Home security camera has gotten really good and affordable these days. Some can be bought for even just under RM100. Today, I’m going to look at some best-seller WiFi camera in Malaysia today and see if they are actually worth your money and time.
I am limiting myself for a budget for under RM150 (~$50USD) which is rather reasonable. This means we can get some pretty decent IP camera like the Xiaomi Mi 360° Home Security Camera 2K and TP-Link Tapo C210 Home Security WiFi Camera. As of today, Xiaomi is the No.1 top seller on Shopee and the TP-Link Tapo is No.2.
I will avoid buying OEM brand or smaller brands although they could be much cheaper. These brands often offer poor stability and I wouldn’t trust a small brand with my personal privacy.
TP-Link Tapo C210 Home Security WiFi Camera
The previous Tapo C200 is a huge success thanks to the affordable price and great image quality. While Tapo is relatively new, they are already one of the top-seller of home WiFi camera in Malaysia. The new Tapo C210 is an improved version of Tapo C200 with a new 2K sensor.
Mi 360° Home Security Camera 2K
This is the second generation of home IP camera from Xiaomi after the really good success of the first generation product. Xiaomi improved the camera image quality to 2K and added some new features on this product.
Specs Comparison
| Tapo C210 | Mi 360 2K | |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/1.4 |
| Resolution | 3MP (2304 x 1296) | |
| MicroSD | Up to 256GB | Up to 32GB |
| Audio | Built-in Microphone and Speaker | |
| Night-Vision | Infrared Night-Vision | |
| Price | RM139 | RM149 |
Accessories
Winner: Tapo C210
Tapo C210 is the clear winner here with a more complete and well thought-off accessories kit. It comes with a proper 3-pin power brick for Malaysia and a really long 5m cable. There’s also a set of mounting tools and a sticker to mark the drilling position when wall-mounting the camera.
Unfortunately, the Xiaomi camera doesn’t include a power adapter. It only comes with a MicroUSB cable and I have to buy a separate USB charger. The package also comes with the wall-mounting tools without the drilling sticker.
Daytime Image Quality
Winner: Tapo C210
While the image quality of 2 cameras are really close. I prefer the Tapo C210 as it seems to produce a slightly brighter image and more accurate colors. The Xiaomi is product a slightly darker and contrasted image. The Tapo C210 does product a more usable footage for surveillance purpose.
However, the differences here are small here and it’s more of a personal preference. But, the Tapo C210 seems to be having a better backlight compensation algorithm and that resulted in a slightly brighter image which is great for surveillance purpose.
Night-Vision Image Quality
Winner: Tie
Both the Xiaomi and Tapo cameras use IR illumination for low-light condition. This means they will switch to a black and white image when the scene is dark enough. In our test, both of them have similar result producing decent black-and-white image with good amount of detail.
It’s hard to pick a winner here as both camera produce similar looking image in this segment. Both of them are good enough to recognize face while the night-vision mode is enabled.
App User-Experience
Winner: Tapo C210
I find TP-Link’s Tapo app to be slightly faster and smoother than the Mi Home app especially when viewing over 4G connection. I guess it’s probably due to Tapo is actually using Amazon AWS service which have really good international network connectivity.
The Tapo app also comes with more features like location marking and auto-cruising function which makes the Tapo app superior than the Xiaomi. It is very helpful to move to a certain location quickly with this function without having to slowly control the camera using the panning function.
Recording Features
Winner: Mi 360 Home Security Camera 2K
The Xiaomi Mi 360° Home Security Camera 2K uses H.265 compression rather than H.264 on the Tapo C210. This mean the Xiaomi camera can record at a smaller file with more efficient storage usage which makes it a winner here. However, the Xiaomi can only support up to 32GB MicroSD card while the Tapo C210 can support up to 256GB.
Best Overall IP Camera : Tapo C210
While both the Xiaomi and Tapo are great products, I prefer the Tapo C210 since it does provide a better surveillance footage with more features on the Tapo app. Not to mention that it comes with a proper power adapter that ensure reliable performance 24/7.
The Xiaomi Mi 360° Home Security Camera 2K is a decent choice with good image quality and integration with the Xiaomi ecosystem. However, the higher price and lack of power adapter makes the TP-Link Tapo C210 a much better deal than the Xiaomi Mi 360° Home Security Camera 2K.
TP-Link Tapo C210
A+
Tubi Rating
pros
- Easy to install and setup
- Good image quality
- Affordable price and great value
cons
- No H.265 Compression
The Tapo C200 v3 and several of their other products will accept up to 500 GB micro SD card
One information update which you have missed is Mi360 camera supports 256GB SD card, since I am using this for more than a year now. Off late, I found Tapo C200 installation, need to check C210. One information is definitely accurate is that, it shows in the app, but camera doesn’t load at times, maybe too much expectations from network connectivity.
All Tapo cameras can support up to 512GB MicroSD card now. TP-Link updated it sometime last year in 2023. I do agree with you that the Mi camera is getting more and more unreliable lately. It’s always slower to load when talking about the camera stream.
This is not a fair comparison. Did you do a thorough research about camera aperture?
Do you know the difference between F2.4 and F1.4 ?
I guess you haven’t.
https://icamsecurity.com.au/blogs/news/how-the-aperture-affects-your-cctv-camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YojL7UQTVhc
ALL IP camera always look great during the day.
But the real comparison starts when they are in the LOW light or complete darkness environment.
Having a F1.4 means a lot to an image sensor, allowing more light and mitigate motion blur when object is moving during LOW light scene.
I did compared the low light performance of both cameras in a dimly lit room. As a photography enthusiast myself, I am also aware that the Tapo C210 aperture (f/2.0) is 1-stop wider than the Xiaomi (f/1.4). However, when testing it in reality, the performance is more or less the same. Perhaps the sensor on the Tapo C210 is simply better with stronger low-light performance than the Xiaomi. Another possibility is the Tapo only records up to 15fps (1/30) and the Xiaomi is marginally faster at 20fps (1/40). Cheers.
This is not true… Xiomi have image quality more details Day and night more clear and real colours not like tapo cold . Xiaomi is only losing with one thing what I missing. Alexa ( echo whow , fire tv ) and Google home doesn’t work any more. But is someone don’t have alexa or Google home devices recommend xiaomi . Is just better. Good luck.
I kinda agree that the Xiaomi offers more accurate color. However, as a surveillance camera, I prefer a better backlight and highlight compensation which the Tapo excels.
Hi, is tapo app home surveillance records is free service? Xiaomi require subscribe to see motion records.
Recording to the MicroSD card is free of charge since it’s your own memory card. But, if you wish to store your recording in the cloud, you will need to pay for the cloud storage.
Firstly, thanks for reviewing and give honest evaluation. I already used CCTV since more than 15 years ago. Since couple months ago I have been using 9 units of T110 and T210 Tapo products. The T100 model is good enough for static camera and the T200 is excellent for such cheap camera. At first when I put it behind the window glass, at night the camera cannot focus the object outside, after I reported, the problem have been fixed. Thanks Tapo. When I implemented 30 days free AI, I found some good features and slightly funny results such as the… Read more »
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I find that Tapo is a better product as well. The app works better with a more reliable recording than other cheaper or equivalent alternative.
What do you think about the Tapo C225 vs the Xiaomi PTZ 2K Pro? The xiaomi supports 5ghz wifi connection and h.265 but I’m concerned of its reliability.
I already retired the Xiaomi camera reviewed in this article recently due to connectivity issues. The camera is online and detected on the Mi Home app but the video stream refuses to load. Rebooting the camera might solve the issue but it will happen again. The Tapo is far more reliable in my opinion.
I see, so you think the 2K Pro will potentially have the same issue as the 2K in this article? Okay thanks for sharing your experience.
I do not have the 2K Pro but I suspect they might have the same cloud infrastructure.
Have same problem before . Reinstall app and camera I move aimesh closer to camera and works perfect…
My Tapo C210 cannot format several SD 256 card. And customer support not helpful and suggest merrily on SD card errors. If no recording of the triggered events possible, the system is worthless.
It’s working properly with an authentic SanDisk High Endurance 256GB MicroSD card that I have. Which MicroSD card brand do you use?
All are SanDisk, class 10, as authentic it can be. Scanned for errors. The probability that all three SD cards are corrupt is minimal. Subsequently, the card performed flawlessly in action cams. Unfortunately, Its more likely to be an issue on the side of the the hub. Beside this, the IP cameras and hub work perfectly.
That’s strange, perhaps try doing a low level format on a computer and performance another format on the camera. If it’s still not working, I will consider sending the camera back for warranty replacement.
Tap only support SD card with class 10 and should be V30
This can record also the audio/or talking people while video recording?
Yes, it is able to record the audio.
thx for the review I looked up at all propositions for an indoor camera and was exactly between those 2. I finally bought the tapo.
Do Tapo app allow sharing of the camera between 2 or 3 person ?
I believe Tapo only allow sharing to a maximum of 2 accounts at the same time.
Hello,
Thanks for your review.
How about the 2 way call quality between these 2 models. Which one is better?
I noticed that there is an echo or noise over 2 way call in Tapo C200 model?
I’d like to know for C210 call quality.
They are more or less the same.