TP-Link 𝗧𝗮𝗽𝗼 SolarCam C402 Kit, Outdoor Battery Camera w/Solar Panel Base, Wireless, 1080P, Free Person/Vehicle Detection, SD/Cloud Storage, Color Night Vision, No Hub Needed, Works w/Alexa

I’m a senior woman and I had this Tapo cam mounted under my eaves and set up in no time. It’s the perfect solution for being able to have a security cam where I can’t have a hardwired one, and it works just as well as my Ring and SimpliSafe cams that are hardwired.The picture quality is clear, voice is clear, it’s easy to use the app, and it connects easily to my WiFi (thanks to my TP Link Deco system which gave me coverage where I had none (or poor) where I needed to mount this camera).**BATTERY LIFE** - I installed this camera 4+ months ago and the battery is at 73% now, so I can easily believe the claim of a 6-month battery life. Where I have it there isn’t an extraordinary amount of activity like there is with my doorbell camera that goes off two dozen times a day, but it does pick up motion at least 5 or 6 times a day, so I’m really happy with the battery life. I bought a solar panel for it, but haven’t installed it yet because the battery life has been so good.I put an SD card in it, but I haven’t checked it so I can’t say much about that.You can easily set areas to detect or not detect motion, and that feature works really well.I have 3 Ring cams and a SimpliSafe doorbell camera, and this inexpensive Tapo battery cam works as well as they do. ALL of them occasionally drop their connection (so far they all reconnect on their own), so I can’t take a star away for connectivity when practically every device I have has the same random, occasional issue.We’ve had heavy rains, snow/freezing temps and I’ve had no issues at all. It is under an eave, so I can’t say how it functions when fully exposed to the elements.The light is good. It won’t light up your entire yard, but it is bright and lights up the area around it sufficiently, imo.I’d actually give it 4.5 stars if I could because it isn’t “perfect”, but I haven’t found a device that functions “5-star perfect” 100% of the time. What is “perfect” is the battery life and being able to easily mount this camera practically anywhere.I initially had trouble connecting to the camera from my phone, and the app would repeatedly say that the camera was “offline”. I was about to return it, and then I realized my phone had to be on my home WiFi to connect to it. I never used to keep my WiFi on, on my phone, but now I do and I have no problems connecting to the camera. That’s the only difference I can see between this camera and my Ring cameras. My WiFi doesn’t have to be on to connect to them, and I think there’s a setting I haven’t figured out to remedy this. I haven’t seen any other complaints about this issue, so I suspect it's ‘user error’ on my part.***Before you mount it (or any other WiFi device) I strongly recommend getting the TP-Link ‘WiFi Toolkit’ app on your phone. It allows you to walk around your house or property and see how good or bad your WiFi signal is at a particular location. This will save you a lot of time and headache when mounting or installing a device, especially one that is hardwired that you can’t check until you’ve gone through the trouble of installing it. Very handy app.Anyway, I highly recommend this Tapo battery cam. It’s easy to install, works well, has a great picture and sound, the light is good, it doesn’t send random alerts, and it’s definitely the right price.

This smart, solar camera from Tapo is super-easy to install and setup, and it provides nice images as a 1080p camera. Its compact size seems like it would work well anywhere. Its nice view is quite clear. Through the app it sends very timely notifications when it detects people or movement, and you can make adjustments to how much and how sensitive it is in detecting things.The camera connects by wifi, so you will need a connection that reaches the outdoor spot where you locate the camera. It is obviously able to withstand the weather, and mine has been rained on several times since installed and has no problems. The solar panel keeps the battery charged, and you will not need a lot of sunlight hitting the solar panel to make it work. If it continues as it has started, I do not foresee ever needing to bring the camera in for charging. (Note that I charged it fully before I installed it.) The solar camera then works as a continuous re-charging source for the battery.While the camera does pick up sound, the quality there is not great, but it is adequate. If someone wanted to speak to you through the camera, you would be able to understand them.What is really great is that by adding a micro-SD card your storage is all local and you can view the history of video without paying any sort of subscription fees for access to your footage.

I bought this initially just to try it out and did not have the highest expectations due to the pricing. However, I was surprised at how functional it actually was. Enough that I bought a second one for my home. The fact it also connects with Alexa makes it even more functional.Wifi connectivity:It connected quickly to my wifi and has consistently remained connected when outdoors.Sound quality:Better than expected. It will pick up most sounds easily, even traffic on the far road. Camera quality:Not exactly 4K, but still good. The feed is not blurry and have no issues with clarity at all. Why did you pick this product vs others?:Price and being solar powered. I was able to purchase two, mount them easily, and now have more security around my home for a fraction of what I was expecting. They both have kept their battery life from the solar panel.