Tapo C310 Outdoor Security Wi-Fi Camera
A great value security camera that can thrive outdoors. But beware of the cable management issues.
Tapo is an off-shoot brand of TP-Link. Its corporate mantra is, “Smart, Easy, Secure.” The C310 is it’s new weatherproof security camera that’s designated for home use. Consequently, instead of being part of a hard-wired network of centrally-monitored cameras, it’s optimised to be added to a domestic Wi-Fi network and operated via an app.
Set-up is very simple: you just turn on the power, download the app, follow the on-screen guide that finds, identifies and adds your camera to the network (either directly by Wi-Fi or via an optional Ethernet cable) and a few minutes later, you’re looking at an image on your phone.
The C310 comes attached to a multi-directional mounting plate that needs screwing into a wall. This will instantly cause issues for Australians who rent. Two wires extend from the camera, one for the Ethernet cable and one for the power adapter. Both have weatherproof housings included in the box. If you only use the power adapter and Wi-Fi, you will be left with an unsightly Ethernet connector that’s difficult to conceal. If you make use of both cables then you need to be able to channel them to a wall socket and a router which could well be an issue. No Ethernet cable is included so you may need a long one. Meanwhile the two-metre power supply cable may struggle to reach a power socket. You’ll need a separate microSD card to record content: it gets installed inside the camera via a screw-in cover.
These issues aside, the camera itself operates very well, has all the important security features and is intuitive to use. The app enables you to invert the image (for ceiling mounting) and turn its LEDs off to make it less easy to spot. You can easily set-up multiple motion detection zones by creating rectangle overlays on the recorded image.
If motion is detected it can sound an alarm and send push notifications to your phone. Two-way audio is enabled and you can use this in a walkie-talkie, push-to-talk operation, or call your camera like a phone. The volume coming both ways is impressive.
Video quality can be set to HD, Full HD or 3-megapixel (2,304 x 1,296). The image is well detailed and colourful in light but also offers good infra-red night vision with a 30-metre range.
The Wi-Fi standard used is old-technology – it only supports 802.11b/g/n but we had no issues reliably connecting to it via our Wi-Fi 6 network. However, if your router is old and has a weak signal you might need to dial down quality settings.
At $84 it represents impressive value but you may need to factor in the additional cost of a microSD card and/or long Ethernet cable. While we’re concerned about the practicalities surrounding cable management, we can’t really fault the device itself as it does everything it’s supposed to very well.
Nick Ross