If you are looking for a compact, feature packed, versatile camera solution, the Tapo C120 is the ideal camera for you. The camera includes premium features at no additional cost, such as its free person/pet/vehicle detection, powered by AI processing as well as a suite of other features including full duplex two-way audio, Alexa and Google compatibility and light and sound alarms. Monitor where you want with custom monitoring zones and add additional privacy with privacy zones. The camera image sensor is 1/29.” progressive scan CMOS starlight sensor. The camera lens focal length is 3.17 mm and has a 1.65 aperture. The camera field of view is 120° diagonal, 103° horizontal, and 55° vertical. The night vision is 850 nm IR LED (30 ft / 9 m), 940 nm IR LED (30 ft / 9 m). The camera has full color night vision. The camera frame rate is 20 fps (self-adaptive according to brightness). The camera’s digital zoom is 12x. The camera’s video compression is H.264. The camera has a live view. The image enhancement features 3K DNR and WDR. This camera has two-way audio with noise cancellation. The siren level is 96dB (level measured at 4-inch/10-cm distance). This camera’s AI detections include motion detection, person detection, line-crossing detection, baby cry detection, vehicle detection, pet detection, meow detection, bark detection, and glass-breaking detection. This camera supports the 802.11b/g/n protocol. The wireless rates are as follows: 11 Mbps (802.11 b), 54 Mbps (802.11 g), 72.2 Mbps (802.11n). Wireless security includes WPA, WPA2-PSK. The security features include 128-bit AES encryption with SSL/TLS and on-device machine learning. The packaging contents include 1 Tapo C120 Camera, 1 5.0 V, 1.0 A power adapter, 3m (9.84ft) Type-C wire, 4 mounting anchors, 4 mounting screws, 2 cable organizers, 1 mounting template, 1 iron camera base, 3M adhesive, detaching pin, 1 quick start guide.
2024 PCMag Editor’s Choice – Praised for its outstanding value, delivering sharp 2K resolution and a comprehensive feature set.
Compact, Versatile, Weatherproof – The Tapo C120 is a compact camera suitable for indoor and outdoor use, featuring an IP66 rating for withstanding rain, dust, and rugged conditions.
Magnetic Base for Flexible Mounting – Easily attach the C120 camera to any metal surface with its magnetic base. Versatile mounting on railings, frames, or even the refrigerator.
2K QHD 4MP Resolution – Crystal-clear detail in every shot. Capture every moment with stunning 2K quality that ensures even the finest details are never missed.
Starlight Color Night Vision – The built-in Starlight sensor delivers bright, colorful video at night, with two spotlights for extra illumination in darker conditions.
Invisible IR Mode – Get night vision up to 30ft with IR light. If the red light is distracting, switch to invisible mode for discreet monitoring.
No-Cost Person/Pet/Vehicle Detection – The Tapo C120 uses AI to detect people, pets, or vehicles for free. Customize alerts to focus on specific objects and reduce notifications.
Full Duplex 2-Way Audio – Talk in real time, just like a phone call, for smooth communication with delivery personnel, kids, pets, and more.
Local or Cloud Storage – Store recordings on a MicroSD card up to 512GB (not included) or via the Tapo Care Cloud subscription. [Check TP-Link FAQ for MicroSD compatibility before purchase.]
Customers say
Customers praise this security camera’s crystal clear QHD 2560×1440 resolution and its ability to provide great visibility in the dark. They find it easy to use and set up, with the app being user-friendly, and consider it good value for money with no additional storage costs. The functionality works well, though connectivity experiences are mixed, with some reporting solid WiFi connections while others experience frequent disconnections.
Simon –
Excellent Value Easy to Set up APP.
I purchased this security camera yesterday, it arrived at my house this morning and this afternoon I have it installed and I have it linked to my WiFi Network and running on the TAPO app on my phone.I not overly techy at all and I found the app, and the bluetooth pairing with my phone, and the connecting to my house’s WiFi etc… to be extremely easy to set up an use.I can see my front door, talk to people out there, turn a light on and I can even make a little alarm noise too. LOL.Local storage:I bought Extreme SanDisk 256mb Mini SD cards for local storage. Whatever card you get you will need a minimum rating of V30. 256 mb should record about 2 weeks on a loop, I think. this camera could support a 512mb card, but they are more than twice the price.Subscription:I signed up for the 30 day free trial of their membership subscription.I could run this app and view this camera on my phone and utilize my local storage without the subscription.The subscription adds cloud storage.Beyond Cloud Storage I do not relly know what other benefits I gain from the subscription, but will probably find out when it runs out. I’ll try life without it and then determine if I want to sign up.Installation:I found the metallic mounting plate for magnetic mounting to be useless on a vertical wall application. The camera would just slide down the metal plate, the magnet was not strong enough.I drilled holes through the camera base and mounted it that way, worked very well and was easy to do and looks professional.There is a USB C or similar power supply plug on the camera end and the supplied power cord has a regular USB power plug on the other end.They supply your with a USB to 115 plug power block included in the box.I used a plastic handy box I had on hand anchored to a piece of truss framing to mount a regular 115 outlet that spliced into an existing 14/2 electrical wire running in the soffit above my camera mounting location.I have this power block plugged into that and the power cord for the camera plugged into the power block. I’m glad nobody will ever see it, looks crappy.I had all of this on hand and have wired multiple houses.If purchasing on outlet for this installation I would recommend purchasing a USB 115 outlet that mounts in a handy box.I bought two fo these cameras, these re my first security cameras.I am happy with these two for $25 a piece but before I buy more I will research and try to find a tapo option that just has a couple bare wires sticking out of it so I can just hardwire it directly to my house’s electrical system.My cameras were purchase don sale. For $25 a piece and $25 a piece for the cards, so $50 a piece total, I am loop recording 14 days of security footage that I can access from the other side of the world via my phone and home WiFi system. Not to mention I can also talk to people on my front door.Who can complain about that?Of course if someone just cuts my internet cable, it’ll all go to s*** anyways. I suppose the cameras would continue recording on my SD cards. Of course if they could see your cameras, they could take the cameras or just the SD crds too. But its better than nothing, I should have done this sooner.
face but! k –
Great security camera and excellent easy to use software.
These are great little cameras and the software app is very good. Looks more like and indoor cam but works great outside even at night. The starlight option makes video at dusk very clear. The IR night vision works well too. I added extra IR lights to give clearer night time video because everything bad happens at night. I tried another TAPO camera, the C520 and I like this better. The C520 has a patrol mode and can pan and zoom and follow people if you want that but the picture on this at night is slightly better. It is pretty wide angle too and setup and connected easily.Interesting, when I bought a second C121 camera to replace the C520, it had a slighly hazy image. I tried to reach out to support to see if there is an easy way to clean or refocus it, but that was seeming like a waste of time, so I just returned it. Interesting that the replacement I just got didn’t have any plastic film over the lense like the other 2. So maybe it was a return too but it works fine so I don’t care. I hope they don’t sell my return to someone else, it is almost OK, but in comparison to my other 2, the picture is hazy.These are smaller than I expected (which doesn’t really matter I guess) and the magnetic mount and mounting arm rotates in all directions making it easy to position. You can put a screw through the mount too so it can’t just be knocked down by someone, but they could rip it down easy enough if they can reach it. These look a little delicate, so I mounted it under the eave to keep it out of the rain and snow.The Tapo-TP-Link software is better than some chinese ones I tried. I had weird glitchy issues with a couple other brands, like the dates not matching up, or going off line and needing to be reset. This just works well. You can zoom in on videos which is nice. It does not have 2X or 4X speed like my other ones did which was helpful when scrolling through a bunch of clips looking for something, but that is the only feature I miss.It does not record 24×7 to the card, but you don’t want to have to replay that much anyway when looking for something. The motion video indicates whether it is a car, person, pet or general motion and you can set the level of sensitivity to get more or less recordings. I turn off notifications and just use these as security cameras to look back through if something happens. This can take a big microSD card so you have lots of days saved, more that I would ever need I think. I am using a 64 and 128gb card but it takes even bigger ones.Price was great too, especially on sale. So far I am very happy with it. I will post a followup if anything changes in the next several months.
The product was fine but it was delivered in the alley and placed by the neighbor’s back gate. It was a miracle it wasn’t taken by someone else. –
RTSP supported dope asf
First of all I used this for streaming a small bird nest on my front porch to friends and family on an http stream over a forwarded port from my network. It supports RTSP so that was possible. Granted VLC couldn’t play the stream on mac (unknown issue) and linux (vlc disabled live555). FFMPEG was the solution since the audio codec is PCM ALAW so I had to transcode for both video and audio.The night vision is surprisingly good. The minimum focus distance is around 7-8 inches for good focus and around 5-6 inches for bare minimum visibility. I would prefer that distance were reduced but that’s nitpicking for a $25 camera. The magnetic base is phenomenal. The bird nest is in a wreath that hangs from our screen door via a flat metal hanger so the base stuck to that easily. The degrees of freedom for the hinge is so impressive, you can crane and twist and folder the neck in more ways than expected by examining the photos. It was fairly easy to setup and it does exactly what I want, it just records 24/7.My only peeve was in the app I wasn’t clear how to fully disable flash and sirens. I don’t want to scare Mr. Bird. I think I configured it right as no movement sets off any alarms but the software wasn’t super clear on that.Also when I first plugged it in nothing happened. I hit reset and nothing happened. I reinserted the USB-C cable and then it started working. That was a little odd but those types of hiccups are expected, I probably just hadn’t inserted it all the way. Actually the cable was hard to insert likely due to the insertion point being IP66 rated so it’s hard to get in and thus prevents water and dust from entering.
tlenki –
Ich hatte schon mal die Kamara gekauft bin sehr zufrieden. Bei diesem Kauf habe leider eine englisch Adapter Version bekommen. Denn kann ich leider nicht benutzen für die deutschen Steckdosen 😂.
Israel –
Buena opción de camara, incluye lo que dice, único detalle es que el cable si es algo corto.
Roger Chiu –
I have been looking for a security camera for pointing outside my house mainly for monitoring if anyone coming to the house (for delivery etc), any vehicle going to my drive way or park outside my house, and any pets (or racoon) wondering outside my house especially at night. The C120 is exactly what I am looking for.I’ve been using the tapo C120 for just one month and very happy with this product and the tech support. It got all the features I’ve looking for among different brands and models, picture quality is quite good day and night, live and recorded video very smooth, small foot print to be mounted on the window frame, flexible camera arm for pointing at the exact angle easily, very considerate magetic base plate and double side tape for simple installation without the need for drilling nor screwing.It has about 5 sec pre-recording when the motion is detected so you won’t miss anything right at the beginning of the moment the motion detected, multiple detect zone which so flexible that not confined to just rectangular shape like to older model, detection of person, vehicle and pets work just great, night vision is very clear without the need of infra red or spot light (especially useful when I put the camera behind the window pointing outside the house), quite happy with the motion detection response which is very fast (both day and night time).More important, technical support is very good, I found the recorded video is jerky a couple of times at the beginning of the video, contacted tech support with sample video sent to them, unexpectedly, they responsed the next day and even got a firmware update for me within a week and the problem seems resolved now, of course I will monitor the issue for the next couple of weeks to make sure it is really fixed (which I think it is), also tech support (Ian Xu) responses very fast with good follow up which is another star added.
Carlos –
que puedo decir; solo dire que es Tapo (garantia) y si la recomiendo al 100%
Punchy –
Got this to check up on my 8 week old puppy. Works a treat and picture quality is pretty good. I can talk to my dog through the camera from miles away which is a bonus. For the money you can’t go wrong. Easy setup and use.