Review: TP-Link Tapo C460

Last year we tested the Tapo C425 wireless outdoor camera with excellent results. We thought it had a good balance between basic features and premium features for those who want even more. We liked it so much that we voted it last year’s best premium security camera. Now the sequel has arrived with 4K resolution and better connectivity. But you’ll also have to live with a few compromises.

Installation

It’s hard to go wrong with the installation as the app shows you the way. Simply hold down a button on the camera for the app to find it and then follow the instructions until everything is ready. It’s worth noting that this model also supports 5GHz Wi-Fi, which provides faster connectivity if you have good coverage. If you have metal around your windows or a metal roof, installation is ridiculously easy as both the wall mount and camera have magnets. Otherwise, you can of course screw the bracket in place and then position the camera at the angle you want.

One of the drawbacks of this upgraded model is that 4K video uses more battery power than its HD video predecessor. As a result, battery life has dropped from 300 to 200 days, which is quite a significant reduction. However, it’s still close to 7 months, and our camera monitoring a rarely visited backyard lasted longer than that. You also get faster charging as it has a USB-C connector instead of a micro-USB connector. And for just a few hundred dollars extra, you can buy it in a kit with a solar charger that gives you infinite battery life.

Practical use

The app is not a marvel of simplicity, as you often have to search through submenus to guess where the desired function is hidden. But you quickly get used to it as you rarely change the settings anyway. The most important functions are right there on the home screen. There you can take still images, start a manual recording or talk to someone you’ve spotted in front of the camera. You can also switch on the spotlight or activate the siren to scare off intruders.

Features include AI recognition that can distinguish between people, vehicles and animals. If you connect it to the Tapo H500 hub, you’ll also get facial recognition so it won’t even alert you if a family member walks past the camera. The hub also enables centralised recording on an SSD drive for up to 16 cameras.

Other features include the ability to mask parts of the surveillance area to avoid false alarms. You can now also have different masking for vehicles, people and animals. After all, there is a difference between an unknown cat or person walking across the lawn. You can also set up geofencing so that the camera is only active when you have left your home. And of course, adjust video quality, night recording mode and storage settings.

Video quality

The reason we were happy with the video quality of the C425 was simply that we hadn’t yet seen the C460. Switching to 4K resolution is actually a big improvement. Not only because you get more detail, which can be crucial in identifying a burglar, but also because the overall image quality is better. One might have suspected that this would compromise the light sensitivity and thus the night mode. But if anything, we would say that the night images have become even brighter and clearer. On the other hand, the camera has a narrower angle of view than the C425. It’s not as bad as on the C420, but it can make it a little harder to cover the entire area you want to monitor.

Cost of ownership

Thanks to the built-in memory card, you don’t have to pay for storage space like you do with many competitors. The camera also has built-in recognition of people, vehicles and animals instead of requiring a subscription. This is sufficient for most people. If you’re a more advanced user, you can sign up for a Tapo Care subscription. There are different cloud storage plans depending on how many cameras you have and how long you want to store the video. The notifications also include a small image of what the camera has seen instead of just text. In addition, you get daily summaries of the footage and weekly reports so you don’t miss anything that happened.

Conclusion

With its 4K resolution, the image quality is even better than its predecessor, both during the day and at night. Admittedly, this has had an impact on battery life, but that’s nothing to complain about. Especially since, for a marginal extra cost, you can buy the camera in a kit with solar charging. But the most important thing is that it is easy to install, that you can store the video for free on a memory card, that it has many features and built-in AI recognition. We like that you get the basic features that you absolutely must have for free. If you want more advanced features, they are available with a subscription.