TP-Link Tapo C110 Review: Clear 2K Video Day and Night
The Tapo C110 sees a room sharply by day and clearly by night and records to a card with no monthly fee, and a quiet speaker and the odd unit that drops offline are what count against it.
The Tapo C110 is a budget indoor camera, and its picture is the strongest thing about it. It's sharp in daylight and clear in a dark bedroom. It also records to a microSD card with no monthly plan.
Two conditions trip it, though. After dark, window glass bounces the camera's infrared light back at the lens. Some units also drop off the network and wait offline until someone at the camera brings them back. In an empty house, the drop takes more planning than the glass.
Where daylight fills the room
By day, the Tapo C110 shows a crisp, detailed picture. TP-Link lists 2K video and pitches it as clear enough to show what a baby is holding or what a pet is playing with. At room distances, the picture holds up, and faces and pets come through clearly. Recorded clips look sharp as well.
TP-Link's listing gives no viewing angle, though the lens is wide. The app offers resolution settings, with 2K at the top. Judged strictly as 2K, fine detail is good, and it stops short of exceptional. The live view also trails real time by a beat, a lag that matters little when checking in.
Night view and the red glow
Night vision is one of its best features. The Tapo C110 switches to night mode by itself as the room darkens. TP-Link rates its infrared for up to 30 feet.
In a dark room, the picture stays clear enough to follow a pet or a sleeping child. At times, however, the night picture is merely adequate. Movement still shows clearly enough to follow.
Night mode also lights a red glow on the camera's face. The glow stays lit for as long as night mode runs.
In a dark room, that glow is plain to see, and it unsettles some small children. In a nursery or a toddler's room, it is part of choosing the spot.
If a window is in the shot
Daylight through a window gives it no trouble. TP-Link sells the Tapo C110 as an indoor camera.
After dark, though, that view falls apart. Once night mode starts, the infrared bounces off the glass, and glare swamps the image.
The fix is to lock the camera in day mode. That setting is easy to miss, and without it the glare returns every night. I'd treat any view through glass as a daytime view.
The outlet and the mount
The camera has to stay plugged in. Power comes from a wall adapter on a long cord, so the outlet can sit well away from the spot.
The cord ends in a barrel plug on TP-Link's own adapter. A spare or a longer cord has to match that plug.
In most rooms, the cord's length keeps that from mattering. USB would still have been the handier choice for cable runs.
At under 4 inches tall, the Tapo C110 is easy to tuck away. It weighs 0.15 pounds, and a strip of mounting tape holds it to a wall. It also hangs from a ceiling or a rafter.
The base is its plainest part, with limited mounting options. The build is light and on the flimsy side.
Moving it between rooms is easy. It also serves as a temporary camera, such as one packed for a hotel stay. It covers basements and garages as well.
A Tapo C110 on the home Wi-Fi
Setup runs through the Tapo app. The camera first broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal of its own for the phone to join. Then the app moves it onto the home network and walks through the rest step by step.
In most homes, that takes a few minutes and no technical skill. A firmware update or two can follow before the camera settles. After that, the app is simple to use.
A minority of setups turn into a fight with the network, however. Some units take several attempts before the handoff sticks. Once through, those units settle down and work as they should.
Setup is mostly a one-time chore, and the drops are the part worth planning for. Some units drop off the network, either on their own or after a power cut. A dropped unit then stays offline until someone at the camera power-cycles it or runs setup again.
I'd put it on an outlet within easy reach, because that fix needs a hand at the camera. That matters most in a house left empty, where a dropped camera stays dark until someone gets home.
On the home network, it can also stream over RTSP and ONVIF, the standards that home video recorders use. That puts a copy of the footage on a recorder away from the camera. Getting a recorder to accept the stream takes some trial and error. On a computer, players such as VLC can open the same stream. It also works as a camera on a 3D printer.
Whenever something moves
Motion detection picks up even small movement. TP-Link promises instant push notifications when it detects motion, a person or a crying baby.
A small pet moving about is enough to trip the Tapo C110's motion detection. That suits a pet camera well. Its microphone is quick to pick up sound, too.
TP-Link pitches its person alert as the way to tell a pet from someone who's there. Alerts do say whether they caught a person or only motion. Detection still lets some passes slip by, though.
The same sensitivity also brings false alerts. The app has a sensitivity setting, although it does not cure every false alert or every miss. Each kind of alert can also be switched on or off.
TP-Link adds a baby-crying alert and notes there's no extra fee to use the camera as a baby monitor. The cry alert works well in a nursery, and the phone app doubles as the monitor's screen.
TP-Link bills the built-in siren as a way to ward off intruders. It does its job as an alarm for the room it guards. It can sound on motion, or stay quiet so that alerts go only to the phone.
While the house stands empty
A microSD card keeps its footage with no monthly fee. The Tapo C110 can record around the clock or only when it sees motion. A large card holds plenty of round-the-clock footage. TP-Link's cloud plan is the other route, with a free trial, and it's optional.
Without a card, though, the camera stops recording once the plan's free trial runs out. It still streams live, talks back and sends motion alerts, so a card is best bought alongside it.
Not every card is accepted, however, so the card needs choosing with some care. Handling footage on the card is clumsier than watching it, since getting clips off the camera takes extra steps.
Away from home, the app shows the live view and plays back the card's footage. The app itself is quick to respond.
On a trip away, it keeps the house in view, as long as the camera stays online. In a shared or rented space, it watches over belongings while the room is empty.
For a dog left home alone, the live view is a quick check. It also catches a puppy getting into mischief as it happens. The same quick check works for an elderly relative in another home.
On an Echo Show, Alexa brings up the live view by voice. Linking it to Alexa is simple. Google's side is narrower, since TP-Link limits streaming through Google to Chromecast and Nest displays.
From the live view, the app also saves a clip or a snapshot to the phone, with no plan needed. There is also a privacy mode for times the camera should not be watching.
A quiet speaker
Two-way audio is its weakest feature. Even at full volume, the Tapo C110's speaker is quiet. As a result, a voice from the phone barely carries across a room.
Its microphone picks up enough to follow what's happening in the room, and its clips carry that sound as well. Voices come through low and muffled, though. On top of that, conversations run with a slight lag. At times the sound also turns choppy or cuts out.
Close to the camera, a short conversation can work. Still, I wouldn't count on it to call a pet or a child to order.
Pros: What we liked
- Pro: Crisp daytime picture that shows faces and pets clearly at room distances
- Pro: Clear infrared night view that switches on by itself as a room darkens
- Pro: Records to a microSD card, around the clock or on motion, with no monthly fee
- Pro: Quick setup in the Tapo app, plus RTSP and ONVIF streams for a home video recorder
- Pro: Sensitive motion alerts, plus person and baby-crying alerts
Cons: What could be better
- Con: The speaker is quiet even at full volume, and voices come through muffled
- Con: Night mode glares off window glass unless it's locked in day mode, and its red glow can unsettle small children
- Con: Some units drop off Wi-Fi and stay offline until someone at the camera power-cycles it or runs setup again
- Con: Motion alerts bring the odd false alarm, and some passes slip by
Best For
- Pet owners who want to check on a dog or a small pet from their phone
- Families keeping an eye on an elderly relative's room
- Anyone putting cameras in several rooms without adding a monthly fee
- Home-network tinkerers who record to their own NVR or NAS over RTSP
Not Ideal For
- Watching the outdoors through window glass after dark
- Households that rely on talk-back to calm a pet or a child from another room
- A home left empty during a long trip, with nobody on hand to reset a dropped camera
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Model | Tapo C110 |
| Video | 2K |
| Night vision | Integrated IR, up to 30 ft |
| Alerts | Motion, person and baby crying |
| Audio | 2-way audio with built-in siren |
| Storage | Cloud, or SD card up to 512GB |
| Voice assistants | Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant (Google streaming on Chromecast and Nest displays only) |
| Device sharing | Live feed on two smartphones |
| Dimensions | 3.89 x 2.66 x 2.15 in |
| Weight | 0.15 lb |
Alternatives Worth Considering
Final Verdict
Nearly all of this carries over to a whole house. Each added security camera brings its own card slot, so recording costs nothing more per room. The app also keeps a set of them on one screen. A second phone can watch the set, too. Setting up several takes a while, though, since each camera joins the network separately.
The drop travels too, since any unit that falls offline waits for someone at the camera to bring it back. Against a picture this good, that drop is the real cost, and the quiet speaker adds little to it. Priced at the budget end, it's a strong buy for any room its cord can reach.
Frequently Asked Questions
What size microSD card does the Tapo C110 take?
TP-Link's listing rates the slot for cards up to 512GB. Cards of 128GB and 256GB run in it.
Can the Tapo C110 feed an NVR such as Blue Iris?
Yes. Turn on RTSP in the Tapo app's advanced settings and create a camera account there with its own username and password. NVR software such as Blue Iris or Agent DVR can then pull its main and secondary streams.
Does it work with its internet access blocked?
It can. Once set up and updated, it still streams over RTSP to a recorder on the home network with its internet access cut off, which suits a setup that keeps footage inside the house.
Can two phones watch the same camera?
Yes. TP-Link's device sharing lets a second smartphone view the live feed, so two phones can watch a nursery at once.
The Verdict
The Tapo C110 sees a room sharply by day and clearly by night and records to a card with no monthly fee, and a quiet speaker and the odd unit that drops offline are what count against it.