TP-Link Tapo C325WB ColorPro Outdoor Security Wi-Fi Camera

The night is no match for the TP-Link ColorPro Outdoor Security Wi-Fi Camera C325WB. This wired HDR outdoor security camera delivers sharp 2K video with above-average color night vision, letting you keep an eye on even the darkest parts of your property at any hour. It offers an impressive feature set for its reasonable $119.99 price, including support for lots of third-party integrations and free intelligent alerts for animals, people, and vehicles. It's an excellent option if you want a wired camera, but the $99.99 Ring Stick Up Cam Battery is a compelling wireless alternative if you don't mind its lower 1080p resolution.

Wired and Watching, Day and Night

The C325WB is housed in a white plastic enclosure measuring 2.3 by 2.3 by 3.2 inches (HWD) attached to a 2.4-inch adjustable mounting arm with a round base. The camera has an IP66 weatherproof rating, meaning it's protected from rain and dust. It also has a 15-inch hardwired power cord and an Ethernet port.

At the bottom of the camera is a speaker for two-way audio and for sounding the built-in siren. Behind a removable panel, there's a reset button and a microSD card slot that can be used to store motion-triggered video locally. The slot accepts SD cards of up to 512GB, but you have to supply your own media.

If you’d rather have footage stored in the cloud, you can pay $3.49 per month or $34.99 per year for a Tapo Care subscription that gives you 30 days of video history, rich notifications with snapshots, and Smart Sort image filtering (to organize recorded videos with tags) for up to ten cameras. The C325WB comes with a free 30-day Tapo Care trial.

The camera holds an F1.0 super-aperture lens designed for low-light applications. It captures 2K (2,688 by 1,520) video at 20fps with a 127-degree (diagonal) field of view and color night vision. You’ll also find a microphone, two white LED spotlights, and a status LED. The indicator light shines solid red when the camera is starting up, blinks red when trying to connect to Wi-Fi, glows solid amber when connected to Wi-Fi, and glows solid green when the camera is connected to the cloud.

If you don’t have an Ethernet drop at your preferred mounting location, you can connect the C325WB to your network using the embedded 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio aided by dual 3.2-inch adjustable Wi-Fi antennas flanking the sides. Included in the box are a power adapter, waterproof cable adapters, mounting hardware, a mounting template, and a quick start guide.

The C325WB supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands and works with lots of third-party smart devices via IFTTT applets, but it doesn’t work with Apple HomeKit. If HomeKit integration is a must, we recommend the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera, which costs quite a bit more at $199.99, but is wireless and has a wider 160-degree field of view.

Some security cameras require a subscription for intelligent alerts, but the C325WB delivers them at no extra cost. Using AI, the camera can tell the difference and alert you about people, cars, and animals in view, based on your notification preferences.

The camera has its own panel on the Tapo mobile app Home screen. When you tap the panel it opens a screen with a live stream that you can view in landscape (full-screen) mode by turning your phone sideways or by tapping the four arrow button at the bottom edge of the video panel. The other buttons in this row let you spit the screen when using more than one camera (it supports up to four cameras per screen), take a snapshot, manually record a video clip, and mute the sound.

Below the video panel are Talk and Voice Call buttons; the former lets you speak to whoever is in front of the camera, and the latter lets you initiate a two-way conversation. Other buttons let you enable Privacy Mode, activate the alarm, enable motion tagging, view Tapo Care subscription information, and watch recordings stored on the SD card. At the very bottom of the video screen are thumbnails for videos stored in the cloud. When you tap any thumbnail, it plays the video and gives you the option to download it to your phone.

Tap the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen to access Camera Settings where you can set up privacy zones, enable Auto Spotlights to have the LEDs automatically turn on during very dark conditions, adjust the spotlight brightness level, set a duration time for how long the spotlight remains lit when triggered, and format the SD card. Detection and Alert settings let you turn motion detection on or off, schedule notifications, enable AI detection (animal, person, and vehicle), and have the siren sound when motion is detected. The Line-Crossing setting lets you create a boundary line and receive notifications anytime it is breached from any direction and Detection Tags draw a box around the source of motion when enabled.

If you need more than one camera, it's also worth checking out the $199.99 Tapo C420S2 Smart Wire-Free Security Camera System. It's a slightly better deal for monitoring multiple areas, as it comes with two cameras and offers many of the same features as the C325WB, including color night vision, intelligent alerts, and broad third-party device support.

Easy Installation and Excellent Performance

The C325WB was easy to install in testing. I already had the Tapo mobile app on my phone, so I plugged in the camera, tapped the plus icon in the upper right corner of the home screen, and selected the C325WB from the list of devices. I used my phone to connect to the camera’s Wi-Fi and was prompted to select my home Wi-Fi SSID and enter my Wi-Fi password, at which point the camera immediately connected. After naming the camera and assigning its location, I viewed the mounting instructions, installed a microSD card, and updated the firmware. Finally, I attached the camera to a deck post in my backyard and plugged it into a GFCI outlet to complete the installation.

The camera performed well in testing, delivering sharp daytime video with well-saturated colors. Color night vision appeared sharp and well lit. Though not quite as robust as daytime quality, its color night vision is among the best I’ve seen.

Motion alerts arrived quickly and were correctly identified, and the motion-triggered spotlights provided adequate illumination for the area directly in front of the camera. Two-way talk came through loud and clear, and the siren was loud enough to scare off nearby critters. (That said, I wish the siren was louder as I was unable to hear it from inside the house.) The boundary line feature worked flawlessly. Moreover, I added the camera to my Alexa account and it had no trouble carrying out my voice commands to display video on an Amazon Echo Show smart display.

A Surveillance Night Owl

Sharp video, clear color night vision, and free intelligent alerts are all good reasons to consider the TP-Link Tapo ColorPro C325WB when choosing an outdoor security camera. It's a good value for $119.99, offering local and cloud video storage, voice control support, and interoperability with scores of third-party smart devices. You can save some money with the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery ($99.99), a wireless 1080p indoor/outdoor camera, but if you prefer a wired camera, the TP-Link Tapo ColorPro C325WB stands out for its superior nighttime image quality.