SolarCam 1080p Outdoor Wireless Security Camera - Battery Power with Solar, Person Detection, Subscription-Free Local Storage or Optional Cloud, Works with Alexa & Google Assistant, C403 KIT

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars The Tapo SolarCam 1080p Security Camera has been a great addition to our home security setup. Installation was simple, and being wireless made it much easier to place exactly where we needed it without worrying about running power cords. The solar charging feature works well and keeps the camera running without needing constant battery changes or manual charging. The video quality is clear enough for everyday monitoring, and I can easily view the feed from my phone through the app. It gives me peace of mind knowing I can check in anytime, and the motion alerts are helpful without being overly sensitive. Overall, it’s a convenient, low-maintenance security camera that works well for outdoor use.

I am pleased with this brand of cameras! And, I submitted this review for another one of the five Tapo cameras that I have purchased here at Amazonn. I have 5 so far; one C403, one C400, one Cam1927, one C100 68D3, and one C104. I use the C100 and the C104 inside of two closed windows, sitting on the windows’ sills (in Day Mode with the Status LED turned off). One evening while checking the C100 …, I discovered that I could still see very clearly through the window’s glass, when the camera was left on Day Mode during the dark of night! The same is true about the C104, as well. When I move to my own house I will add outdoor cameras for monitoring such areas of my yard; this isn’t an option where I live at this moment. I use the Cam 1927 to monitor my bedroom, before I added a keyed lock to the door; someone had been entering my bedroom after I would leave for work. Now, when I exit my bedroom to go to others parts of the house, I turn the Cam 1927 on, just in case … . I am using the C403 and the C400 to monitor my private, fenced garden of Arborvitae trees, Leyland Cypress trees, Roses, Hydrangeas, Day Lilies, a Gardenia, Crape Myrtle trees, a Lenten Rose, Peonies, Variegated Ivy, a Liriope, a Lavender and a faux Maple-like tree all in movable planters and pots, to help prevent another theft of my plants. With the Night Mode on for these two outdoor-mounted cameras I can see the plants and trees detail, in shades of gray, with bright illumination. Last week these two cameras captured what appeared to be someone’s drone light shining into this fenced garden for twenty minutes, approximately. When I switched these two cameras to Day Mode the drone light was not visible. Also, there weren’t any bodies visible with flashlights, either. My C100 … faces the front of the garden where the drone lights were aimed, and by the C100’s view no one was standing there with a flashlight. Nor could I see a drone, yet due to using my Tapo app on two devices simultaneously, I could see the drone light still scanning the front end of the garden. This drone activity occurred from 2:37am to 3:13am. The area being scanned has a short cement block wall that curves inside my garden’s fence beside the retaining wall where another house is situated on the opposite side. Due to the time of the drone being used, I thought the drone user was trying to determine (for 20+ minutes ) whether or not the cement block wall could be removed to gain access to the trees and plants. I am grateful my Tapo cameras caught this occurrence; I have two Tapo videos and several photos of the drone light activity. Since that day, June 4th, I have ‘fortified’ my garden even more, without decreasing its beauty. (People moved into the house opposite the retaining wall approximately two weeks ago; the view inside my fenced garden is barely visible from their driveway and totally-blocked (via a privacy screen) from their windows facing the property here. I think they are responsible …) I am grateful that these Tapo cameras work so well (as advertised)! They are indeed easy to set up, the motion detection is great! The video quality is wonderful and so is connectivity. I enjoy receiving the notifications on my cellphone and iPad, too! Thank you, Tapo for your great cameras!

Update after 2 months of use: The camera failed. TPLink agreed to a return and replacement but with one catch - customer pays return shipping. So they sell you a defective camera and it costs you almost half of what you paid for the camera to ship it back and have it replaced with one that actually works. Not much of a warranty and not the best quality. Would not buy again for these reasons. Update after a week of use: Still going strong. The person detect and vehicle detect trigger recording reliably about 95% of the time. More good news - the Android app runs on a laptop PC through Bluestacks so you can use a Windows PC to control and view the camera. One odd thing was that the recorded videos disappeared briefly when viewing with a PC but later returned. They always showed up on an android phone so they were always there. Finally, the solar charging feature and some of the other advanced battery use monitoring features turned out to be beta versions that appear but don't work yet. All in all, still a great camera. Hardware: The camera is sensitive and the image sharp. The method for sealing the solar panel cable to the camera is just a rubber boot which looks like one day it will leak. The camera can illuminate night scenes with IR for a B&W picture or with white light for a color picture. Incredibly, all of the mounting hardware is high quality stainless steel which is quite unusual for such a product. The App: A little quirky but very much full featured. By quirky I mean, for example, having the delete option for video clips located under the category "downloads" which makes no sense. By full featured I mean that it offers a lot of useful tools such as an amazing battery monitor that includes current state as well as graphical displays of battery usage by day and solar charging by day. Another useful feature lets you define the areas of the scene to which the detection (recording) algorithm will apply. You can also set the time of day window during which recording can occur. It can be set to only record if people or vehicles are detected. Most of the features are local and do not require any kind of monthly fee. Only had it running for a couple of days but so far it looks like a great product for the money.

I purchased two of these cameras on the same date. After installing them both and monitoring their performance, I saw some clear discrepancies between them. In reviewing the camera settings, I noticed that one has a Hardware Version of 2.6 while the other has Version 1.26. I have observed that model 1.26 experiences *much* faster battery drain than model 2.6. For example, after two partly cloudy days in a row with no rain, the battery on 1.26 dropped to 80%. Model 2.6 has not once dipped below 99% (and that’s with the camera’s light turned on overnight). I’m a bit frustrated that it seems like I was shipped an older model (1.26) which clearly has deficiencies compared to 2.6. I feel I’ve done everything I can to optimize the performance of the camera and yet still the battery drain is extreme. Based on my experience, it seems they’re shipping older models alongside newer ones, with the older models having clear performance problems. I find this inexcusable and am deeply disappointed by this experience. If old stock isn’t performant, then eat the cost and recycle the materials, but don’t sell it to customers. Very dishonest. Update: I messaged Tapo Support a month ago asking about this issue and have not even received so much as an acknowledgment. Complete radio silence. I remain frustrated and completely disappointed by this experience. Update 2: Two months after messaging support, still no reply. Model 1.26 is still draining battery like crazy and model 2.6 is still doing well. I remain convinced that the older models are fundamentally flawed products that should have been removed from storefronts. Update 3: Another reason to absolutely loathe model 1.26: every time there’s a disruption in my wifi signal, the camera goes offline…and STAYS offline. It will NEVER (and I mean never) reconnect. I need to unplug my router for at least 5 minutes and then plug it back in. Only then will the camera reconnect and resume its normal (though still substandard) function. Words do not do justice to the fury I feel about this piece of garbage. Update 4 (edit): After a brief power disruption, the model 1.26 camera went offline and stayed offline (model 2.6 reconnected without any issue). For several hours (and multiple reboots of my router), model 1.26 refused to reconnect, so I climbed on a ladder and took it down to bring it inside. I performed factory reset after factory reset and watched it fail to connect to my WiFi every single time. (This took over an hour.) After doing a good deal of research online and consulting our AI overlords, it seemed highly likely that the older 1.26 model is no longer compatible with more modern routers (of which I recently installed). The AI’s recommendation? Buy an older model router and tether it to my new router. Then try to pair the older Tapo camera to it. Because I’m a complete maniac who refuses to be bested by a piece of plastic, I ordered a new (old) router. Long story short, the Tapo camera paired easily with the new (old) router. This, by no means, turns my 1-star rating review around. I did this to further prove my point. These crooks are shipping cameras so old that they won’t actually pair with new routers. This is indefensible and shouldn’t be permitted. While I’ve reinstalled my camera (battery drain is still horrendous, by the way), I’m still very unhappy. I highly recommend that everyone avoid buying this model of camera and ensure you spend a little more money on a newer variant. You don’t want to go through what I’ve gone through. Update 5: Well, it finally happened. Thieves stole some valuable items from the front of my home. For whatever reason, the camera stopped recording overnight (from about 7pm to 5am. For about 10 hours, it simply stopped working. There was no power or internet disruption that I'm aware of. It simply didn’t record. (I live in a busy city - there's always a few people walking on the sidewalk triggering the camera to record.) During this 10 hour window is when the thieves stole from me. The items stolen were in plain view of the camera. It *always* records people walking in this spot. The camera was working perfectly before and after the crime was committed. I’m going to replace these worthless cameras as soon as possible. And when I do, I will destroy these pieces of garbage so that they spend eternity in a landfill, where they belong. DO NOT BUY THESE CAMERAS.

Well designed and well made. Two bases additional cable provided so there is an option to install as one or unit or tow separate the camera and solar panel by several feet. All the parts needed for intallation either way are provided, including adhesive templates to stick on the way to ensure the drilled holes are perfectly positioned. I charged the battery, connected the camera to my network, and tested before the install. Was very easy. After mounting all I had to do was turn it on and wait for it to say "Camera On". Video quality is good, camera and panel are staying in position during high winds. There are 3 options for video storage - cloud, hub, or sd card. Alarms, alerts, detection types, and detection zones are all configurable and seem to work well.

I purchased 5 of these cameras originally, and another about a month in to owning them. I have had these May of 2025 so almost a 1 year review. Out of the 5, one would not connect, even though it was the closest to an access point. Hence the reason I purchased another one. This one connected and no issue up to about a month ago. Out of these cameras two just stopped charging from the solar panel all together. Cleaning the panel, and cabling, and then charging and checking for updates did not rectify the issue. So out of the 6 total we had two solar panels fail and one bad camera was failed from the get go. Set up is easy, and the camera quality is good for what I need overall, recording and playback is good overall. The app is nice, and has improved, give the mobile app 5 stars. Does not play very nicely with Alexa but I suspect the paid tier with Tapo might improve that (its as if the stream is throttled). The cameras operated in 100 plus temperatures to zero degree temperatures, blaring sun, wind, rain, snow, hail, and ice with the working cameras staying 100 percent charged through winter with some adjustment of positioning of the solar panels, other than the two that quit charging completely. I have kept those cameras charged by just taking them down and charging in the house. No damage, or other issue that I could find on cabling and panels on the solar charging to stop working. I like the cameras, but the failure rate is too high to get a great review. Not sure if there were defects or some other issue with a certain batch, but as mentioned the one that stopped charging gets the best sunlight of them all. I went all in with Tapo, sensors, lights, and cameras. The failure rate for something that should be relatively reliable (solar panel) is surprising. Basically 50 percent of my purchase resulted in issues with this camera model. I don't usually do reviews, but wanted to provide information if you are short on time, and so forth as I am on what you are getting. I think Tapo controls and application are great for the most part. Set up is great, and quality of camera when it works is also great and integration with Alexa is also a breeze but the quality of the streaming is poor in Alexa, in the Tapo app streaming is great. The price point is great, but again there is a risk you might be buying a lemon. Features, the features are rich, and customizable, and for the most part work without issue. Overall, at the price point and the quality of the app, features, integration, and operation, when it works I give it 5 stars, the reliability and the defect portion of it drove the review down, but again I think I will be staying with Tapo for now.

4.5 stars! It works well. The quality is good. The battery is always full because of the solar panel included. Video quality is good. The only thing that I want that is not there was, at night when it sense a motion, the it doesn’t light. There’s a remote for the light in the app but it should have been better if it opens when it motion is triggered.

Set up was easy. Great quality and a wide view on camera app. Size was perfect to set up, even with solar panel. I'd definitely say it's worth your money especially if you have other Tapo Cameras. Sound quality is Great.

Good product. Solar keeps camera at 100% charge. Clear pictures and easy app to navigate.

Facile à installer. Se recharge très bien grâce au panneau. Qualité vidéo parfaite

La compré hace 4 Meses, ha aguantado lluvia, mucho sol y sigue en perfectas condiciones, la recomiendo (la luz nocturna no es la más fuerte pero no está mal) . La carga dura las 24 hrs sin problema y el panel si sirve

Product not charging and not working at all . No warranty coverage even after 7 months .

when there is motion, does not activate. gets vehicle and person recognition wrong.