Outdoor security cameras are the in thing at the moment. For example here in Toronto, they are often used to watch over cars because car theft is a problem here, or to secure your home from break and enter scumbags. So I’m having a look at the TP-Link Tapo C560WS to see if this a viable option for your security camera needs. First some specs to get you started:
Resolution:4K
Connectivity: 2.4GHz + 5GHz Wi-Fi and Ethernet
Night Vision: IR + Full Color
Field of view: 326 degrees (horizontal), 53 degrees (vertical)
Storage: Up to 512GB via microSD + optional cloud storage
Two-way speaker: Yes
IP rating: IP66 (Water resistant against powerful jets)
Here’s a look at the camera itself:
It looks pretty much like any other security camera. There’s minimal branding on it.
There’s the speaker behind the camera:
Here’s the front of the camera with the IR illuminators that’s below the lens for night vision purposes and spotlight for lighting purposes. At the top is a rubber cover that behind it has the microSD card slot and a reset button.
So there is a cable that has two connections. When I saw the Ethernet connector, I thought “Oh this does Power Over Ethernet”. Well, it doesn’t. That’s a bit of a disappointment as I would rather run one cable to the camera rather than two to a camera. On top of that, for the best possible security you should connect this camera via Ethernet as car thieves in Toronto have been found to be using WiFi jammers to disable security cameras that are on WiFi. That’s clearly not going to happen if your camera is on Ethernet. The other connector is the power connector which appears to be a BNC or barrel style connector. That makes life easier if you have to run a power cable to the camera. Though I will note that the power adapter that comes with the camera has a pretty long cable.
Also included in the box is all the mounting hardware and screws as well as the waterproofing hardware for the cables.
Physically mounting the camera was pretty easy as I mounted it on my balcony. Then I used the Tapo app which is available for iOS and Android to get it onto my WiFi. I ended up using 2.4 GHz WiFi as it had better signal strength versus the 5 GHz network. I could then use the Tapo app to control it.
Let’s start with the visuals. I always got clear and detailed image when I tested it. Here’s a still image from the camera:
And here’s a video test:
One thing that I should point out is that I had the camera set to auto in terms of resolution. But the camera kicked into 4K mode for this clip. I could pick out snowflakes in the recording as well as footprints on the ground from 14 stories up. Very impressive!
I then did the same test at night. Here’s the still image:
And here’s the video:
I also tried the spotlight and it’s pretty bright based on this image:
What it also shows is that when spring comes around, I need to clean the glass on my balcony.
One thing that I should note is that black and white mode never triggered on this camera. I am guessing that this is because there was enough light to make going into that mode something that wasn’t required. But having said that, these pictures are outstanding.
Other highlights:
I could clearly hear audio from the camera and my voice was clearly audible. No issues here.
I did not test the AI features of this camera. But this camera is capable of recognizing faces on top of being triggered by motion. That can be handy to have the camera trigger actions based on who or what it sees. I should note that the AI features are on device.
Pan, tilt and zoom features were easy to use. The zoom was particularly impressive.
You get the option of TP-Link hosted cloud based storage via a subscription. That may be worth it if you want off device storage rather than using an microSD card inside the camera.
The camera supports Amazon Alexa and Google Home. But strangely, not Apple HomeKit.
The best thing about the TP-Link Tapo C560WS is the price. I found it for $120 CAD on Amazon. At that price, you could forgive the fact that it that it doesn’t have Power Over Ethernet for the best possible deployment. But if you look past that, this is a great choice for a security camera. It is easy to set up, has great video and audio, and has a variety of storage options. All for a pretty unbeatable price.
This entry was posted on December 31, 2025 at 8:37 am and is filed under Commentary with tags TP-Link. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Review: TP-Link Tapo C560WS Security Camera
Outdoor security cameras are the in thing at the moment. For example here in Toronto, they are often used to watch over cars because car theft is a problem here, or to secure your home from break and enter scumbags. So I’m having a look at the TP-Link Tapo C560WS to see if this a viable option for your security camera needs. First some specs to get you started:
Resolution:4K
Connectivity: 2.4GHz + 5GHz Wi-Fi and Ethernet
Night Vision: IR + Full Color
Field of view: 326 degrees (horizontal), 53 degrees (vertical)
Storage: Up to 512GB via microSD + optional cloud storage
Two-way speaker: Yes
IP rating: IP66 (Water resistant against powerful jets)
Here’s a look at the camera itself:
It looks pretty much like any other security camera. There’s minimal branding on it.
There’s the speaker behind the camera:
Here’s the front of the camera with the IR illuminators that’s below the lens for night vision purposes and spotlight for lighting purposes. At the top is a rubber cover that behind it has the microSD card slot and a reset button.
So there is a cable that has two connections. When I saw the Ethernet connector, I thought “Oh this does Power Over Ethernet”. Well, it doesn’t. That’s a bit of a disappointment as I would rather run one cable to the camera rather than two to a camera. On top of that, for the best possible security you should connect this camera via Ethernet as car thieves in Toronto have been found to be using WiFi jammers to disable security cameras that are on WiFi. That’s clearly not going to happen if your camera is on Ethernet. The other connector is the power connector which appears to be a BNC or barrel style connector. That makes life easier if you have to run a power cable to the camera. Though I will note that the power adapter that comes with the camera has a pretty long cable.
Also included in the box is all the mounting hardware and screws as well as the waterproofing hardware for the cables.
Physically mounting the camera was pretty easy as I mounted it on my balcony. Then I used the Tapo app which is available for iOS and Android to get it onto my WiFi. I ended up using 2.4 GHz WiFi as it had better signal strength versus the 5 GHz network. I could then use the Tapo app to control it.
Let’s start with the visuals. I always got clear and detailed image when I tested it. Here’s a still image from the camera:
And here’s a video test:
One thing that I should point out is that I had the camera set to auto in terms of resolution. But the camera kicked into 4K mode for this clip. I could pick out snowflakes in the recording as well as footprints on the ground from 14 stories up. Very impressive!
I then did the same test at night. Here’s the still image:
And here’s the video:
I also tried the spotlight and it’s pretty bright based on this image:
What it also shows is that when spring comes around, I need to clean the glass on my balcony.
One thing that I should note is that black and white mode never triggered on this camera. I am guessing that this is because there was enough light to make going into that mode something that wasn’t required. But having said that, these pictures are outstanding.
Other highlights:
The best thing about the TP-Link Tapo C560WS is the price. I found it for $120 CAD on Amazon. At that price, you could forgive the fact that it that it doesn’t have Power Over Ethernet for the best possible deployment. But if you look past that, this is a great choice for a security camera. It is easy to set up, has great video and audio, and has a variety of storage options. All for a pretty unbeatable price.
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This entry was posted on December 31, 2025 at 8:37 am and is filed under Commentary with tags TP-Link. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.