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If you’ve been meaning to set up an outdoor security camera but can’t be bothered with rewiring or climbing up to recharge batteries every few weeks, this TP-Link Tapo SolarCam C402 Kit might be worth a look. It’s $39.99 on Amazon right now, down from $49.99, which is the lowest it’s ever been according to price trackers.
The camera records in 1080p, comes bundled with a solar panel, and doesn’t ask for much after setup. No wiring. No scheduled charging. Just 45 minutes of direct sunlight a day is enough to keep it running indefinitely.
The camera itself is built to survive the outdoors, with an IP65 rating, a decent 125-degree field of view, and support for both color and infrared night vision. There’s a slot for a microSD card (up to 512GB), but you’ll need to buy that separately. If you don’t want to bother with that, there’s a cloud plan for $3.49 a month (that gives remote access to your clips and extra features like smart sorting and 30-day video history) after a free 30-day trial. But what’s really nice is that some smart features, like motion detection for people, pets, and vehicles, work even without a subscription. Plus, it works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT routines (though it skips Apple HomeKit support).
The Tapo app is where you’ll do most of your tweaking—turning spotlights on, adjusting spotlight brightness, viewing battery life, customizing alerts, setting privacy zones, and more. There’s also a built-in siren and two-way audio. If there’s a tradeoff, it’s that video tops out at 15fps, so things might not look buttery smooth. And color night footage can be a little muted unless there’s enough ambient light, notes this PCMag review. But for $40, this is one of the few wire-free home security cameras that keeps itself charged, doesn’t lock all its features behind a paywall, and, once it’s mounted, just works.
