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phoinix | Staff 17.9K Views
Jul 7, 2026 11:16 AM

Tapo C217 2K Indoor/Outdoor Pan/Tilt Wired Security Camera (Black)

$25

$36

30% off
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Deal Details
Amazon has Tapo C2172K Indoor/Outdoor Pan/Tilt Wired Security Camera on sale for $25.19. Shipping is free with Prime or on $35+ orders.

Thanks Deal Hunter phoinix for sharing this deal

Features:
  • 2K 3MP resolution for clear, detailed live video (2.4 GHz Wi-Fi required).
  • Indoor/outdoor IP65-rated design resists rain and dust for reliable 24/7 use.
  • Built-in AI detection alerts for people, motion, and baby cries with no subscription required.
  • 360° pan and 152° tilt provide wide-area coverage with automatic motion tracking.
  • Custom privacy and detection zones help protect privacy and reduce unwanted alerts.
  • Multiple night vision modes include infrared, full-color spotlight, and smart auto color.
  • Flexible storage with free microSD recording (up to 512GB, sold separately) or optional cloud storage.
  • Two-way audio lets you communicate clearly with visitors or delivery personnel.

Editor's Notes

Written by slickdewmaster | Staff

Original Post

Written by phoinix | Staff
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Amazon has Tapo C2172K Indoor/Outdoor Pan/Tilt Wired Security Camera on sale for $25.19. Shipping is free with Prime or on $35+ orders.

Thanks Deal Hunter phoinix for sharing this deal

Features:
  • 2K 3MP resolution for clear, detailed live video (2.4 GHz Wi-Fi required).
  • Indoor/outdoor IP65-rated design resists rain and dust for reliable 24/7 use.
  • Built-in AI detection alerts for people, motion, and baby cries with no subscription required.
  • 360° pan and 152° tilt provide wide-area coverage with automatic motion tracking.
  • Custom privacy and detection zones help protect privacy and reduce unwanted alerts.
  • Multiple night vision modes include infrared, full-color spotlight, and smart auto color.
  • Flexible storage with free microSD recording (up to 512GB, sold separately) or optional cloud storage.
  • Two-way audio lets you communicate clearly with visitors or delivery personnel.

Editor's Notes

Written by slickdewmaster | Staff

Original Post

Written by phoinix | Staff

Community Voting

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Top Comments

Relik
371Comments
230Reputation
Here's some things I haven't seen mentioned.. These support RTSP streaming and ONVIF. That's important. With ONVIF supported applications like Frigate NVR (or other NVR's), you can also take advantage of the 2-way audio and Pan & Tilt features which can be used outside the Tapo app. Very cool!

These have great nighttime sensitivity. If I could post an image, I'd show that I could see over a hundred stars while it looked up. I could only see maybe 10 of the brightest stars on my older camera. (Tapo specs: 1/2.8" Progressive Scan CMOS Starlight Sensor)

Another extra feature is that it can take a panoramic photo on demand - 180, 270, or 360 degrees. Pretty cool by itself, but it can also save that image and you can use that to navigate the pan & tilt visually. Meaning you go to pan & tilt and tap on the area you want the camera to jump to and it goes there. Like a map.

These are USB, which is convenient and allows running temporarily off a power bank. I tested the C216 (same just white) and it ran 30 hours on a 20,000 mah power bank with a 30 ft USB extension cord. (through all night with IR light on) It is also low wattage. During the day, I measured about 1.9 watts and at night with IR (B&W) it was about 2.2 watts and 2.5 watts with the white light (color nightvision) on at level 3.

The final advantage I will mention compared to other pan & tilt cameras is that these are discrete positioning pan & tilt. You can save 10 positions and even after reboot or any other movements, when you jump to that location it will go to the same exact spot. On reboot it resumes at the same spot. These cams support patrols where it will move through multiple views in a loop. Contrast this with cheap pan & tilt cams on Amazon that can move but they have no saved positions or idea of where they are. Those are movable in that you can look around, but they don't track motion or support saved views.

Bonus! With a little paint and doodads, you can turn it into a cute little robot. I saw this from an Amazon review. https://youtu.be/iCupZf_Z8_I
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anonimis06
931Comments
144Reputation
Curious as to why you need an on-off switch? I have multiple wifi/local security cameras of multiple different brands and none of them have an on-off switch. As mentioned, you can turn off recording and/or monitoring in the app. Far from perfect but the Tapo app is much better than most IMO.
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famewolf
6.3KComments
1.8KReputation
You can turn off monitoring/recording from the tapo app. If you need physical off, put a smart switch on the camera's power.
Go to Comment

Community Reviews

This Tapo 2K pan and tilt camera stands out for flexible coverage, strong night vision, and broad integration with Home Assistant, RTSP, and ONVIF. It can save pan and tilt positions, run patrols, and even stream to NVR setups like Frigate or Synology Surveillance Station. The app includes privacy mode and monitoring controls, but privacy mode is not a true power off, so a smart plug or switch is needed for full shutdown. Motion tracking can also chase trees and bushes in the wind, making placement and detection zones important. A capable wired camera with useful extras for tinkerers and home security setups.

  • The camera supports RTSP streaming and ONVIF for NVR setups like Frigate and Blueiris.

    RelikRelikanonimis06tet

  • The camera can capture strong audio pickup and supports pan and tilt aiming at locations.

    AquaGalley8616

  • The camera offers low power draw and can run from a USB power bank for extended use.

    Relik

  • The camera can save discrete pan and tilt positions and return to exact spots after reboot.

    Relik

  • Privacy mode does not equal full power off and it may still leave the camera effectively watching.

    TyrossTyrossBrettL5675

  • Motion tracking can lock onto wind-blown trees and bushes even when people detection is enabled.

    Devedandertechie333

  • Adding detection zones can move with the camera pan, which can complicate fixed driveway coverage.

    Devedander

  • Using Tapo Care, SD card recording, and ONVIF/NVR integration together is limited, since only two can run simultaneously.

    Relik

Common Questions (4)

AI-generated summary based on comments from the community. Updated ago

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38 Comments

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Jul 10, 2026 9:52 PM
1K Comments
Joined Oct 2020
jcnixJul 10, 2026 9:52 PM
1K Comments
Quote from Relik View quoted comment :
Here's some things I haven't seen mentioned.. These support RTSP streaming and ONVIF.
Thanks. I had just started with the Wyze ecosystem this week, one camera up, one still in the box. Now because of you, Tyross, anonimis06, and mac4lyfe, I ordered Tapo cameras and the Wyze are going back.

The 2 way full duplex audio and Onvif support were the features that tipped the scale.
Last edited by jcnix July 10, 2026 at 02:55 PM.
Jul 10, 2026 10:20 PM
9.4K Comments
Joined Aug 2003
DevedanderJul 10, 2026 10:20 PM
9.4K Comments
Quote from anonimis06 View quoted comment :
You probably already tried this and depends on the location of the trees but any luck adding custom detection zones? For example, I use that to detect at my mailbox and sidewalk but ignore the main road.Unfortunately that's just the nature of optical motion tracking. Strategic placement of the camera and angle is probably your best bet if the settings don't help.
Oh that was my other gripe. When you add zones they move with the camera. So if you put a zone on your driveway when the camera pans a driveway shaped detection zone is always in the same place in the field of view.
Jul 11, 2026 1:06 AM
371 Comments
Joined Jul 2017
RelikJul 11, 2026 1:06 AM
371 Comments
Quote from Devedander View quoted comment :
Got this and it works well but there's a few caveats around motion tracking.

I have trees and bushes and when the wind blows it triggers motion tracking. So I had hoped that by having people detected it would only track people.

Nope.

It detects people but in order to track them and turn the camera motion tracking has to be on.

This means when it's windy it follows someone until a waving tree comes into view and then locks on to the tree into the wind stops (usually all day).

I've gotten it to work oh with a combination of settings but it's still wrong sometimes.
Unfortunately this is a common issue I've found with every motion tracking camera I've owned. I'm going to make some suggestions to TP-Link / Tapo about some feature improvements. One thing about them is they release new camera updates quite regularly with fixes and updates. They don't just stop development on released cameras and come out with a new model and only update that new one - forcing replacement.

Suggestion 1: Motion tracking time limit - Allow the user to set a maximum time that motion tracking works before it has to go back to the normal view and reset. So if it were set to 5 minutes, the maximum it would look at the leaves would be 5 minutes before going back to the main view. I think this might already be possible using Patrol mode, but I'll have to check and get back to you.

Suggestion 2: When using Privacy Mode on these C216/217's, it just blocks the audio & video via software. On C510/520/other 5 series, the camera moves to look into itself - physically blocking the camera from seeing anything. On the C216/217, I would like to be able to set a specific waypoint/view that would be engaged when you enable privacy mode. This would be in addition to the 10 views you can also save. You could set this view to look completely at a wall or up at the ceiling and then whenever enabling privacy mode, it would look there until privacy mode was exited.
1
Jul 11, 2026 5:08 AM
220 Comments
Joined Jun 2006
tetJul 11, 2026 5:08 AM
220 Comments
Quote from HappyMarmot675 View quoted comment :
It's possible to integrate these into Home Assistant and then wall them off from the internet. If you're savvy enough to have a VLAN or router that can cut these off from the web and set up Home Assistant, then they're a fantastic deal!
I have not yet walled mine off from the internet but yes RTSP is baked in to these so they set up easily in Home Assistant. Once I get my coral tpu for use with Frigate I may then kill their internet access.
Jul 12, 2026 12:14 AM
371 Comments
Joined Jul 2017
RelikJul 12, 2026 12:14 AM
371 Comments

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank

I realize it would be helpful to give readers a bit of a jump start on using this camera fully with RTSP & ONVIF. First, after getting your camera setup, go to Advanced Settings in the Tapo app for your camera and Create a Camera Account. This is necessary as all communication is authenticated, although not fully encrypted.

After creating an account, you can use that for RTSP streams. The URL is rtsp://user:pass@IP:554/stream1 for the full res stream or /stream2 for the low res stream, useful for AI use.

For ONVIF, I should have mentioned that these are ONVIF Profile S and not Profile T. The difference is S does not support two-way audio over ONVIF. PTZ is supported and it works great. The two-way audio works great in the app, but you can only listen to camera audio over ONVIF.

To explore what you can do with ONVIF, I would suggest installing ODM - ONVIF device manager https://sourceforge.net/projects/onvifdm/

Once installed and running, use Login at the top to enter in your credentials. If your cameras aren't found automatically, you can add them but make sure the URL is using port 2020 and not the default port 80. Port 2020 is the only ONVIF port on the Tapo's.

Tapo Camera ONVIF and RTSP Common Questions Answered | Tapo https://www.tapo.com/en/faq/724/

This is an interesting point worth mentioning in that FAQ:
  • Tapo Care, SD card recording, and NVR/NAS/ONVIF software cannot all be used simultaneously. Only two of the three can run at the same time.
So if you are using Tapo's cloud service AND you have an SD card installed, you won't be able to use RTSP/ONVIF. In that case you would remove the SD card and rely on cloud recordings while using the local streaming for NVR or preview use. However, if you have no intention of using the cloud, you can keep the SD card in and use the local streams however you want, which is what I do.
2
Jul 12, 2026 4:37 AM
168 Comments
Joined Nov 2016
RaedSJul 12, 2026 4:37 AM
168 Comments
I was not very clear about whether these cameras can record to Tapo H500 hub, but does anyone know or can confirm?
Jul 15, 2026 2:28 PM
606 Comments
Joined Jan 2011
mcbrewskyJul 15, 2026 2:28 PM
606 Comments
Quote from mac4lyfe View quoted comment :
I ditched all my Wyze cameras for Tapos. Monitoring, notifications,no monthly subscriptions are huge pluses.
Curious, what do you mean by "monitoring"? Just viewing on mobile, or having them/Wyze monitor like ADT security ('cause I remember that was a thing a while back)?

Also, maybe it's because I'm using old V2's and V3's with the free 'lite' subscription, but Wyze has rich notifications (with a snapshot) whereas Tapo only has simple (text only). In fact, my Android doesn't even pass on the name of the Tapo camera to my Fitbit where the motion was detected. (iPhone and Wyze/Eufy provide camera name to my Fitbit.)

When it works (which is about 80% of the time), my Eufy doorbell sends me a photo zoomed into the face of the person detected. This is my favorite of these 3 companies' free services. (When it doesn't work is the hubcap of a passing car, or the tree across the street.)

One benefit of multiple ecosystems is redundancy if, say, AMZ fails to service Wyze for a period of time. Another is setting distinct mobile sounds for each brand's notifications: owl's hoot for my Wyze cameras sound different than car's chirp from my Eufy doorbell/lock.
Last edited by mcbrewsky July 15, 2026 at 07:35 AM.

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Jul 24, 2026 6:14 AM
2.1K Comments
Joined Feb 2021
AquaGalley8616Jul 24, 2026 6:14 AM
2.1K Comments
ask a QUESTION instead of saying ... "this product SUCKS ... it can't do this or that".

ASK:

"How can I do this or that, anybody able to do it, and how did you do it."
Last edited by AquaGalley8616 July 23, 2026 at 11:17 PM.

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