TP-Link Tapo C660 security camera review: solar-powered 4K with 360-degree coverage

The Tapo C660 is a motorised, solar-powered outdoor security camera from TP-Link. It boasts 4K video quality, colour night vision, subscription-free storage and 360-degree coverage.

Easily mountable to a wall or fence, the C660 is a security camera that never needs charging, yet promises high-quality video and the ability to pan and tilt to follow movement, such as a trespasser walking across your garden.

Since Tapo doesn’t charge a subscription for extra features, the camera comes with AI smarts baked in, including the ability to tell the difference between people, pets, vehicles and other types of movement. It works with the Google Home and Alexa smart home platforms, and can even be set to record continuously, 24/7, on battery and solar power alone.

Is this the perfect outdoor security camera for your home? Read on to find out.

TP-Link Tapo C660 security camera review: Price and availability

New for 2025 and available now, the C660 kit carries a retail price of £179.99, but is sometimes discounted. At the time of writing, I spotted the camera reduced to £139.99 at Amazon.

Either way, this feels like great value for a camera with this many features – especially one that is motorised and includes a solar panel.

TP-Link Tapo C660 security camera review: Design and setup

The C660 is a fairly chunky camera, but that’s to be expected when you appreciate everything it has to offer. Setting it up is simple, with all the screws and wall plugs needed to fix the camera to a fence or wall. I mounted it to a wooden fence post, so I didn't need to drill holes or use the wall plugs.

Ideally, I’d have installed the camera higher off the ground, since the camera’s vertical movement is designed to pan downwards from the horizon instead of up. The camera can pan by 326 degrees and tilt by 45 degrees, which when added to the 105-degree lens means all-around coverage.

The solar panel can be connected directly to the same wall mount with an adjustable ball-and-socket joint, or fixed separately. The former is neater, while the latter (with an included extension cable) gives the option of installing the solar panel in a spot that attracts more sunlight.

Instead of charging for a compulsory cloud storage subscription, TP-Link has blessed the C660 with a microSD card slot, so you can save up to 512GB of footage on the camera itself – however, there’s no card included in the box. Or, recordings can be saved to TP-Link’s new Tapo H500 hub, which can have its storage expanded up to 16TB. Frustratingly, the H500 doesn’t support the C660’s 24/7 recording function.

TP-Link Tapo C660 security camera review: Performance and features

I’ve used the C660 for a couple of weeks now and have been impressed by its video quality. Daytime recordings are incredibly sharp and detailed, thanks to the 4K resolution.

Frame rate is only 15 fps by default, which is pretty slow by smartphone camera standards, but is still passable for surveillance footage, and can be increased to 20fps via the settings menu. On the topic of frame rate, the C660’s 24/7 mode cuts down to just 1fps, then jumps back up to 15 fps (or 20) when movement is detected.

I found the solar panel was excellent at keeping the battery topped-up. Even after a few grey days, it fell only to 86 percent before returning to 100 percent over the next five days. Your mileage will vary here, especially if you crank up the motion sensitivity and install the camera in a high-traffic location, but for my needs – monitoring a back garden – I doubt I’d ever need to charge the battery myself.

It’s possible to manually pan and tilt the camera, but more useful is the ability to create up to eight pre-set views. I made three – for my patio, lawn and garden shed – so with a single tap the camera will move to whichever location I want to look at.

There’s also a patrol mode, which can be set to constantly move back and forth either vertically or horizontally. Naturally, this will run the battery down more quickly than if the camera is left to only move when motion is spotted.

By default, the C660 follows movement. It’s quick to respond, then accurately (and silently) tracks the subject as they move through the frame. It’s the sort of feature that reminds you you’ve installed a proper security camera, not just a glorified webcam.

As with other security cameras, the C660 has a microphone and speaker for two-way audio, and there’s a spotlight too, which can be controlled manually or set to come on automatically when movement is detected.

This is useful at night, since the Tapo’s full-colour night vision needs some light to function properly. I found that, in my completely dark garden and without the spotlight switched on, the camera used greyscale infrared night vision (which produces black and white footage). The camera’s colour night vision captured slightly more detail than the infrared system, so I’d always opt for that approach. But if you don’t want the spotlight coming on, you’re best sticking with infrared.

My only real criticism is the camera can be slow to respond when manually controlling the pan and tilt function. This is likely down to patchy Wi-Fi, but in my case the camera is only about 20 feet (and two doors) from my router, and I had expected more from a device intended to live outside. The pan/tilt shortcuts mentioned earlier were also a little flaky, where tapping on my ‘Patio’ shortcut had the camera overshoot, and end up facing a fence with zero view of the patio. Deleting the shortcut and creating a new patio view fixed this issue.

TP-Link Tapo C660 security camera review: Verdict

The Tapo C660 is an excellent all-in-one security camera that ticks almost every box, from 4K video and location storage, to no-cost AI features, solar power and motorised pan and tilt. It isn’t the smallest or most attractive camera out there – I prefer Eufy’s integrated solar panel design – but it does a great job of protecting and monitoring your home.

There are cheaper alternatives – including TP-Link’s own Tapo TC82 and TC85, both of which I’ve seen below £100 – but I still think the C660 delivers a lot for the money. Video quality is superb, motorised pan and tilt is perfect for protecting larger spaces, and colour night vision is a bonus, just so long as there’s some ambient light to help it out.

Local storage is great news for anyone unwilling to pay a monthly fee for cloud storage (as is required for Ring security cameras), and I like how the Tapo H500 can act as a hub and storage centre for cameras like the C660.

If you already have some compatible Tapo products, or plan to build a Tapo system from scratch, adding the C660 to your setup feels like a no-brainer.