Tapo C460 4K security camera – it’s solar-powered (review)

The Tapo C460 4K security camera and solar panel has Starlight colour night vision, 4K detail, a long-lasting 10,000mAh battery, so it is set and forget.

Now, we are not prone to spontaneous bouts of euphemism—just the facts, ma’am. At the end of this review, we will tell you what we think in CyberShack’s view and ratings.

Hint: It’s pretty good!

Consumer Advice – what do you really need?

You just don’t buy one security camera and expect it to solve security issues. It is like locking the front door and leaving the back door unlocked.

Our most sage advice is to consider the entry points to your home—the garden, driveway, doors, windows, side fences, and even from above and inside. Develop a plan—a typical house will need a mix of cameras with specific features and strengths.

For example, this camera best suits areas needing a fixed field of view and Starlight night vision. A pan-and-tilt camera may be better for the side fences, and you may even need a 4G one if you need a camera out of Wi-Fi range. Don’t forget to cover potential entry points like the front and rear doors and inside the home (Santa has given permission to monitor the chimney).

Next, measure your Wi-Fi signal where you want to place the cameras. Download the free Network Cell Info Light from Google Play (Android only). Switch your phone to the 2.4Ghz home Wi-Fi network. Stand where you want to place the cameras and measure the Wi-Fi strength. Anything below -50dBm is usable. 50-100dBm may cause dropouts, lags between activation and notification, and low-quality or stuttering audio and vision. -100dBm or more is unusable, and you need to consider a Mesh router. Read Extend in-house internet to out-house

If you don’t want to be worried about frequent battery recharging (and it is a pain), look for optional solar panels (like this has) or if you can easily connect to power. For example, spotlight cameras are energy-hungry, but energy use can be increased by poor Wi-Fi and setting the resolution and frames per second too high.

A Bunning’s expert stated there is an extremely high rate of security camera returns [all brands] for two main reasons: low-to-no Wi-Fi signal and frustration at charging batteries too frequently, as much as weekly instead of 3-6 months, because a security camera can have thousands of monthly activations.

What is Starlight Night Vision?

Starlight uses a larger sensor, wider aperture, and reduced shutter speed to collect and amplify the ambient light from stars, the moon, and other sources to ‘see’ colour images where normal cameras can’t.

The camera features an IR cut filter (ICR) that switches to night mode when there is insufficient light for colour images (usually <50 lumens). This produces IR mono night vision to about 10-15 meters.

When light levels increase (we tested between 50 and 100 lumens), the image begins to show colour. But there is a trick. The camera is fixed, and basic AI knows the colours in daylight and uses pixel manipulation to help colourise the image. However, it is not full colour—more an approximation of that.

Read our guide

With apologies to Tapo, 15 Things to Consider when Buying a Security Camera was developed with assistance from Arlo. But in true CyberShack style, it is jam-packed with unbiased, good tips equally applicable to any brand.

Australian Review: Tapo C460 4K security camera with solar panel kit specs Model C460 V1

As of 25/4/25 Firmware 1.15 Build 250401 Rel. 49993n

Website	Tapo Smart Camera Model Overview    Camera only Camera and solar panel kit Datasheet
Price	Camera only approx. $229 Solar panel kit $35
From	Bunnings
Warranty	1-year
App	TP-Link Tapo for Android and iOS
Sensor	4K, 3840 x 2160, 8MP, Sensor (This is not Sony STARVIS) Fixed focus F/1.65 3DNR – dynamic noise reduction by comparing frames WDR – wide dynamic range AOV (All-in-one vision) firmware update late May.
Frame rate	15fps
Field of View	134° diagonal,113° horizontal, 59° vertical (16:9)
Night Vision	4 x 850nm IR LEDs good from 10-15m (practically a little less). Starlight Colour night vision good to 10m.
Lights	2 x LED motion-activated spotlights
Wi-Fi	N AC 2.4/5GHz (4K stream uses 72.2Mbps) Use 2.4GHz for maximum range
Battery	10,000mAh Charger (not included) 5V/2A/10W
Solar Panel A201	5.2V/.48A/2.5W maximum (depends on orientation). The Tapo C460 can be placed up to 4m away with an extension cable (supplied).
Sound	Mic and speaker – two-way with noise cancellation. Siren 100dB (10cm) and 80dB (100cm)
Storage	Tapo Care Cloud Storage Services (Subscription required) OR up to 512GB micro-SD on device
AI on device	Motion Detection Person Detection Pet Detection Vehicle Detection
Weather-resistant C460 camera	IP66: The device is fully protected against dust and water, which is projected in powerful jets (12.5 mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction and shall have no harmful effects.
Weather-resistant A201 panel	IP65: Low-pressure water protection.

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations), and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be, and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show that it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First Impression – small coke can size with a decent battery

The Tapo C460 is about the size of a Coke can (115 x 65mm x 330g), with a flat front and bullet-shaped round end. It has a standard ¼” tripod socket.

There are two LED spotlights good to about 3 metres, 4×850 nm IR LEDs good to about 10-15 metres, and Starlight a little less. The closer you can get the camera to the target area, the better details and colour you will see.

It can use a micro-SD card up to 512GB, which can be transferred to a computer and read using almost any photo/video app.

Consumer Advice: If you intend to use this as evidence to report to the police or a court, you must preserve the chain of evidence. This means NOT taking the card out of the camera (you can view the images through the app) or opening/editing the image from the micro-SD on a computer. You must provide the camera to the police, who can note that the chain of evidence is intact.

This also applies to dashcams.

Sensor

This backside-illuminated CMOS Starlight sensor is used in many brands.

• 8MP, 3840 x 2160. It will drop back to 720p.
• 15fps (this is slow but helps keep the data bandwidth in control). We did not observe it dropping to lower frame rates.
• F/1.65 (quite wide aperture, which reduces depth-of-field)
• 2.2um pixels (large light gathering)
• Fixed focus (infinity)
• 18X Digital Zoom (pixel, not optical zoom and too blurry past 10X)
• 3.17mm ultra-wide angle focal length
• 120dB true WDR technology enables a clear image in a strong light scene

Mounting

The Tapo C460 comes with a magnetic mount (fits on flat steel poles) and a dual purpose camera and solar mount that you screw to a wall (still uses the magnetic mount for easy camera removal).

Camera mounting is easy. Place it where the field-of-view (approximately 16:9 or 134° Diagonal, 113° Horizontal, 59° Vertical) covers the area you need to view. Remember that IR night vision is about 10-15m, and Starlight vision tends to be <10m for better details. Motion detection is usually 5-10m, and it is most effective when something crosses through the beam (not face on).

Solar panel mounting is more complex and is one of the primary mistakes people make. It needs to be angled at the correct pitch (your latitude), have a north-facing aspect, and have a clear sky view during daylight hours. It comes with a 3.8m extension cable.

Hint: Resist the temptation to use the combo solar/camera mount because it is easy. Find the best location for both devices.

You can read Tapo’s instructions here

Setup/Privacy – Pass+

Download the Tapo app for Android or iOS. Set up an account and accept the terms of use and privacy policy (we have reviewed these, and they are benign. Cloud storage is local).

Screenshots are self-explanatory and cover all the usual features.

App features

It is fully featured and covers all necessary adjustments. We did not test the 30-day trial of Tapo Cloud storage.

• Battery status
• Local micro-SD or Hub storage (see storage option later)
• Recording clip length, retrigger and with/out sound
• Privacy Zone (can add no record zones to reduce false alarms)
• Ultra-wide distortion correction (reduces curves due to wider field-of-view)
• Image settings (colour temperature and brightness)
• Spotlight brightness (1-5, select 5 for most use)
• Privacy Mode (turns camera off)
• Notifications: activity or rich with a snapshot
• Activity detection (Motion, Person, Pet, Vehicle). No subscription.
• Share the device with others
• Smart Actions (leave or arrive home, geofencing or use motion to light the area)

How does it perform?

As this sensor is widely used, we have to say that it performs as well as any other using a 4K Starlight sensor.

Viewing the clip on a computer

The clip is saved as an MP4 with H.264 compression. You may not have the right CODEC installed to view it. Download the free VLC  for Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, Android, or Chrome, and it will play the clips.

Storage

The Tapo C460 has a micro-SD slot for up to 512 GB. That means about 200 x 2MB clips.

Tapo currently has a H200 Smart IoT hub with chime (great for a Tapo video doorbell) and soon a H500 Smart HomeBase.

H200 (older technology)

• Supports 64 switches, sensors or buttons and four cameras or doorbells.
• 512GB micro-SD storage (limiting for multi-camera use)
• Ethernet RJ45 connection to the router or 2.4GHz Wi-Fi

H500 (later in 2025)

You would use this to build a Tapo ecosystem of cameras and IoT.

• Supports 16 Tapo cameras and 64 IoT
• 16TB HDD/SSD (one bay)
• HDMI out
• Ethernet RJ45 connection to the router or 2.4/5GHz Wi-Fi
• Sub-1GHz control network 920.9MHz, 921.7MHz, 922.3MHz
• USB-A for data transfer
• It provides advanced face recognition with high precision (you can allocate names), and versatile AI features like person, pet, and vehicle detection.
• Track individual movements across cameras and form a face database
• 110dB siren
• Doorbell voice call
• No cloud subscription needed
• Matter compatible

Tapocare

You can subscribe to Tapocare Basic (7-day storage) or Premium (30-day storage). Details here. You must provide a credit card, and payment automatically rolls over. Prices at 1/5/25 and exclude any promotions or incentives after a 30-day trial period.

	Basic		Premium
	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual
1 device	$3.99	$39.99	$4.99	$48.99
Up to 2			$8.99	$87.99
Up to 3			$12.99	$129.99
Up to 5	$14.49	$144.99
Up to 10			$16.49	$164.99

While Aussies hate paying for subscriptions, the on-device storage fills quickly and overwrites after about every 200 clips (typically 10-20 days). The video I want to find usually needs 30 days’ grace.

But if you are averse to subscriptions, the H500 Smart HomeBase is what you need. The price is TBA, but expect around $500 plus a 2.5” SATA HDD (1TB approx. $100, 2TB/$175, 4TB/$250, 8TB/$375).

Weather IP rating – Pass+

The Tapo C460 is IP66 and suitable for external use, including near the sea (as I live near the sea, I would silicone the USB-C cable end to protect the connector).

The solar panel is IP65 and suitable for external use. The key to its effectiveness is keeping the panel clean (especially at the seaside), which can be a chore when mounted high for an unimpeded view of the sun.

Siren – Pass

While accurate—100dB measured at the camera—it is barely a whisper at  100m (the same as all brands). It is there to alert the intruder.

Two-way audio – Passable

Every security camera maker claims full-duplex audio, so you can speak naturally to the courier or intruder. Yeah, nah!

Audio lag time can vary from four to six seconds over Wi-Fi and several times that for remote smartphone viewing over mobile data.  Wind noise is evident. That is OK, but it makes natural communication difficult. It is not the camera’s fault, as that depends on Wi-Fi and mobile signal strength.

Voice assistant – Pass

Currently supports Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and soon Matter.

Battery – Pass+

10,000mAh (milliamp hours) is not capacity class-leading, but it is about twice as much as many generic brands.

Tapo says it can last up to 200 days at 270 seconds of daily use ( around 900 minutes or 15 hours of total activity). We all know there are caveats, including device settings, Wi-Fi signal strength, activations, recording time, day or night record, and watching live views. Activity video clips range from 8 seconds to as much as 20 seconds.

We have had the Tapo C460 on test for about two weeks on battery and two weeks on solar. The battery is 3.6V/10A/36Wh (4 x 3.6V/2500mAh Lithium-ion in parallel). It uses about 1% per day, with about 10 clips and 130-150 seconds of record time plus live view time.

Charge time with a 5V/2A/10W USB-C charger is about 4.5 hours.

The solar panel output maxes out at 5V/.5A/2.5W. On a fine day, the panel produces about 5 to 8.5Wh, which tops up the battery daily. We did not test it, but 0-100% would be achieved over four to five days.

I don’t think you will get 200 days on the battery alone, but even so, 100+ should be achievable. If you are using well-located solar, it should never require charging.

CyberShack’s view: Tapo C460 4K security camera has good value, performance and features

As I have mentioned throughout the review, it performs very similarly to any other 4K Starlight sensor camera from Uniden, Swann, Eufy, et al., and its app and cloud costs are very similar to any other, which makes this a ‘me-too’ device that needs to offer something others do not.

So why TP-Link Tapo?

• Trustpilot gives TP-Link a 4.6/5 rating from 4,529 reviews—that counts for after-sales and warranty service, which frankly, few brands get right.
• Tapo is often featured in ‘best of’ reviews.
• It has an Ecosystem of internal, external, pan/tilt, floodlight and IoT that you can use in one App.
• Matter compliance may not matter now, but it will soon as IoT moves in that direction
• I have found TP-Link and Tapo products very reliable. They issue firmware updates promptly, which is way safer than using unknown generic brands on your home network.
• Its privacy terms are benign, and data is stored in Singapore. Read Give TP-Link a break – No spyware for you.

Tapo C460 4K security camera ratings

Rated as a 4K, fixed focus, Starlight vision security camera, optionally available in a kit with a solar panel.

• Features: 90 – Wireless 2.4/5GHz, 4K, micro-SD storage, large battery, good app and a solar panel
• Value: 90 – Reasonable price from a reputable company.
• Performance: 90 – same as other reputable 4K Starlight cameras
• Ease of use: 80—Charge, install, and use the app—easy. It has a one-year warranty, but given that this is an integral part of home security, we feel it could be longer, as some competitors offer.
• Design: 85—The Bullet design is nothing special, but the solar panel mount and magnet mount are.