Sometimes, looks can be deceiving when shopping for a video doorbell. TheTapo D225 Video Doorbellseems perfect for a budget-conscious shopper who doesn’t want to pay for a subscription to record video. But while it offers some flexible installation options and a nice app, the poor video quality makes it difficult to recommend.
TP-Link Tapo D225
The TP-Link Tapo D225 video doorbell provides a nice way to keep watch on what is happening at your front door. The 2K camera provides a 180-degree field of view. you may choose to use existing doorbell wiring or use the built-in battery that can go for up to eight months on a single charge.
Pricing and Availability
The Tapo D225 Video Doorbell retails for $99.99 and is available from Amazon.
Specifications
Flexible and Easy Installation Options
When taking the first steps into looking for a video doorbell, you’ll usually need to make a big choice to begin.
There are usually two major kinds of doorbells. The first requires using your existing doorbell wiring for the new option. The other uses a built-in battery in the video doorbell itself. Each one has pros and cons.
But there’s no need to worry about that issue with the Tapo D225 Video Doorbell. you’re able to use existing doorbell wiring or use the built-in battery.
With the battery, you can go up to eight months between charging. When on battery power, you’ll need to use the included chime to hear when the doorbell is pressed. The chime plugs into an existing power outlet indoors and can also be used when hardwired.
There are some notable advantages to using existing doorbell wiring. The biggest thing is that you’re able to use the video doorbell to record 24/7, providing you use an optional microSD card of up to 512GB. Even if you don’t want that option, when wired, the doorbell has a pre-roll option. That will show 4 seconds of video before motion is detected.
Getting the doorbell installed took me under 15 minutes. First, verify to download the TP-Link Tapo app foriPhoneorAndroid. The app will walk you through the entire installation process. I choose to use the video doorbell’s battery for power. For that, you’ll need to make sure to fully charge it before installation.
If you go hardwired, Tapo provides all the needed equipment, like mounts, hardware, and wiring.
After getting the doorbell installed, there are a few more steps in the app to connect everything to your Wi-Fi network.
No Subscription Required to Record Video
The video doorbell can be integrated with an existing Amazon Alexa or Google Home smart home. It can also integrate other Tapo products like lights and cameras.
If you’re an Apple HomeKit user, you’re out of luck, which is disappointing. I integrated the doorbell into my Amazon Alexa setup and could view the front door view from my Echo Show.
Most of the time, you’ll use the Tapo app to fine-tune the video doorbell and view video. Tapo offers a wide variety of options to customize the D225 in the app.
A must for any new video doorbell user is to create detection zones to better filter out problematic areas in the camera’s view, like a blowing tree branch that might accidentally trigger a motion warning.
Another great feature you may customize is audio Quick Responses for someone at the door. When someone presses the doorbell, you can use an existing one like “Please leave the item by the door.” Along with a built-in slate of options, you can record your own messages. I also liked that when someone presses the doorbell, your smartphone will ring just like a phone call, making it much easier to answer instead of needing to manually open the app.
If you’re using the doorbell’s battery, you’re able to also use the app to modify how the doorbell uses power, from a high-performance option to a power-saving mode. You can also see detailed information about the battery level and how much was used each day.
The doorbell uses AI to detect when a motion, person, package, pet, or vehicle is detected. You can pick and choose what type of object that the doorbell can look out for. You can see a notification of each type. All of the detection types worked well in my testing except for package detection. I received at least a dozen packages in my testing period, and never received a notification.
Unlike most other doorbell models, you don’t need a subscription for the detection feature.
If you want, Tapo does provide a cloud video storage option for $3.49 monthly or $34.99 yearly for a single device. You can view any amount of video from the last 30 days. Compared to other manufacturers like Ring and Arlo, Tapo’s option is very reasonably priced.
Though the better option is to use an optional microSD card. The card slot is on the back of the doorbell, so make sure to insert one before you install the doorbell.
No matter if you choose the cloud or local option, you can view all the recordings through the app. You can also use both cloud and local video storage at the same time. Switch between the two with a simple tap.
Poor Quality Fisheye Video Spoils the Great Overall Package
The biggest issue I had with the Tapo D225 is arguably the most important when looking for a video doorbell—video quality.
While the doorbell provides up to 2K resolution, it’s missing an important feature found in many other options—HDR. That adjusts video with very bright and very dark parts. My front porch has a large cover after a path that is often very sunny.
HDR in other doorbell cameras I’ve used, like theEcobee Smart Video Doorbell, makes it easy for me to see people in the sun before they come on my porch. But with the Tapo model, that area was highly washed out, limiting how much of the scene I could make out. The shaded area closer to the doorbell was also darker and harder to make out important details like a person’s face and what they were carrying.
At night, the lack of HDR wasn’t as much of a problem. The usual night vision option worked nicely, allowing me to clearly see faces and other details.
There is also the ability to use the built-in spotlight to turn on when something is detected at night to provide a more true-color version of the scene. But if you choose to use that, it will shorten your battery life over time.
The 180-degree field-of-view lens also suffers from a very noticeable fisheye effect that can distort areas around the edges of the video. Many more expensive options don’t suffer from as pronounced of an effect.
Should You Buy the Tapo D225 Video Doorbell?
It’s hard to recommend theTapo D225 Video Doorbellfor almost any circumstances.
On paper, thanks to multiple installation options, no need to pay a subscription, and people/package/vehicle detection, it looks like a nice option. But the poor video quality should be a dealbreaker for most people looking to add the technology to their front door.
If video quality is a secondary concern but you like the idea of recording 24/7 when the video doorbell is wired, take a look at Tapo’s option. Otherwise, you can spend a little more money for much better video quality.
