TP-Link Tapo 4+

I have 4 x C200 and 5 x Energy measuring plugs, all work really well without paying any subscription.

Forget their advertised use, set each camera to DAY mode permanently, turn the led off and mount on top of the cardboard box and point out of your windows at your car, at your garden etc, absolutely brilliant colour night video recording makes these better than many outside security cameras for less than £30.

To developers, I love your kit but your subscription model is way to expensive in the UK for the tiny amount of additional features it adds, stop comparing $ to £, income is way higher in the USA making it affordable but not in UK.

The Tapo app is still lacking in functionality with many of the lights available in the Tapo line, with the sunrise feature still not being available outside of the LED light strips. This is functionality that was available in the TP link Kasa app though unfortunately the bulbs are no longer available.

Additionally the recent update and ui refresh is a massive step backwards in usability and functionality with the colour temperature options being far worse now. Previously the colour temperature would provide haptic feedback as well as fixed points that it would snap to corresponding to key light colours such as daylight. I’m grouped mode the current colour temperature isn’t shown unless adjusting it. Furthermore features such as daylight matching to change the colour temperature throughout the day automatically have been removed entirely for no apparent reason. And to compound all of this the ui has made key buttons that you interact with all the time smaller, harder to see and interact with. Why have the on/off buttons been made small, why is the brightness bar been shrank massively, why has the new ui made every button you would use frequently smaller and harder to use. The update is such a step back in usability that I am considering stepping away from the Tapo ecosystem entirely.

Very disappointed with the latest ‘enhancements’ to this product.
In the TAPO Camera Playback mode, it used to be very easy to see an overview of several hours of recordings via the timeline. You could easily identify a period of frequent activity and then playback at 1 to 16 times the recording speed.
The timeline feature has now been removed, so the only way of knowing what has gone on is to watch the individual recordings. These can only be viewed at normal speed, making it impossible to review what has been captured unless you have hours to spare doing so. I can’t imagine many people having that much spare time so the camera is effectively of no practical use now.
I use the camera to record my brother-in-law at sleep during the night. (I am his carer.) I want to be able to see when he was disturbed and whether he was still asleep or awake. This might be a fairly unique use case, but if I were recording for other reasons e.g. as a security camera, I would be interested in viewing the recordings subsequently, not just being expected to react to all motion detection notifications. I really find it difficult to believe that’s the developers were truly considering the end users when they decided it was a great idea to move this feature.