This Video Doorbell Is Currently $80 and Does Not Require a Monthly Subscription
For those looking for affordable smart security without a monthly fee, the TP-Link Tapo D225 Video Doorbell is now $79.99 (down from $99.99). It covers all the bases, plus a few features even more expensive models lack, earning it an Editors’ Choice award from PCMag . At about 6 inches tall, the Tapo D225 isn’t the thinnest doorbell on the market, but it’s built to handle the elements and is IP66 water-resistant. And if someone tries to steal your doorbell, the built-in 98 dB siren will be loud enough to scare away intruders.
Meal options are flexible. You can either run on battery power (up to eight months per charge) or connect it to existing wiring (8-24V) and record footage 24/7. During the day, colors look sharp and rich. At night, black-and-white images hold up well, although color night vision isn’t as bright as day vision (but that’s typical of many cameras in this range), PCMag’s review notes. Its 2K (20 fps) camera with a 180-degree field of view gives you a complete head-to-toe view of whoever is at your door, and smart motion alerts accurately distinguish between people, vehicles, pets and packages, helping reduce time about unnecessary pings. Plus, it comes with a plug-in sound so you don’t have to rely solely on your phone notifications.
Unlike many video doorbells at this price, the Tapo D225 supports local storage with a microSD slot (up to 512GB, sold separately), allowing you to save footage without a cloud subscription. If you prefer cloud storage, a subscription to Tapo Care Premium ( $3.49 per month ) gives you 30 days of video history for a single camera. The doorbell connects via 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and works with Alexa and Google Assistant, but does not support Apple HomeKit. However, if you use IFTTT, it can be integrated with other smart home devices for additional automation. You can control the D225 using the TP-Link Tapo mobile app, including live video streaming, manual recording, setting motion zones, using two-way audio, enabling motion tags and more.