Smartthings Indoor Camera

Can anyone recommend a good indoor camera that integrates with Smartthings. I would like to use it in either the US or Canada. I will be placing it in a storage room or garage with leak detectors so that if a detector notes a leak, I can connect remotely and see if there is any water on the floor. Thanks.

Tapo cameras are cheap, and can record locally on a MicroSD card.

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Worst integration ever! Can’t do anything else with it than watching the stream and very basic motion detection. No pan/tilt/zoom, on/off - nothing.

The very best integrated camera is the Aeotec Cam 360, basically the reference implementation.

The C225 has Homekit, Alexa, Google, SmartThings support and is way better. The Tapo app is great.

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I have both…

Thanks for the recommendation for the Aeotec. I can’t tell from the descriptions online – but would it enable me to survey the floor of a storage area or basement if I mount it about 8 feet off the floor. I would be looking for any water leakage from any of the pipes and the water would be on the floor.

Get a camera with the highest resolution available. Look into Reolink cameras, but I don’t know how well they are integrated in ST.

The integration works just fine. And plus, you get the benefit of having a local copy on the SD card, something Aeotec cameras can’t do. Sure, you have to use another app, but I would say you use SmartThings to look at all your smart home devices at a glance. Especially since all my Tapo cameras through SmartThings load so fast—way faster than my Nest doorbell.

I have both, Tapo (C225) and Aeotec (Cam 360) cameras…

The Tapo camera integration is a bad joke. To turn it on/off in SmartThings, you need a proxy device like a Tapo plug and two routines each.

There’s absolutely no control. All you can do is to watch the stream.

The Aeotec is fully integrated and doesn’t even have a third-party app, because ST is the app.

Recordings:

Settings:

Routines:

Can you move the Reolink camera through the 360 degrees through the SmartThings app? Same for the Tapo?

You can’t move the Tapo camera through ST.

Yes but it lacks sd card loading. Along with people detection.


Aeotec integration work better but i would say as if you just casually look at feed only it will be fine too. I have my tapo camera monitoring and when they detect a person they zoom on them. That all i need and detecting motion. I do have aeotec camera too use them. There great but just saying tapo good even if i have to use a second app. As i just set and forget. If i need to review footages i open tapo. If smartthings did more with camera and had more option i would love that.

Sadly no but you can set up in the tapo app for it to follow people and itll pan automatically. I just have that on 24/7 so i dont need to look in app unless its history. But note aeotoc keeps only 1 day history unless you get the subscription.

I think, like everything else, there are pros and cons that should be decided by the individual. For me… Cost, local recording, and motion integration with smartthings was a hard requirement. To me, that was tapo. The cost is about 1/4 the price of aeotec and even cheaper than most motion sensors. There are many times where I needed to rely on the local recording that was not captured in the few seconds typically stored with the aeotec camera. With the drastic savings, you can buy a tplink or tapo smart plug to control the on/off functionality. I would love a lot more functionality with the tapo integration, but again… Each person needs to weigh their own pros / cons.

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I bought 3 Aeotec Cam 360 for $15 each in the official store. Sometimes they go up to $30.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my Tapo C225 cameras. They do exactly what I need. I couldn’t care less about the local recording though, because I have a Tapo Care subscription and a burglar would steal the cameras anyway… :wink:

I just can’t get over the fact that the SmartThings integration must be the worst of any device out there. Can’t even turn it on/off in a routine (Home Monitor). :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

This must be a joke:

As part of this deep collaboration, Samsung highlights Tapo C225/TC73 as one of the top six standout WWST products at Samsung’s CES 2024 event. This recognition affirms Tapo C225/TC73’s exceptional performance and compatibility within the SmartThings ecosystem, providing users with unparalleled convenience and control.

LOL!

From $90 to $15 is a great deal. I’m not sure I ever saw that. However, relying or waiting for that deal might not work for most people. The tapo cameras are typically great prices.
I believe most smart home users need to understand that not every device works with every setup the way that they expect. At least there is a workaround for the on / off here, especially since I had extra tplink plugs.
I’m more upset with ring security, since that is very hard to automate the home, off, alarm modes.