Also among our SlashGear Select picks for 2023 is a particularly budget-priced security camera, the Tapo TP120 from TP-Link, a brand best known for its networking products. Shooting at 1080p full HD resolution while boasting IP66 water resistance  (officially, that means it’s “Protected from high-pressure water jets from any direction”) for just $39.99 retail and sometimes less on sale, it’s going to be hard to find a better deal for anyone looking to build a new home monitoring system from scratch.

To get 30 days of cloud storage, you need to pay for the premium tier of the Tapo Care subscription service, but it’s pretty reasonably priced, ranging from $3.49 per month or $34.99 billed annually for one camera to $11.99 per month or $119.99 billed annually for up to 10 cameras. That said, it’s still a good value without a subscription.

“Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Tapo C120 is just how many advanced features are available out of the box, even without paying for Tapo Care,” notes our Tapo C120 review. “AI identification is built in, so it can identify people, pets, and several kinds of specific sounds (baby cries, pet noises, glass breaking, etc) on its own. These detection settings can also tie in with notifications, so for example you can tell the camera to only ping you if it detects a person.” Even though the C120 is strictly a security camera and not a smart doorbell, it does transmit audio both ways between the camera and the app. So, if the app pings you about a delivery, communicating with the delivery driver is trivial.

Not bad for such a budget-priced camera.