Hello All,
 

I hope this query and its format are appropriate here.
 

I have a couple of Tapo C500 cameras (a V2 and a V1) which overall I am happy with. I am looking to purchase another camera, which I believe I would like to be a Tapo too, so I am trying to decide whether or not to upgrade to either a C510W, a C520WS or a C530WS (where most if not all of these camera models currently seem to exist in either V1 or V2 versions).
 

Unfortunately I'm having a bit of difficulty feeling certain of the differences between these offerings and what I could/should get.
 

For info, I would say my difficulty comes under 2 headings:

• 1) Trying to understand for various Tapo camera product listings from various vendors whether it is actually a V1 or a V2 model being offered for sale.
• 2) Trying to understand with confidence the technical differences: for these 4x tapo camera models under consideration (C500, C510W, C520WS, C530WS), for their respective versions apparently available (V1, or V2 at most, I believe), from the various sources of technical information available.

I have to say that the former difficulty (1 above) is proving surprisingly challenging (I have polled between ~50x-100x tapo camera product/vendor listings asking if the particular product they are offering for sale is a V1 or a V2, and so far the % of positive confirmations is far lower than the % of responses which claim they are unable/unwilling to provide this information) and I'd be interested in any sort of further discussion around this with anyone, but for now my main purpose for posting here is for support with the latter difficulty.

The latter difficulty (2 above), on technical differences, seems mainly down to inconsistency of information between the various sources of technical information available. For Tapo cameras generally these source options are:

• a) Tapo website product listing 'Specifications' pages
  • These seem to be produced/maintained systematically/thoroughly by Tapo for all camera product offerings.
  • Here is an example (for a Tapo C500 V1): https://www.tp-link.com/en/home-networking/cloud-camera/tapo-c500/v1/#specifications
• b) Tapo website 'datasheet PDFs'
  • These also seem to be produced/maintained systematically/thoroughly by Tapo for all camera product offerings.
  • Here is an example (again for a Tapo C500 V1): https://static.tp-link.com/upload/product-overview/2024/202403/20240319/Tapo%20C500%201.0&1.8_Datasheet.pdf
• c) Various other technical documents in circulation
  • Such sources are not apparently readily accessible via the Tapo website, but nevertheless sometimes seem to appear in circulation, on a more sporadic/random basis. Such examples have usually come to my attention only when provided by a vendor in response to a version confirmation query or so.
  • Here is an example of a PDF (for a Tapo C530WS, version unclear) provided by an Amazon vendor who claimed to have been given this product information by TP-Link/Tapo: see PDF file '10453459.pdf' attached to this post.
     

Currently I am at the point in my purchase decision-making process where I believe I want to upgrade from a C500, probably not to a C510W, but to either a C520WS or a C530WS, where the only reasons I am considering the C520WS over the C530WS (where C530WS primary technical benefit over the C520WS seems to be even greater primary image resolution / video quality) are cost and also the possibility that the C520WS has a slightly (but perhaps noticeably) wider/larger field of view. So I have produced a filtered list of questions below around confirmation of technical information with this particular context in mind (though I would add that I do also have other similar queries related to technical information inconsistency between sources, but not specifically for C520WS/C530WS field of view data, which I therefore might only raise later or might not even raise at all).
 

So here are my specific questions at this time:
 

• 1) For all aforementioned Tapo camera models under consideration (except the C530WS, i.e. for C500, C510W, C520WS) there seems to be both V1 and V2 versions in circulation, because the Tapo website shows both a Specifications page and a datsheet PDF document for a V1 and a V2 for these models. Whereas for the C530WS the Tapo website shows only a single 'V2' datasheet PDF (https://static.tp-link.com/upload/product-overview/2024/202412/20241219/Tapo%20C530WS%202.0&2.6&2.8_Datasheet.pdf) (it does not offer an equivalent C530WS V1 datasheet PDF), and a single Specifications page (https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/cloud-camera/tapo-c530ws/#specifications) which apparently does not mention a respective version number at all.
  • Question 1A) Does the Tapo website C530WS Specifications page refer to a C530WS V2 (as opposed to a V1 or other) like the respective datasheet PDF does? (I'd assume so, but would rather be sure)
  • Question(s) 1B) As (I assume) there is no Tapo C530WS V1 information available at all on the Tapo website, does this mean that a C530WS V1 model/version was never produced and that I can be sure that there are none with vendors or in circulation at all, so I can be sure that any Tapo C530WS camera in the market that I buy will be a V2 and not a V1? If not, how can I find C530WS V1 technical information?
     
• 2) Again w.r.t the Tapo C530WS
  • The (only available, as mentioned) Specifications page includes the following Image Sensor and Lens spec:
    • Spec: " 1/3" Progressive Scan CMOS Starlight Sensor "; " Focal Length: 3.2 mm "; " Aperture: F1.6 "; " Field of View: 105.9° (Diagonal), 88.4°(Horizontal), 46°(Vertical) "
  • Whereas the (only available, as mentioned) C530WS 'V2' datasheet PDF includes the following Image Sensor and Lens spec:
    • Spec: " 1/2.7" Progressive Scan CMOS Starlight Sensor "; " Focal Length: 4 mm "; " Aperture: F1.6 "; " Field of View: 102° (Diagonal), 87° (Horizontal), 45.5° (Vertical) "
  • Question 2) Can the differences in these specs be explained?
     
• 3) Again w.r.t the Tapo C530WS
  • As already mentioned, I was given a third source of technical information be a particular vendor, apparently relevant to the Tapo C530WS they were selling (as mentioned above, see the PDF file '10453459.pdf' attached to this post). This document does not specify whether the C530WS version it represents is V1 or V2 (or other). The document includes the following Image Sensor and Lens spec:
    • Spec: " Optical sensor size 25.4 / 3 mm (1 / 3") "; " Focal length range 3.2 mm "; [no Aperture info included]; " Lens viewing angle, diagonal 112 "; " Lens viewing angle, horizontal 95 "; " Lens viewing angle, vertical 53 ";
  • Question 3) Can the apparent partial consistency (mixed similarities/differences) between this spec and the specs mentioned in question 2 above be explained?

Summary: Basically, I am asking these questions because I want to know if it is possible for me to get a Tapo C530WS (whether it be a V1 or a V2 or some other version) that has as wide a FOV as the C520WS seems to (95° Horizontal, etc), but because the available technical information on the C530WS seems so inconsistent in this regard, I do not know how I can be sure.
 

I'd be grateful for anyone who can help with any information towards any of this.
 

Thanks to anyone who read through this, and thanks in advance for any support.
 

Regards,
Ottila