Part of this review is about the device and the other is about the customer service I received.
The guys that plumbed our house 30+ years ago used substandard materials and coupled that with shoddy work. We have had several leaks in various places in house causing thousands in water damage over the years. I have used the basic battery operated leak sensors and they work well enough but you have to be home for them to do any good so I have been searching for a way to detect leaks when we are away. I tried using a Zircon wifi leak sensor but it ate batteries like I eat cookies and it didn't always alert me when the batteries needed to be changed, It was also much more expensive than these Tapo sensors. It sent alerts through email and you do not always see those for a while so after just a few months, I stopped feeding my unit batteries.
I decided to give these Tapo sensors a try because the Tapo hub requires a very low power usage to stay connected and you can use their phone app to check the battery strength. I have had these for several months now and the batteries strength is still practically new. I have one behind every toilet, next to the water heater pan, washing machine, dishwasher and under each sink in the house (and I am going to order a few more because I just thought of a couple places that might benefit). I do test them occasionally either by simply putting a wet finger across the contacts or setting them on a wet surface just for piece of mind that they are still operating and they always trigger an alert on my mobile devices (iphone and Ipad). The leak notification pops up almost immediate on my phone. They also have a test button which allows you to just test that the device is working and communicating with the hub. Getting a leak notification when you are away is a game changer which I hope will help avert a disaster because you know that these things usually happen when you are on vacation. Now I can get my neighbor to run next door and turn off my water to minimize damage. I cannot believe how cheap they are.
Except for one unit, the setup process for these through the app was about as easy as it can get. Within minutes, it was activated and sending alerts when I tested them. I disconnected my phone from WiFI to also test that I got alerts when away. Unfortunately one unit activated but had a "local only" error status meaning that it would not give me updates while away. The good news is that the app was smart enough to know that there was a problem and flagged it with a big red flag but alerts would trigger on my phone only when connected to WiFi. I contacted their customer service and the assigned tech seemed to take this problem personally and over a few days (not sure they had seen the error before) of doggedness got it working as it should. The dedication that CS tech Graham showed to solving this issue has given me the confidence to invest in other TP-Link smart home devices. I now have several others and the Tapo/Kasa and TP-Link ecosystem in my home continues to grow.
I have tried several different smart home brands over the last 5 or 6 years and the this one gets my vote as the best envisioned so far. Note that I also use Alexa for some automatons and these devices work seamlessly with Alexa as well. My only complaint is that the automatons you can create in the Tapo app are still evolving but Alexa fills that void nicely for now and there has been nothing that I wanted to do that I could not. Also note that TP-Link has an excellent forum for asking questions. TP-Link is dedicated helping people utilize their technology by answering questions there but you also get other users providing input as well which greatly enhances the knowledge base.
| Number of Batteries | 2 AAA batteries required. (included) |
|---|---|
| Voltage | 3 Volts |
| Control Method | App, Touch |
| Noise Level | 90 dB |
| Mounting Type | Tabletop Mount |
| Sensor Technology | Contact Sensor |
| UPC | 840030707308 |
| Manufacturer | TP-Link |
| Part Number | Tapo T300 |
| Item Weight | 3.52 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 3.33 x 1.83 x 1.18 inches |
| Country of Origin | Vietnam |
| Item model number | Tapo T300 |
| Batteries | 2 AAA batteries required. (included) |
| Style | Water Leak Sensor |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Included Components | Tapo T300 × 1; AAA Batteries (included) × 2; Quick Start Guide |
| Batteries Included? | Yes |
| Batteries Required? | Yes |
| Battery Cell Type | Lithium |
| Description Pile | Alkaline |
