Tapo TP25 Smart Outdoor Wireless Plug by TP-Link Review

Tapo TP25 Smart Outdoor Wireless Plug by TP-Link Review

Buy it at Amazon: Tapo TP25 Smart Outdoor Wireless Plug by TP-Link [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Simple, quick setup, easy to use timer with repeating schedules and away mode, but Matter implementation didn't wow.

You’ll receive the smart plug, wire clip with mounting hardware, and quickstart guides. The main body of the device measures about 4” x 3” x 1.5”. It has a 10” three-prong grounded plug and two 3-prong receptacles at the front labeled plug 1 and plug 2. There are two on/off buttons on top, one to control each plug individually. The outlets have water-resistant silicone covers to guard against inclement weather, though note that the unit must be installed with the plugs facing down in order for them to be effective, and I found that they don’t have the tightest fit and are prone to dislodging easily.

This outlet is rated to handle up to 1800W and output 15Amps. It has IP65 water resistance as long as the covers or a plug is inserted in the outlets. The device connects with Bluetooth 4.2 and WiFi 802.11 b/g/n so is only compatible with 2.4 GHz networks.

When you plug the unit in, the lights will flash orange and green to indicate it is in pairing mode and TP-Link recommends using their Tapo or Kasa mobile apps for remote control. I chose to use Tapo. After the plug is added to the app, you can name each of the outlets individually, so you’ll know which one you are controlling. When an outlet has power, its corresponding button’s LED will illuminate green and turns off when there is no power to that outlet. You can either control them with the physical buttons, or switch them on and off in the app. In the app, you can set up a schedule for the outlet to turn on and off at specific times or at sunrise or sunset with or without an offset (up to 5 hours 59 minutes). You can also choose the days of the week when you want the schedule to repeat or set up a one-time timer to control the outlets on a delay. The last option for vacation/away mode will randomly turn on and off the outlet within a set timeframe to simulate activity when you are not home. You can also view the total historical runtime of each plug for the past day, week, and month up to 30 days, though not its power consumption. To enable Smart Assistant voice control, I added the Tapo skill to my Alexa app and linked my accounts. The plugs showed up in my Alexa app right away and I could use Alexa to control them.

However, this outlet is compatible with Matter, a new universal IoT standard designed to interconnect various home assistants like Alexa, Google, Apple Home, and Smart Things. That means that you should be able to directly add the device to your home WiFi network and control it remotely using one of these apps instead of using TP-Link's separate apps. Note that some services like SmartThings and Google Home may require a separate Hub to control Matter devices, but most current generation Amazon Echo speakers have a hub built-in. While I was able to add the plug via the Alexa app by scanning the Matter QR code on the back of the device, it was only able to add one of the outlets, not both; the other thing is the Alexa app doesn’t offer any of the scheduling and timers that the TP-link’s app does, though you could create a routine to that effect instead.

To factory reset the device for setting it up anew, press and hold one of the power buttons on top for 10 seconds until the LEDs flash orange 3 times and the unit power cycles off and on again. This will also reset the Matter setup code so that it can be used again, as it is generally one-time use only for the first Matter enabled app that connects with the device.

Matter compatibility aside, I recommend using either TP-Link’s Tapo or Kasa apps to take advantage of the native scheduling and timer functions; if you open one of these apps after setting up with Matter though, it should automatically detect the TP25 through your network and add both outlets. Then if your Alexa account is linked with the Tapo skill, it will pull those two devices into its device list as well; however, for me it created a ""duplicate"" device in Alexa for the first outlet (added once through Matter and again via Tapo).

Overall, the outlet works well and is a great smart timer for outdoor lighting installations like holiday or landscape lighting. It’s easy to control remotely from my smarthome or via voice assistant, though I did have to move one of my WiFi nodes closer to the wall where the outlet is located outside. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the Matter implementation because I couldn’t get both outlets added to Alexa using this method, the timers and schedules weren't there, and the other smart assistants required an additional hub.

Buy it at Amazon: Tapo TP25 Smart Outdoor Wireless Plug by TP-Link [Affiliate Link]