Talk to me about kids smart watches..

[daisy13]

MY DD ( raising 4th grader) goes to various camps this summer and will be in some after school classes during the school year. She will some times get dropped off by a driver at afterschool classes and we will pick her up.

I want a simple smart watch with GPS tracker that I can use to track . Bonus if it can receive / send texts and/ or do voice calls. I dont want anything too expensive ( dont want to invest in something that she might leave behind somewhere)..

We have a tmobile family plan for me/ DH. we can easily add another line for about $10// month. I dont want to get her a phone- I feel she is too young to own a cell phone ( I go tmine at 22 !).

Any thoughts? There are so many on Amazon for 25-40$. I wanted to see if any of you had a personal reco..

PS:- I know the popular one is the Verizon Gizmo one. I dont want it because its too pricey and we dont have a Verizon account..

TIA

[daisy13]

Bumping.. no one ?

[babyonway]

Bumping.. no one ?

Sorry I missed your first post. Unfortunately you are not going to like my response.

I tried 4 watches in the 30-50 range and all cr@p honestly and I returned all of them. All the ones that run in the 30-40 range are 2G and my DD (incoming 4th grader) couldn't get reception at all to call me or send a text. We then tried the Tick Talk (3G) which was more money than I wanted to spend but the battery would be dead after 6 hours. She wore the watch to school would send one text when she arrived, would not use the watch at all during school and the watch would be dead after 6 hours. I returned it as well!

Literally the only watches that work are the Gizmo (Verizon) and the doki watch (AT&T I believe). I don't turn have the step tracker turned on my DDs Gizmo and she can go 3 days without having to charge it. If I set up the step tracker she would probably have to charge it every night but I can't say for certain.

The GPS on it is spot on as well. It comes with up to 20 preset text messages that she can send me that can be changed thru they app (on my phone). I set up 20 common texts that she may send set up (Yes, No, I’m at school, What time are you picking me up?, I love you, etc) The watch comes with 20 created for you but you can change them. She can also send voice recordings that come thru as messages. And the watch can send and receive calls. And the calls are amazingly clear!

No one can contact her or she can’t contact anyone unless they are a contact in the watch (that I set up thru the app) I think you can have 10 contacts set up.

I don't have a Verizon account either but I set one up just for her and it is a $15 a month plan.

I am so happy with the watch and it has really allowed me to let her be more independent! Ride bike to friends house, softball practice, etc.

HTH!

[daisy13]

thank you so much for your detailed response.. I guess I will have to figure out a way to get on a verizon plan with the Gizmo..

[SnuggleBuggles]

I’d just buy a dumb phone vs setting up a Verizon account just for the watch.


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[khm]

I’d just buy a dumb phone vs setting up a Verizon account just for the watch.


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I honestly think this is what I'd do too. The need for texting and calling is only going to increase. You can add her cheaply onto your current plan, so I'd just do that with a simple phone. It'll come in handy for running around the neighborhood, etc. I think if you already had Verizon, it'd be one thing, but to have to start up with a whole 'nother cell company, yuck!

My niece had the Verizon watch when she was younger than your daughter. It was nice for its purpose, but it is so limited for what you pay that they finally just got her a phone line of her own.

[zukeypur]

We have DD in mint mobile with an old iPhone. She also has an Apple Watch that she got for Christmas, but she is a bit older (13, going into 8th grade). I would just find a cheap cell phone plan and put plenty of limits on it.

[khm]

We have DD in mint mobile with an old iPhone. She also has an Apple Watch that she got for Christmas, but she is a bit older (13, going into 8th grade). I would just find a cheap cell phone plan and put plenty of limits on it.

That's another good idea! We've used old Sprint phones on Ting. They can also use old T-Mobile phones, I believe. It is easy to check if a phone works on their network, just type the IMEI code into their website. You can also download the Ting app which lets you turn on/off calling, texting or data. Super handy! I have since moved our youngest to Sprint and wish I could still cut his data that easily....

[ahisma]

If you want the GPS, you really need the Gizmo. See PP's post - you can set up a Gizmo only account. My DS2 has used it for two years now, it still holds a charge for 3-4 days (we do keep the step tracker turned on). It hasn't been lost...but it has a GPS tracker, which makes it a lot harder to lose!