My kids are 9 and 10 and getting into the early stages of tween life where they're home alone, dropped off at a friends house or on sports trips and we're looking into alternatives to phones. In our search or options we've come across smart watches as a Segway into phone world. We're currently with Verizon and it seems the only option I've found is their Gizmo Watch. However the reviews aren't great as the battery life seems to have issues. I'm curious if others here have found 3rd party alternatives or could weigh in on the Gizmo Watch. I'm 90% certain we're not ready for cell phones as they lose things constantly, I'd rather it be on them so I can track them...which is why the watch is making more sense to me. I'd appreciate any input.

I got my 9yo an Apple Watch for basically the same reason. I can track her and send a text/call easily when needed. I set up "school time" on it so it basically locks the screen during the school hours so it isn't a distraction. I was also able to push some of my contacts to it for grandparents, aunts and uncles too so she could be in contact with them.

I use the same. Integrates nicely into the apple ecosystem if that's you're thing.

I can't weigh in on the Gizmo watch but we have been using a TickTalk for our 10-year old and it has worked great.

Got the Garmin Bounce for my 6 year olds.

I've come across the TalkTalk a number of times as well and am interested in this as well. I believe you can use the AT&T network. Does this watch have a GPS feature to track kids? We do lots of hiking and this is something we'd really like to have some peace of mind if they venture off trail. Do you find the basic plan is enough?

Regarding iphone watches, my wife and I don't use apple products so we'd have a learning curve. Plus I see they're typically much higher priced in comparison to other starter watches. My kids are brutal to their things.

I'll do some research into the Garmin Bounce, thanks for the recommendation.

I believe it works off the ATT network but it is billed separately (you cannot just add it to your plan). We only have the Basic plan and it is plenty for us but we only have it set up to call us and her grandparents. As far as the GPS, I don't think it is specific enough to use for hiking. I can see where she is but it is based off of pinging cell towers and wifi networks.

My kids Apple Watch was free from T-Mobile just fyi. Just pay for the service

Had the second and third gen Gizmos, maybe the first as well. Forget which one we started with. Most recently the third gen had horrible battery life out of the box. You could see it drop over about 10-15 minutes while sitting idle. Found a Verizon post to make sure the software was updated to add a battery fix. That took care of it. Real time tracking also eats up battery life. It normally pings the location and updates, but if you want to watch the kid walk in circles live it's gonna drain pretty bad. You can turn on/off real time gps thru the app if you need to pin down location for say school pick up and use the "regular" setting for geo fencing.

Used one for a stepkid and just got one for 9yo grandkid. Biggest problem was getting them past the novelty for the first few days when they'd call everyone every ten minutes to say hi. School mode also fixed it.

Nice thing is that if/when it gets lost, stepped on, dog eats it, etc., I think it's like $100 maybe? And nobody wants to steal a gizmo. Charger is proprietary but I got backups, extra bands, screen protectors, etc easy enough on Amazon.

Also like that the kid has to go thru the preprogrammed contacts in the watch to text. Extra step for parents, caregivers, etc to add the app, but the kid can't add just anyone. If you get both kids one, they can message each other as Gizmo buddies. Texts are limited to a list of preprogrammed messages like I'm home, need to be picked up, I don't feel well, but you can also send audio clips. Kid used that a lot for mom says we're outta milk, or something beyond the basic ones.

BQ2001 said:

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I got my 9yo an Apple Watch for basically the same reason. I can track her and send a text/call easily when needed. I set up "school time" on it so it basically locks the screen during the school hours so it isn't a distraction. I was also able to push some of my contacts to it for grandparents, aunts and uncles too so she could be in contact with them.

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This is what we did. The challenge is making sure that:

A. They wear it.
B. They charge it.

We got both of our kids the cheapest model with cellular... SE? It cost about $10/mo each on Verizon. Setup is simple, and did the same as above by loading relatives phone numbers, etc.

The tracking is good enough, but it will not give you second by second location data. It's good enough to see that they made it home from school, which friend's house they are at, etc.

Way better than giving them phones at that age, and something that they can still use when they get phones.

howdydamnit04 said:

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Got the Garmin Bounce for my 6 year olds.

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How is it?

We did this with our now 10 year old and it works great. She walks to the grandparents after school with her 7 year old brother, and we wanted a way for her to communicate if needed. Watch is $10/mo add on to our phone plan.