A couple months ago,
we talked to working mom
and volunteer product tester extraordinaire, Suzi.
You can see that conversation in our part one video.
She had a mom-guilt moment when she dropped off her kiddo
at what she thought was soccer practice,
but it had been canceled.
When she got back to pick him up
just about 20 minutes later,
she knew that it was time for them
to add some tech to their lives.
They needed a way to stay in touch,
but she just wasn't ready to give her a youngster a phone.
Enter kids GPS trackers and smartwatches.
These are the perfect first step toward independence
with an added dose of peace of mind,
for both parents and kids alike.
Suzi was game to test the imoo Watch Phone.
And today she's gonna let us know how that went,
what they liked about it,
and what she and her boy recommend for you and your family.
(gentle music)
First of all,
do you think a kid's GPS tracker or a smart watch
is a good solution for parents and younger kids?
Absolutely.
I did not want to give my son a cell phone
because I definitely think he's not old enough for one,
and I didn't want him to have access to the internet
and different apps.
So I think this is a great solution.
It gives you peace of mind
knowing that your kid is just a message or a call away,
or looking at GPS location,
but also gives them the freedom
to go on their own a little bit too.
What did you like most about having the watch?
I liked having the geo-location.
So, if he was going to play with kids in the neighborhood,
I could just check in and see,
yep, he's at the neighbor's house.
Or if he said he was going down the road to play at a park,
just knowing that he's there was really comforting.
For sure, yeah.
You don't have to go drive around the neighborhood
or get on your own bike or add up your own steps
to make sure they're where they said they wanted to be.
I want to ask you,
did you find the geo-tracking to be accurate?
I tested this watch out
and it was not as great as I'd hoped that it would be.
It wasn't terrible,
but I felt like if we were in too close proximity,
it was rough.
So, maybe it just works better when you're farther apart.
Yeah, I experienced a little bit of that.
So around the home, closer to the home,
it was a little bit tricky.
But if he was across the street or down the road,
it seemed to be pretty accurate.
Suzi, are there any features
that these smart watches have in general
that you think are over-hyped?
There's a lot of things that companies throw out there
as you know, "we're awesome because of this."
Is there anything that you think,
"Eh, it's not as necessary?"
Definitely the added features
for fitness tracking and the games.
If your child's wearing it to and from school,
they're gonna have it in school
and it might be a distraction there.
It's just not necessary
when the point of it is to keep in contact with your child,
knowing where he's at at all times.
You get distracted by the games
and the fun things like that.
You had a watch that you got to try out.
So how was your experience with the imoo Watch Phone?
This is the watch I tried out.
And initially, it was very clunky to set up.
I struggled a little bit
understanding what networks that it would work with.
I tried going with one network,
and I set up an account and it didn't work that way,
so I actually had to switch to another.
Once I got it set up and connected to the app,
from that point forward it was pretty easy to set up.
Yeah, I think it's really important for people
to check out the network and do that in advance,
save you a lot of headache,
because you had to mail SIM cards back and forth,
and I know that was a little frustrating.
Just be extra careful.
Right now we're having to watch word for AT&T.
If that's your network, check before you buy.
So after testing the watch
and having your kiddo wear it around,
would you recommend the imoo
or just the smart watch in general to other families?
I would definitely recommended
a smartwatch in general to families.
There are features with the imoo that we have discovered
that other watches don't have.
So if you're looking for certain features,
like if the phone flips up with the camera,
you can actually control and flip the camera around
with your phone.
So if you sense that there is a situation going on,
you can have control of that and flipping it,
just to check out the scenario.
So based on features, I would recommend different watches.
But overall, I think it's a smart buy for kids,
especially if they're walking to school
or riding their bike to school,
or if they're going to practice,
or being dropped off anywhere.
What you were saying,
the watch flips up and that's how they can do video chat.
It's like they're a spy,
like in "Spy Kids" back in the day or whatever. (chuckles)
But you can actually hit,
the way we turn the camera around on their cell phone,
and then it'll show you what's happening around them.
That's such a cool feature,
and I don't know any other watch that has that.
And I just want to know a couple of good scenarios
to use that feature, I think.
It's not just if you're worried
that someone's trying to take your kid,
which, as the number one reason
that we're all worried about our kids being off alone,
it's probably the least likely thing that's gonna happen.
But if it does happen, it would be terrifying.
But if you're worried about bullying going on
and other things like that,
I think this is a great use case
to make sure that everyone's treating everybody the nice,
proper, and correct way.
And I think it can help you know that your kid is okay,
not just from a potential abduction scenario,
but also just socially and bullying and things like that.
I love that. I think that's a great idea.
Is there anything that you wish smart watches did
that they don't do?
So for this watch specifically,
there was a little confusion around what a message was
versus what chat was.
So you can chat through the app.
[Rebecca] Oh.
But you can text message as well.
And so, my son got a little confused on that.
You can test text message out to all the contacts,
but then you can chat with anybody who has the app.
So that did cause some confusion,
especially when it's essentially the same type of feature.
So.
For sure. No, that makes a lot of sense.
This watch that we tried,
everything only happens inside the app.
I mean, you can call, but I don't...
Texting is only the chat type of feature.
So I think it's cool that it has both,
but I do see where that would get really confusing.
Is there anything that you think
parents and caregivers need to look out for
when they're shopping or using a smart watch?
One of the things to look out for
is how much control you have over the watch
through your app.
So if you want to set restrictions
during the time that they're in school
so it's not disruptive in the classroom,
or if you want to restrict the number of contacts
or who's contacting, that is very important.
If there's a watch that you don't have that control over,
it might be a little bit harder to manage it from far away.
Did your kiddo like the watch?
Was he down to wear it?
Did he feel like he was being tracked
or did he feel like it was cool?
Initially, I had to remind him several times
to put on the watch, especially when we're leaving the home.
The imoo watch in particular has a larger face to it,
so he wasn't used to something so large on his wrist.
But once he figured out all the cool features
and that he could message us whenever he wanted
and video call,
and I even added his grandparents to video call in there,
he had a lot of fun with it. Oh, fun.
And really did like it.
Alright,
well, thank you so much for joining us
for this safety chat, Suzi,
and for trying out the imoo smart watch
and sharing your experience with us.
If you're thinking about getting a smart watch
or a GPS tracker for your family,
and you want more specifics about your options,
you can get specs, prices, features,
and our top recommendations
and our full reviews on SafeWise.com.
The articles are linked below.
And we've got an upcoming review of the TickTalk 4.
So subscribe to this channel to make sure you don't miss it.
Plus, the other new reviews, tips, and safety advice
that we post every single week.
Until next time, keep an eye on those kiddos and stay safe.
(gentle music)