Garmin Bounce™, Kids Smartwatch, Two-Way Text and Voice Messaging, Location Tracking, Black Camo

If you don't mind the $100 annual subscription and can mentally grasp that GPS & cellular signals don't work flawlessly though cinder block walls at a school, stores, or other building then this is the watch. Be aware, location tracking requires LTE cell service. This is not a true GPS watch that can track location off simple GPS. If you're in an area without cell service you cannot track location. That said, the watch is super simple, easy to use, easy to set-up, and sufficiently rugged (buy screen protectors though). We're getting a 2-3 day battery life IF you set it up correctly. If you're trying to track every activity, do ridiculous fitness competitions with friends, and messaging 20-25 times a day then yes, the battery life will dwindle. However if you use it to tell time, send a few messages per day, track location, and maybe play a math game at the restaurant then you'll only have to recharge during bath time every other night. It also charges very fast. 15 minutes and you'll have 30%, enough to get you through the day. 40-50 minutes and you have a full charge. The location boundaries are awesome and I set one up for every common place that my child might visit. These are basically boundaries where you'll get a notification should your child enter or leave. For us that includes home, school, playgrounds, parks, restaurants, fairgrounds, and stores that we frequently visit. I get notified when they enter and leave those locations. If you're smart about how you set up boundaries you can effectively track which direction they're headed, how fast they're traveling, and get a general sense of what's going on even if you're not directly searching their location in the app. Think of this sequence: "left home", "arrived at school", "left school", "arrived at park", "left park", "arrived at home", "left home", "arrived at restaurant"... I know exactly how the day went, how they were at each location, and I never even opened the app. All pop-up notifications on my phone/watch. My biggest complaint is that the minimum radius for the boundaries is 170 feet, that means a 340ft diameter. Each boundary is about the size of 2 football fields. For me that's too big for some locations. Not a deal breaker. Additionally the notification that they entered or left the boundary can be delayed by 2-4 minutes sometimes depending on signal strength. Not big deal, its enough to keep me in the loop, just don't expect instant updates. My kid loves the customizable home screens which allow you to set a picture as the background. Messaging has been pretty flawless for us so far. Expect at least 1 minute from send to receive, sometimes faster, but just plan on about 1 minute. You also get a "sent", "delivered", and "read" icon on every message which is handy in case you get the old "oh, I didn't see the text" excuse. The fact that you can send two-way voice recordings is awesome so you're not completely relying on 20 preset message options. Its takes a little practice but once they get the hang of it the voice messages come through reasonably clear and allow you to effectively have a phone conversation, albeit with significantly longer delay between messages. It has an emergency "live track" option which significantly boots location accuracy, signal strength, and battery consumption. But you can pretty much go full overwatch if SHTF. Got family friends with the same watch? The kids can message each other and you can even give other parents permission to check your child's location. Nice for sleep overs, babysitting, etc. Overall I highly recommend and it. It has provided a much appreciated sense of security and awareness for us as parents.

Honestly we’ve been raving about this watch to anyone who will listen! This is a great investment for a kid who is trying to be independent, but you also need to know what is going on with them like where they are, their needs, how many chores they have done, even their exercise. This watch has literally been so easy to use for my son, he loves the features that come with the watch, the option to text or send us a voice chat if he needs something, and the gps feature is awesome. We’ve only had a few random blips with it, but that’s technology for you. We’re so happy we bought this for him! Will definitely get one for our daughter later when she’s old enough for one!

When these watches are working they are wonderful. But more often they are causing me issues. We got two for our 5 and 7-year-old for Christmas. Right off the bat opening them one (lilac) would not even turn on and had to be exchange for a new one. After getting the new one it was working great and randomly the watches switched profiles so one kids credentials went on the other and they had to swap their watches out (they are different colors) for them to be the right ones. The following day the original one (green) we bought that was working fine Christmas Day completely stopped working and just had a blank screen. I've been trying to factory reset them and they just won't reset. I am very upset and disappointed this has been a huge waste of time a big inconvenience and a sad situation for my children who were really looking forward to them. Also the app is a pain in the rear. Adding contacts is impossible and finding support videos is slim to none! I followed directions in the manual to a T (which I had to download to my phone.... annoying) and had no success!

I am very pleased with this kids smartwatch! I purchased it last year when my daughter was taking the bus to and from school. I like that it alerts when she arrives at and leaves school, but I do wish the 'boundaries' were a bit more specific instead of a circle. For example, I enter the school's address to set up as a boundary, but instead of that property as a whole, you are given a circle, and you change the size of the circle. So, with the school, I set the circle to cover the whole building, but then it also encompasses the apartment building, dental office and daycare across the street (see attached image). Otherwise, this watch is amazing. I love that she is able to contact me without having full access to the internet, I put it in school mode during the day so it's simply a watch during those hours, notifications for arriving/leaving boundaries are near instantaneous, and she loves the purple band with flowers.

Our kid is 7 y.o. and we bought that for her, mainly for three reasons: 1. To be able to track her location when she is at school or on a field trips 2. Stay connected and give her means to communicate with us on her own when one of us parents is not around (i.e. on a business trip out of town) 3. To have a communication device for emergencies, when she needs our help We were choosing between different options, but stopped on Garmin, mainly because both of us already are using Garmin watches and other devices. Overall, we are happy with this purchase, however there are some caveats and things that I wish would be done differently. First of all, let's see how goals above are achieved: 1. Location tracking: no issues here, Garmin is true leader in GPS systems for a reason. We found location tracking to be accurate and fast-responding enough. There is a feature that allows you to establish a geo-boundaries (e.g. school or neighborhood) and get notified with live tracking each time when kid leaves it. 2. Stay connected with family: In general it's achieved, but with some caveats: - Kid can send voice messages (short voice recordings) or preset texts. You cannot type custom text from watches which maybe ok for 7-8 y.o., but probably won't be sufficient for older kids - all the communications work via Garmin Jr app. First, that is not convenient because I don't want another message app. I would prefer it was using at least Garmin Messenger, that I'm already use for InReach (I'm often outdoors with no cell coverage and staying connected with my wife). Second that it requires other family members (e.g. grandparents) to install the app and register to communicate with kid. 3. Emergency communications: In general, it's better than nothing (and much more than we had when were kids). However, communications require app, meaning that you won't get kid's texts if you have cell coverage with no good LTE/5G. Other noticeable features: 1. Battery lasts for 2 days. Builds a good habit to be responsible and recharge her device. The charging time is a couple of hours and could be better 2. There is a "School restrictions" mode that will block most of the features on watch to help kid not be distracted. Which is great, with one huge caveat: it will block messages, including emergency. So, e.g. in case of earthquake and evacuation, kid will not be able to reach out to us until end of school time. That's the reason why we don't use it. 3. The screen is big enough, bright and easy to use 4. There are some games and additional features but not too much, enough for a kid 5. We liked that there is no full internet access or uncontrolled communications with random people (all contacts must be set by parents through the app). 6. Kid likes the watch and likes to use them. She also started to track her activities (e.g. hiking, bicycling and etc.) and even joining the family steps competition. I think it's a good help to build healthy life habits 7. The communication plan (which is required for messages) costs $99 for a year, which is lower than competitors (but also provides less capabilities - only voice and preset text messages) 8. The watch uses its own Garmin Jr. app for everything which leaves a feeling of some disconnect from the rest of Garmin infrastructure. I would love to see kids account in Connect and use Garmin Messenger instead of Garmin Jr. 9. We installed a protective screen on the watch to protect from scratches (hence bubbles on the photo) Overall, if you are ok with what mentioned above, I think it's a good watch. But I can see that in the next couple of years it might require an upgrade or some alternative.

I really do like this watch compared to the cosmo one. Here's the cons: Cons: If you have an autistic child like mine, or a child that runs away, keep this in mind: The live updates isn't live. It doesn't give the exact location of your child. I have done live location, and he was a quarter mile away from where it says he was. If this is a concern for you, I would go with something else. Also, setting up the watch was a NIGHTMARE. I mean absolutely awful. I'm 39 years old so I'm pretty tech savvy but it has nothing to do with that. If you know, you know. Pros: overall, people say the battery life isn't good... but I have to disagree. The battery life is great ... there isn't any games on my son's watch so the battery can last ~3 days before I have to charge it. The price a month compared to other watches is really good! I think i pay $9.99 a month for text and location. Overall, it's a decent watch if your getting it for location purposes.

Great value for the money. Perfect to stay in touch with your children/grandchildren but they are too young or you feel they don’t need a phone. Ours are set up so they can call or text their parents and a grand parent. They fit their tiny wrist well. They gave the same appearance as the more expensive watch. I come from a family of educators and this is a great way to keep in touch for emergencies or if they have forgotten something or any necessary communication without a phone.

I ordered this for my soon to be 10 y.o. to help her feel more connected and in the event we ever got separated on a trip as it says it only works in the US and Canada. I was pleasantly surprised to figure out that it works in the Cayman Islands as well and I’m getting regular updates and we are able to exchange messages. It has all the same functionality of the older version of Garmin Jr but now we can stay connected while apart and it’s given my daughter more confidence to do things independently without all the noise of a smart phone and distracting apps and social media. There is a subscription fee of $14.99 CAD per month but I didn’t have to go through a phone company or anything like that to set it up. It was really easy to use and navigate.

This product is ONLY suitable for use in the USA. It has a US SIM in it which doesn't work on Australian networks. The watch will only work when it is connected to a WiFi or Bluetooth connection, this defeats the purpose of your child being able to contact you when they are out. I've been advised to return the watch and purchase one through Garmin Australia.

El servicio de localización y llamadas de Garmin al parecer aún no está disponible en México

Batter is poor, needs charged frequently. I assumes it would be the same as my husbands garmin in terms of quality but the battery life is disappointing

UK buyer - the tracking and messaging does not work unless on WiFi which defeats the point of why I bought it. It also let me pay for a monthly subscription even though it won’t work!

Gran reloj, pesimo pesimo el tema de la pila. No dura ni un dia