Apple Watch or new Pinwheel Watch

[Anonymous]

We got our 6th grader a basic (non-smart, non-Internet enabled) flip phone when he started middle school. Basically just to be able to text or call us in an emergency or to say he is going to a friend's house versus coming straight home from the bus. He says the texting isn't fun so he doesn't see much point to it, which is music to my ears.

Most of his friends have some kind of watch, either apple or Gizmo; but the tracking seems unreliable and they are not big texters. We seem to be among the minority in that we want to track DS, only to be able to reach him - or have him reach us - if needed, outside the school day. The school has a strict no phones policy and we are in complete agreement with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We got our 6th grader a basic (non-smart, non-Internet enabled) flip phone when he started middle school. Basically just to be able to text or call us in an emergency or to say he is going to a friend's house versus coming straight home from the bus. He says the texting isn't fun so he doesn't see much point to it, which is music to my ears.

Most of his friends have some kind of watch, either apple or Gizmo; but the tracking seems unreliable and they are not big texters. We seem to be among the minority in that we want to track DS, only to be able to reach him - or have him reach us - if needed, outside the school day. The school has a strict no phones policy and we are in complete agreement with that.

make that "do not want to track DS."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate the watches. Kids who have them are constantly interrupted and it’s much harder as an adult to police (notice who has one on) until they are already texting.

I much prefer kids having a phone that they have to put in a bag during activities. It’s less distracting, and isn’t a constant temptation. I also know I’m apparently the odd one out on this opinion. But we’ve had no issue with giving my oldest a phone, and are able to limit her to only messaging, calling and google maps.

I'm sure it depends on the child, but my 7th grader has an Apple Watch and it's on school time during the day and downtime on evenings. She can add friends but I have to give permission and we limit it so that she doesn't get messages from anyone that's not in her phone book. It's great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We got our 6th grader a basic (non-smart, non-Internet enabled) flip phone when he started middle school. Basically just to be able to text or call us in an emergency or to say he is going to a friend's house versus coming straight home from the bus. He says the texting isn't fun so he doesn't see much point to it, which is music to my ears.

Most of his friends have some kind of watch, either apple or Gizmo; but the tracking seems unreliable and they are not big texters. We seem to be among the minority in that we want to track DS, only to be able to reach him - or have him reach us - if needed, outside the school day. The school has a strict no phones policy and we are in complete agreement with that.

That's why we got our DD an Apple Watch, we don't track, we just use it so she can text or call us if she needs to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kind of hard to say because it's new. We opted for the Apple Watch. Gizmo is another option but it's got bad reviews. Apple Watch also comes in multiple colors, which is extremely important for a 10 year old! It costs us $20 a month and was $300 for the SE.

Gizmos are horribly glitchy, designed for 6 year olds, and their seemingly fancy charging system does not work consistantly. They have a literal APP preinstalled that makes fart noises amon other sounds. Also, there is a horrible approval process to add peoples numbers, and you cannot text anyone unless they install the gizmohub app, otherwise you are restricted to a calling system that rarely goes through. The bad reviews are justified. It is a gimmicky watch with a terrible clunky design and useless camera.

Weird my kid has had the same gizmo watch for 3 years and it has been great.

+1. How many people does your kid need to text? I haven’t had any problems with calling—it’s on the same Verizon Wireless network as our other devices
.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avoid the Pinwheel Watch – Waste of Money

We bought the Pinwheel Watch for our son, and it has been a huge disappointment. From day one, it was never able to successfully place a call on cellular. At best, calls and texts would sporadically go through on Wi-Fi, but reliability was awful whether on Wi-Fi or cellular.

Instead of just returning it, I naively worked with customer service to troubleshoot. Weeks later, after they finally gave up on potential fixes, they told me the return window had closed. Although they initially agreed to accept the return, the process turned into nonstop hassle and excuses until I finally gave up and ate the loss. Their final excuse for refusing a return? Small scratches on the screen that developed after my son wore it for just three days.

The problems don’t stop there. The app and interface are clunky and nowhere near as user-friendly as competitors (we also own the Bark watch, and it’s night-and-day better). Build quality feels cheap, and customer service was consistently unhelpful.

Bottom line: I would strongly recommend avoiding this watch. The Bark watch has been excellent for my younger son (better app, reliable service, great support), and we are replacing this Pinwheel with an Apple Watch for our older son. Don’t make the same mistake we did.

That sounds like a cell service rather than a watch issue. We had tried the Gizmo and had similar issues but the real problem was AT&T not the watch.

[Anonymous]

We have the gizmo - the lack of functionality is a feature not a bug for us, as we use it in a limited way and not for the kids to communicate other than with us when they are out on their own. Our kids school (APS) bans watches in elementary- we just put it in their backpacks in the off chance they need us when they are coming home. They don’t wear them or even remember they are there. We will upgrade our rising middle schooler to an Apple watch in the next couple of years but we’re not rushing that transition

[Anonymous]

Just get the apple watch.