Garmin are renowned for making high-quality devices for kids, but their latest Bounce model has been specifically designed to help parents keep track of where their children are without having to watch them at all times, meaning that they can enjoy increased amounts of freedom without compromising on safety. We took a look at this GPS enabled, LTE device so that you can decide if it has what your kids need and can provide the confidence that you are looking for when working to keep your child safe.
What Does the Garmin Bounce Look Like and How Do You Use It?
The new Garmin Bounce has a square watch face with two side buttons for navigation. The top button turns the watch on and powers the activity time as well as showing you the main menu. The other great thing about the top button is that it can call for assistance if your child is in trouble and needs help – simply press and hold the button until you have felt three vibrations and then your help message will be sent. The bottom button works to take you back to your previous screen and can be held down to reach the settings menu when you need it.
The screen is touch sensitive and can be swiped left and right to reach all the different features your child will want to access. You can also swipe up and down on the screen to get access to the settings and double tap the screen to wake it up. All in all, it’s really easy to navigate through the watch and each button and swipe quickly becomes intuitive when you use it.
What Safety Features Does the Garmin Bounce Offer?
Giving your child the freedom to head out without you can be a daunting process, but the Garmin Bounce has been designed to help you get peace of mind with its GPS tracking feature. If you are worried that your child may wander further than they are allowed, you can also set up geofence boundaries that will alert you if your child leaves their location – giving you access to their location so that you can find them immediately.
In addition to the tracking safety features, the Garmin Bounce also allows your child to send and receive text and voice messages to a list of approved numbers. The watch doesn’t require an attached phone number to work as the messages are managed via the Garmin server, ensuring that your child can stay in contact without having to purchase other devices for them too.
What Other Features Does the Garmin Bounce Offer?
The Garmin Bounce isn’t all about tracking and texting your child, it also offers a number of other fun features that they can look forward to enjoying. The watch offers your child a reward when they complete tasks that you have set from within the app. This could mean rewards for doing household chores, homework or even sticking to a timed routine that you set.
In addition, the watch comes with a wealth of fitness tracking features that will share steps, exercise minutes and sleep achievements as well as being able to log walks, runs, swimming and even cycling sessions to help promote a healthy and active lifestyle. We were particularly impressed with this feature and noted that the range of tracking capabilities had clearly been developed from Garmin’s previous kids watch range – the Vivofit Junior.
What is the Garmin Bounce Battery Life Like?
Getting a watch that doesn’t need to be charged every few hours is important for kids as they will just want to enjoy wearing it and using all the features that come with it. The Garmin Bounce has a two-day battery life when using the LTE connection, meaning that you will need to regularly charge it for your charge to get the most from their device. The good news is that charging is pretty straight forward, simply attach to the charging cable and it should be topped up and ready to go in around an hour.
The Cost of a Bounce watch
Once you have paid for your child’s Garmin Bounce, you will also need to be prepared to pay a monthly subscription for them to enjoy all the smart features that come with the watch. Many people are unhappy with the $9.99 monthly cost but when you factor in the fact that you are not having to pay for a device data plan, the cost for Garmin to manage everything does make sense.
The subscription covers all the connected features such as messaging, voice notes and tracking, which means that you are committing to this ongoing fee if you want to use the features that your child will be most excited by. We aren’t too unhappy about the costs, but it is worth factoring it into your calculations as the watch feels a bit pointless without it.
For now, the Bounce is only available on Garmin’s website.
Should I Buy My Child the New Bounce?
There is no denying that the smartwatch market is hugely competitive and with Garmin’s Bounce release you can expect to see plenty more kids watches being released in the near future. If you don’t want to wait or you are a Garmin fan then diving into this purchase won’t leave you with regrets.
Kids want to feel as grown up as possible and want to be able to enjoy a range of smart features when they are out and about – making the Garmin Bounce a safe and great decision. It is robust, simple to use, and attractively designed, making it something that your child will want to wear all the time. Our verdict – the Garmin Bounce is a great purchase and will help to keep your child safe no matter where they head on their next adventure.
See our reviews on more Kids smartwatches.
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Last Updated on December 5, 2022
My passion for watches started when I got my first Rolex. It was 35 years ago when I managed a franchise of Domino’s Pizza. The Rolex was an incentive for achievements. Since then I have been collecting, learning, using, and trying different watches for my day-to-day activities and hobbies.
I love Sports, not only from my couch but participating in many kinds of sports. I love playing basketball, tennis, soccer, diving, windsurfing, and more. My peace of mind activity is my Goldwing. And enjoying good music played from my smartwatch to my earphones inside my helmet is the optimum relaxing ride…
I am also a volunteering senior medic and an instructor. Teaching about Blood Pressure, ECG, Blood Saturation, and more.