Garmin Bounce Smartwatch for Kids: Parent Review

CAVEAT - Just before we start this product review it’s important to know that we have received no financial compensation or other benefits or products from Garmin.
In our search for appropriate communication devices and phones, we have both written and provided video reviews about the difference between minimalist phones (such as the Sunbeam phone and the Wise Phone) or what we like to call fusion phones (such as fully functioning Android phones and iPhones)
Another option we have been looking at for youth under the age of 13 - watches that are specifically designed for this age group that allows a parent to stay connected with their kiddos, and provide the child with the ability to seek help if needed in an emergency - these are the two of the biggest reasons why parents want to provide their child with a cellphone.
We have looked at and tested several youth “smartwatches” - most we found do not do what the manufactures says it does, have poor design, and after reading their privacy statements, they clearly collect and sell meta-data from their watches to third part vendors to their financial benefit - something that we do not endorse.
Earlier this year, a Canadian parent connected with us about the Garmin Bounce - a digital watch that their family have been using with their kiddos, and the family is loving its functionality. We had never heard of the Garmin Bounce Watch, so we started our research.
Garmin is a well-established American/Swiss technology company who are best known for their GPS technology, especially when it comes to wearables for adults. In 2022 Garmin introduced their first tech watch for kids - The “Garmin Bounce” which is available in Canada for $199.99. Some parents will say that this is pricey for a kids watch compared to others on the market, but what this watch offers parents outside of basic communications with your child is impressive, these features include:
• LTE connectivity for communications ($14.99 month or $149.99 per year)
• Real-time location tracking - which Garmin is best known for
• Geo-fencing - boundary settings
• Text messaging to parent only approved contact
• Two-way voice messaging
• Help/Assistance feature
• Kid friendly weather app
• No Disruption setting which allows parent to turn the watch to “school mode” or “Do not disturb mode” while your child is at school
• Stopwatch and alarms feature
• Activity Monitor
• Chores and Rewards
• Plus, many other cool features that we think kids will love
What we really love the most about the Garmin Bounce - Your child cannot connect to the internet or connect with any social media platform or app, and no one can connect with them without parental permission!
As we mentioned earlier, we are privacy hawks here at the White Hatter, and we found that Garmin is better at privacy than many of the other smartwatch for kids makers out there. In fact, they have a specific privacy policy for the Garmin Bounce that can be located on their website that we have reviewed in full www.garmin.com/en-US/privacy/...
Garmin states that they do not sell data or share your personal information for advertising purposes with third parties without your consent. They require you to opt-in rather than opt-out for receiving marketing communications from them on the parent app, and not on the watch. Their privacy policy is commendable for clearly detailing what data they collect, the reasons for collecting it, and how it is used. Most importantly they do not sell any meta-data from the child’s watch to any third party.
However, it is important to note that equipping your child with a location-tracking, speaker- and microphone-enabled, LTE-connected device can always pose a significant potential privacy and security risks - thus why risk management is so important and something that Garmin allows parents to do. While Garmin might be among the more trustworthy companies that we have reviewed when it comes to privacy and security, it's important to remember that no internet-connected device is ever completely safe and secure 100% of the time.
What we learned about the Garmin watch in our research did impress us. However, often we find that vendors will over hype their product and once tested by us, it doesn’t do what they promised it would do. This is one reason why we like to get our hands on a product for test and evaluation before we recommend it to our followers.
In the case the Garmin Bounce, we thought instead of us doing a test and evaluation of the watch, why don’t we reach out to the parent who brought this watch to our attention, given they have been using it with their kids. What better critic than a parent who has been using the Garmin Bounce for several months, so we reached out to ask this mother if she would agree to do a Q&A review of the Garmin Watch and she agreed, so let’s talk to her now, everyone please meet AMY!

[@kateprosk1312]

I have a huge issue with battery life. It's completely dead after only 5 hours( without doing anything, no texting, nothing)..

[@TheWhiteHatter]

Maximizing Battery Life
Reduce the display brightness and timeout (Display Settings).
Turn off wrist gestures (Display Settings).
Reduce the vibration level (Sound and Vibration Settings).