Everybody, right about now (okay, fine, sometime after New Year’s Eve), will be considering a new fitness tracker to go with their resolutions of health and discipline. But won’t somebody please think of the children? Seriously, smartwatches are for kids too.
They have a range of functions, from helping Mom and Dad keep an eye on Junior from a distance to… well, doing the same thing that wearables do for adults. That means movement and sleep tracking, health metrics, and others, but with a fun-filled focus that grownups aren’t allowed to have. Exercise, after a certain age, is serious business. In the meantime, these options will let your kids have the time of their active lives.
Garmin Vivofit Jr. 3
If you’re planning on a smartwatch for a younger person, they don’t get better than this (in South Africa). Extensive tracking and waterproof elements (it can go swimming) join up with a battery that lasts roughly a year. A durable design means Garmin’s apprentice smartwatch will survive anything a playground can throw at it short of actual rocks. Parents can keep an eye on their kids’ movements via the supported app and there are also gamification elements to help turn sluggish children into budding speedsters. What isn’t present is GPS tracking – if you want to know where Junior is, you’ll have to use another method.
R2,000 | Buy it here
Canyon KW-41 Cindy
Canyon makes loads of smartwatches for kids but relatively few are available in South Africa. This model is (obviously) and it’s all about enabling conversation between children and their parents. This could be in emergency situations –two-way calling is possible via the integrated 4G connection — but it could also be because your little one is missing the sound of your voice. Or they’ve lost their shoes at school again. Tracking functions (of the movement but not the positioning variety), waterproofing, and a series of games are also part of the Canyon KW-41. 512GB of storage is integrated, paired with a 0.3MP camera on the watch. What your kid uses that for is up to them, we suppose.
R1,300 | Buy it here
Volkano Find Me
This one is for the properly paranoid parent on a budget. There are some basic activity and sleep tracking functions here but the main feature is the ability to keep tabs on your kiddo while communicating directly with them. Volkano’s watch uses geo-fencing technology to let you know when the watch has left a certain pre-defined area, GPS is built in, and there’s also an SOS function. This is all provided by a microSIM slot and a companion app that lets parentals see where their little ones are at all times. As far as smartwatches go, this one is a savant. It’ll handle the location stuff exceptionally well but the other functions are lacking.
R800 | Buy it here
Apple Watch SE
Older kids — those nearing high school age — will appreciate something less gaudy and more technological. The Apple Watch SE is a true smartwatch but it benefits from Apple’s Family Setup function. That means you needn’t also give your youngster an accompanying iPhone to go along with this fully-featured techy tracker. They’d appreciate it, sure, but you can stave off that bill for a bit longer. Tracking, calls, and a Schooltime feature that will see your offspring being limited when they’re supposed to be paying attention to education are part of the parcel as well. Worth the hefty price? Well, it’s an Apple Watch.
from R7,000 | Buy it here
Disney Neo Smart Kids Watch
On second thought, perhaps don’t buy this one for your little ones. It was an excellent choice when Vodacom was selling them locally but the Neo smartwatch has since ballooned in price because they’re a bugger to get. The features are fantastic — movement and sleep tracking, GPS tracking for parents, on-device calling and chats, and a range of themed watches make for an excellent package but not when you’re paying eight grand for the thing. If you can find it for less than half of that, though…
R8,000 | Buy it here
