You might think that R5,500 is a bit much for a kids’ smartwatch, but Garmin reckons you’ll part with that much for its new Bounce 2 wearable. Looking at the distance between this and the company’s Vivofit Jr. range, they could well have a point.
The Bounce 2‘s design puts it in a similar camp to Garmin’s Forerunner running watches. There’s similar DNA there, meaning this actually looks like a smartwatch. There’s no cheap, chunky plastic. Instead, there’s premium plastic, and a rugged, kid-friendly appearance that parents (and perhaps the kids) will appreciate. You won’t drop $300 — the current US launch price — for its looks, however.
Bounce 2 the bank
The communication and connectivity features might be worth paying that much for, even if the lone streaming music option is a kick in the fork for mom and dad. We’ll get to that in a second, since we’ve got to address the connectivity first. The second version of Garmin’s Bounce features on-wrist LTE access, allowing kids and parents to send and receive messages directly, without needing a smartphone.
The wristwear can transcribe voice messages so they can be read instead of listened to, a handy feature if Junior (or Juniette) is in class and really shouldn’t be playing back mom’s messages while the teacher is busy. Real-time tracking, text messages, and emergency features are also included, but many of these require the Garmin Jr. app. The downside? A subscription fee is needed for full access. Bleh.
Elsewhere, the Bounce 2 features much of Garmin’s full-featured sports and movement tracking. Voice controls (for the kids) and parental controls (for the ‘rents) are built in, so you can cut your offspring’s access to the onboard games when they’re supposed to be studying. A two-day battery and “swim-friendly” waterproofing mean it’ll survive the rigours of Sports Day.
Which just leaves music streaming. Yes, the Bounce 2 has LTE, and yes, it’ll stream music if you like. But it’ll only connect to Amazon Music to do the job, so a subscription for that is also a requirement.
Or perhaps not. The original Bounce never launched in South Africa, so if this one is inbound, it’ll probably be a while. You could always order one from overseas, but setting up and getting it working without local support is probably more trouble than it’s worth.
