Best GPS trackers for kids

Keeping a closer eye on your children is now simple, safer, and more accurate with a GPS tracker. But what are the best options? Here are a few to check out!

It can be difficult to keep track of your children, and it can also be hard to gauge when it’s appropriate to get them a cell phone or something a bit more mature in order to keep in contact with them.

GPS trackers are fantastic, potentially life-saving tools that help keep track of your little ones, so you won’t have to worry about where they are. Just have them wear their GPS tracker like a watch, and the rest is up to your watchful eyes.

Here are a few great options to check out if you’re looking for the best GPS trackers for your kids!

• Tinitell
• GBD-GPS Tracker Kids Smartwatch
• LG GizmoGadget
• dokiWatch

Tinitell

Stylish looking with a simple, modern design, the Tinitell GPS tracker is an innovative new smartband that worked effortlessly with an app from your smartphone.

Tinitell isn’t only an interesting-looking, modern device, it’s also an incredibly durable and resilient GPS tracker. Tinitell is designed to take some abuse, including splashing water and dirt (although the device itself isn’t 100% waterproof by any means), and for a price tag of $126, you’re certainly getting your money’s worth.

With your smartphone, you can connect and monitor your child with a precise GPS tracker, and you can even call your child using the Tinitell app. The smartband can have up to 12 contacts listed, so they never have to worry about being stranded without anyone to reach out to if they’re in trouble. To make a call, all they have to do is press the front of the band, say the name of the person they’d like to contact, and that’s it!

The Tinitell comes in four different, vibrant colors, including aqua, coral, charcoal, and indigo. You can use a Ting SIM card with your Tinitell for around $12 a month.

See at Tinitell

GBD-GPS Tracker Kids Smartwatch

With all-day tracking, three-way positioning, and even an additional fitness tracker element, the GBD-GPS Tracker Kids Smartwatch aims to make monitoring your children as effortless (and as accurate!) as possible.

Using a micro-SIM card, the GBD-GPS tracker is not only able to make two-way calls, but also immediate SOS emergency calls if your child comes in contact with unexpected danger. While some GPS tracking devices use one or two ways of triangulating your child’s location, the GBD-GPS uses GPS, AGPS, and LBS positioning to paint a more accurate picture of where your child may be.

The GBD tracker allows parents to erect an Electric Fence, giving your child boundaries that will set off an alarm on your smartphone if crossed. If need be, parents can also call their child on their smartwatch for easy two-way talking, and can even use the app to set remote alarms and reminders for their children.

The GBD-GPS comes in three neon colors, including blue, green, and bright pink, so there’s a color option to match almost every child’s favorites. This particular gadget will set you back about $150.

See at Amazon

LG GizmoGadget

If you’re a Verizon Wireless customer and are looking for a tracker that will allow your child to use text and voice to check in with you, then the LG GizmoGadget is an excellent option for a very affordable price range that starts at $27.

The GizmoGadget sports a 1.3-inch touch screen display, but in order for your child to make a call, they will have to press the physical button, and then use the touch screen to choose a contact. The GizmoGadget also allows you to pre-program up to 9 different texts messages that your child can send to 10 whitelisted numbers.

PC Mag rated the LG GizmoGadget 4.5 out of 5 stars:

The LG GizmoGadget is an excellent smartwatch for primary schoolers who need to stay in touch with their caregivers via voice and text.

The wearable also has a handful of other useful functions, including an activity tracker, a stopwatch, and a timer.

See at Verizon

dokiWatch

Though the dokiWatch is designed for children 6 to 12, its sleek and modern looking design, high-quality, reliability, and wide range of color options make it a stylish (and incredibly practical) GPS tracker for people of all ages.

The dokiWatch claims that it’s the world’s most advanced 3G smartwatch for kids, and there’s a lot to support that statement. The dokiWatch combines precise GPS, GSM, and Wi-Fi tracking technology with video call capabilities, voice calling, one-way text messages, fitness tracking, and so much more for around $200.

The smartwatch automatically uploads location data directly to your smartphone, meaning you’ll never have to guess where your child is. Video and voice calling is almost instantaneous, while parents can remotely schedule their child’s appointments and reminders from the dokiWatch’s compatible app.

With the dokiWatch, children can send out SOS alerts if they’re in immediate danger to their preset contacts, including their location and a recording of their surroundings. Parents can even enable Class Mode which will remove the distraction of the device while their child is in class by deactivating it at specific times.

See at Doki

What’s your favorite?

Is there a GPS tracker you’ve been using that you’re extremely happy with?

Please let us know which model is your favorite in the comments and we’ll be sure to check it out!

Updated September 2017: All the options on this list are still the best of the best!

From the Editor’s Desk: How much longer do we wait for Essential to figure it out?

Excitement can only last so long before we start expecting the product to match.

I published my initial Essential Phone review on August 18. 11 days later, after a few more software updates and extra time with it, I solidified the review with my final thoughts on the phone. But somehow, today, as we hit one month since Essential deemed its phones available and ready to review, the phone still doesn’t seem … complete. Though the Essential Phone is technically available, on sale, and in some consumers’ hands, it doesn’t feel like it’s really out there yet.

Nobody outside of Essential knows how many phones have been ordered, or how that number differs from how many have been made. But we know it isn’t millions — or, probably, over fifty thousand if we’re being realistic about it. Add to that the extremely narrow scope of its retail launch and the initial shipping delays, and it’s not surprising that the Essential Phone feels like it’s still stuck in first gear.

But as someone who’s been using the Essential Phone for over a month, and dealing with its clearly unfinished software, that’s probably for the best. This past week my Essential Phone received both an 888MB full OS update and a subsequent 71MB bug fix update. Two in a line of roughly 10 OTAs I’ve received in the past month — necessary, badly needed updates. Most focused on the camera, which is still below the standard of a $700 phone, but also squashing important bugs and improving overall stability. Using the Essential Phone today is far and away a better experience than a month ago; and it still doesn’t feel like a completed product that should actually be on sale, to say nothing of being on sale at this price.

At some point we expect a proper, finished product — how long do we wait?

For all of the talk historically about Google’s Nexus phones (and to a lesser extent, Pixels) being for “beta testers,” the Essential Phone feels like it’s truly in beta — and when I got my hands on it, it was in alpha. The question is, at this point, how much longer do we wait for Essential to figure this out? How much longer do we keep looking at the promise and potential of this company and just measure it on what it’s actually offering: a phone that looks and feels beautiful, but offers what would be considered a subpar software experience in a $400 phone two years ago.

On one hand, companies love having as long a time in the spotlight as possible. “There’s no such thing as bad news coverage” and such. And indeed, Essential has been able to ride months of coverage and interest for what is a single phone with a few redeeming qualities but also a general consensus that it just isn’t good enough for the price and posturing. But at some point, we need the Essential Phone to actually be finished, and offering a complete experience without the beta-feeling software and unfulfilled promises. That’s how you actually sell a meaningful number of phones and start to justify your company’s $1 billion valuation.

And, with that, let’s hit a few more quick points from the week that was:

• Alex absolutely killed it on his initial review of the LG V30. Looks like a great phone, and even if it isn’t necessarily a direct competitor to the Galaxy Note 8 it looks like one of the top devices of 2017.
• It will, of course, have competition from the Google Pixel XL 2 set to be unveiled on October 4. Can’t wait!
• Now well removed from IFA, I’m excited to spend more than a couple hours with the Moto X4 — it could be a fantastic phone for the sub-flagship segment.
• Finally got around to writing about the Peak Design Everyday Sling I’ve been using for a couple months. Love this bag for “everyday carry” use.
• I also have an Everyday Backpack … but due to its larger size I haven’t used that as often — though it’s been great for weekend trips … and saving my shoulder(s) on my trip to Berlin last month.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

-Andrew

Tesla envisions mobile EV battery swapping machines

Tesla has filed a patent application for a machine that will enable technicians to swap EV battery packs in as little as 15 minutes. The EV-maker initially toyed with the idea of building rigs that can quickly replace its cars’ battery packs back in 2013 — it even demoed the system at an event. That didn’t quite pan out, but it clearly hasn’t given up on its plans of providing customers a quick way to get their packs swapped out. As Electrek notes, the new design is more compact than the one it showed off a few years ago and could even be mobile, probably so it could easily be placed in strategic locations where Superchargers aren’t available.

As you can see in the image above, the rig has the power to lift vehicles, allowing technicians easy access to the whole car as they help the machine change batteries. It won’t enable 90-second swaps like what Tesla originally promised, but waiting for 15 minutes isn’t bad at all if you find yourself low on power while driving between cities or states and there’s no Supercharger nearby. The rig in the patent was designed to service the Model S and X, but it’s not hard to imagine Tesla making one that its electric trucks can use.

Via: Electrek, TechCrunch

Source: USPTO