The Fitbit Ace LTE, an ideal children smartwatch, hits its lowest worth

The Fitbit Ace LTE is a superb smartwatch for youths who aren’t fairly prepared for his or her first smartphone. It has cute video games, a enjoyable little exercise tracker, location monitoring, and it lets children name or textual content with preselected contacts. There’s no app retailer, no web entry, no smartphone connection, and no approach for them to get spam calls or texts. It’s right down to $170.95 from $229.99 on Amazon in each spicy (inexperienced and grey, with a purple and inexperienced band) and gentle (grey, with a grey and black band) throughout the present arbitrary purchasing occasion. My daughter has been utilizing one since this summer time, and we each advocate it.

The Ace LTE is a cross-platform standalone watch; mother and father or guardians set it up utilizing the Fitbit Ace app on Android or iOS. That app can be the place you select who your youngster can name or textual content (these folks additionally want the Ace app), set college hours (no video games or incoming telephone calls), and verify on location (although location sharing additionally exhibits up within the Google Maps app, which is good). Calling, texting, and placement sharing require the Ace Move, which is $9.99 monthly and allows LTE entry. There’s no provider integration required.

The watch additionally has interchangeable bands, at $40 a pop, that unlock new video games and actions when related. It’s a shameless try to interact the gotta-catch-em-all mode — or at the least encourage watchband swapping at recess — and it’ll most likely work.

The Verge’s Vee Music did a hands-on with the Ace LTE earlier this yr, and my household has been testing one since June. My favourite factor about it’s that it lets my nine-year-old textual content me, which I actually appreciated throughout the summer time when she was at day camp. She was capable of inform me her brother wanted dry sneakers, for instance, or that the toys on the toy museum they visited seemed creepy and that the place smelled bizarre. It opened up a complete new approach of speaking in comparison with the preset textual content replies and 20-second audio clips she needed to work with on the Garmin Bounce.

The Ace LTE is finest suited to children between possibly 7 and 11 years outdated, by which age they’ll most likely begin to chafe at its limitations in comparison with an Apple Watch or an precise telephone. However for now, I’m cherishing these limitations. Search for my full evaluation quickly.