If you don’t have a Verizon account and don’t want one, the Gabb Watch is a good option. Its price increased after its initial launch, but it’s still one of the most affordable kids smartwatches worth your consideration at around $150.
It’s also the best GPS- and call-enabled smartwatch for younger kids—say around age 6 and up—thanks to the fun virtual pet game.
The Gabb Watch 3 has been upgraded with IP68 water resistance and an ultra-strong Gorilla Glass 3 screen to withstand whatever kids put it through. It also features virtual pets that kids can feed, pet, and train with digital coins. They earn coins by logging steps on the watch’s pedometer and by completing tasks on their to-do lists.
Parents set up tasks on the phone app, so you can completely customize how hard your youngster has to work for those coins. It’s a nice way to incentivize them to brush their teeth, make their bed, and put their homework in their backpack.
The Verizon GizmoWatch Disney Edition doesn’t have much in the way of fun other than some cool backgrounds. The GizmoWatch 2 boasts one game, which gets kids jumping like a kangaroo. The Gabb Watch 3 is the better option for entertaining your kid.
Both GizmoWatches let parents hear what’s going on around their child through a drop-in audio feature. Although we don’t consider it a critical feature for our rankings, it comes in handy if the child is unable to answer a call or if parents just want to make sure everything’s going well at a playdate.
The Gabb Watch doesn’t have this “stealthy check-in” feature. You’ll see your child’s real-time GPS location when checking in, and can only see a limited view of where they were in the past by looking at the notifications tab in the app.
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