Recommend a Activity Tracker/Smart Watch for 11 Year Old with Good Sleep Tracking and GPS under $300 (but $150 Better)

chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 13:16
Last edited 02/07/2021 - 13:22 by 1 other user

Hi,

my son is nearly 11.

I'd like an activity tracker/ smart watch for him that we can both look at an app and see sleep data and ideally gps location. I know that sounds a bit creapy/stalker but he's had some behavioural issues of late and i really think it will form part of our best solution. I would have the app on an android phone. He could use either an old android phone or ipad depending on how well the app works.

I am not even sure if my requirements are reasonable but ideally i would like to be able to check if he was asleep on the app in real time. I do the realise that the biometrics used to guess sleep are not perfect.

Not a kiddy version but not a huge chunky one either.

Any with features that help with time management in general (rather than just fitness) would be a bonus but he will not generally be carrying a phone with him.

His big sister has the fitbit charge 3 so getting him the charge 4 seemed the logical way to go but it does get a fair bit of criticism.
It's currently about $4169

Others I am considering are:

HUAWEI Band 4 Pro for $79

https://www.amazon.com.au/HUAWEI-Band-Built-Workout-Guidance…

HUAWEI WATCH FIT for $149

https://www.amazon.com.au/HUAWEI-Smartwatch-Display-Detectio…

Garmin Forerunner 45 for $217.72

https://www.amazon.com.au/Garmin-010-02156-05-Forerunner-Lar…

Garmin Vivoactive 3 Sports Watch currently on sale for $250

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/garmin-vivoactive-3-sport…

Samsung Galaxy GearFit2 Pro

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/samsung-galaxy-gearfit2-p…

I am open to other suggestions as well.

Obviously if the HUAWEI Band 4 Pro will work then I would rather not spend the extra cash. I am a little concerned it might not be as physically tough as some of the others and also I have zero experience with their products.

Thanks for any input people.

Electrical & Electronics Activity Tracker Smartwatch

Comments

  • ZippyRoo on 02/07/2021 - 14:01
    +1

    I bought a second hand Garmin Forerunner 35 from marketplace for $40. Has sleep tracking, and can broadcast heart rate to his Garmin Edge 520 which I've handed down to him to use. Battery life is pretty decent too, he only charges it every 3 days or so. The Forerunner 45 was an option that I looked at, but he's only 9 (almost 10), so investing in a brand new watch was a bit much.

    Not sure if the Garmin can give gps location unless an activity is underway, but I did stalk my son a couple of times by looking at his sleep data. There were some nights where it showed very little sleep, and when I discussed with him, he eventually admitted that he was on his Switch all night. The agreement since then was that he has to hand in his Switch and iPad before going to bed every night and he was quite proactive in doing so. After a while, my husband and I agreed that we don't need to take his devices nightly any more but to check in with him every now and then to see if he's been playing games at night. Don't think he ever took his devices to bed ever again since that incident.

    • chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 15:03
      +1

      Not sure if the Garmin can give gps location unless an activity is underway

      Yep. I may be asking a bit much there. I know there are dedicated kid tracking products but i don't really want to go that way.

      but I did stalk my son a couple of times by looking at his sleep data

      Yes. That may have to suffice. I am hoping to be able to check in on him live if I can. He doesn't have devices at night (other than an e-reader) but he's been having trouble sleeping and then reads to help but then sometimes it back fires and he reads for ages. The other day he claimed he didn't get to sleep until 2:30. I don't know how accurate that is though.

  • timmof on 02/07/2021 - 14:22
    +1

    My recommedation is, Go cheap. We've lost a couple of devices in the playground and in the foam pit at indoor trampoline centres.

    Not sure garmin will help you with real time sleep status… stick your head in the room would be easier. But you can check the next day and have a conversation.
    As my brother who has older kids said, if you catch them up at night reading, there's probably worse things in the world … :)

    • Quantumcat on 02/07/2021 - 15:41

      I think garmin will help. I have a vivoactive and when you open the app it syncs by Bluetooth and you can see the most recent data including sleep

      • chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 16:17

        Hi, I realise you probably aren't checking the app whilst sleeping but….. from what you have observed do you think that if my son is wearing eg a garmin vivoactive whilst asleep and i open up the app on my phone (within bluetooth range) it would sync up and have sleep data already available?

        Also, does the vivoactive vibrate or beep or anything when it syncs with the app??

        Thanks

        • Quantumcat on 02/07/2021 - 16:36

          I don't think it does. I haven't used mine in a while but if I remember I'll charge it this evening and use it during the night and sync in the morning or if I wake up during the night and let you know

  • chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 14:51
    +1

    if you catch them up at night reading, there's probably worse things in the world … :)

    Thanks.

    That's been our attitude previously but i think lack of sleep is having a big impact on his emotional well being at the moment. Unfortunately opening his door just wakes him up.

  • activ8newbs on 02/07/2021 - 15:10

    Xiaomi mi band?

    • chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 15:22

      I don't think it has gps.

  • Quantumcat on 02/07/2021 - 15:42

    If he has an old android phone could you not use life 360 to track his whereabouts?

    • chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 16:06

      It's not his as such. He has access to it but doesn't take it to school. Bringing a phone to school is a hassle at his school and strongly discouraged.

      The more I look into it is seems that leaving the gps on would eat through battery time pretty quickly.

  • trevor99 on 02/07/2021 - 16:23

    Mi Band 6 only about $60 v good but no gps

    • chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 16:34

      Thanks.
      I am considering it as an option if i give up on the gps idea. Have you used it to monitor sleep? If so, do you find it reasonably accurate?

      • trevor99 on 03/07/2021 - 14:15

        Yes it's pretty good. Nice and light too and Amoled screen.

  • Tangenyahu on 02/07/2021 - 16:23

    We use actigraphy watches to monitor patients' sleep at home, but it could be a bit over the top for what you need because we're doing it for medical purposes.
    Having said that, at one point we were looking at using Fit Bit as an alternative monitoring device (I think the boss said that it was the most accurate out of all commercially available watches), so if you're looking for quality then it's something that you could add to your consideration. Not sure about the price or robustness though, sorry!

    • chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 16:30

      Thanks for that. That's very good know and is consistent with a review that i read that was of the opinion that fitbits sleep monitoring was better than mosts.

      • Tangenyahu on 02/07/2021 - 16:37

        Just keep in mind that while it's good at giving you an overall picture of the sleep, it's not meant to be super accurate—I wouldn't put too much stock in the analysis of sleep stages because it's not really possible for a wearable device to do things like that.
        Happy to have helped.

  • Quantumcat on 02/07/2021 - 16:38

    What about an apple air tag in his backpack? If any of the teachers use iPhones it might be able to use that to know his location?

    • chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 16:43

      Thanks. I hadn't considered that. Definitely something I'll think about.

  • scrimshaw on 02/07/2021 - 16:55

    Something to keep in mind if you're buying a GPS equipped smartwatch.

    The GPS on a smart watch only works when you're actively doing a sport activity, e.g running. The GPS tracking cannot be activated remotely by another person and has to be started on the watch itself.

    The GPS data is then logged to the watch's memory or transferred real-time to the phone to plot where it's been. It's not possible to snoop on that data — under normal circumstances that is a huge breach of privacy anyway and nobody would buy a watch that reports the wearer's position to some cloud server where someone else can access that data without their knowledge.

    On my Galaxy Gear S2 watch, the location data is exported to Samsung Health after the run finishes and you can review the map data on the Health app. But you cannot view the data on someone else's smartphone.

  • jjjaar on 02/07/2021 - 19:54

    I have the vivoactive 3 and it’s great but I’m not sure you can track the location of the device until after an activity has synced.

    You need to sync the device to a phone first and then it’ll appear.

    Depending on how it is set up, your son doesn’t open the app then it won’t sync. Also if he doesn’t start an activity on the watch same thing.

    • chewbot on 02/07/2021 - 21:02

      Thanks.

      Incidentally, I think if i was buying for me right now I'd be going for the vivoactive 3.
      Do you use it much for sleep? If so, how do you find it?

      • jjjaar on 02/07/2021 - 21:42

        I use it for sleep every night because it tracks it every night haha.

        The UI of the app isn’t as good as other trackers but I find it’s useful enough.

        It gives you an overview of your sleep stage and how much you are awake at night, and also how much you move. Though I move around a lot and sometimes it thinks I’m awake when I’m not. Or it’ll say I’m not in deep sleep when I know I am because I’ve been dreaming.

        What kind of information do you hope to get out of it?

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