The Fitbit Ace LTE, a great kids’ smartwatch, hits its lowest price

The Fitbit Ace LTE is simply a large smartwatch for kids who aren’t rather acceptable for their archetypal smartphone. It has cute games, a amusive small enactment tracker, determination tracking, and it lets kids telephone oregon substance with preselected contacts. There’s nary app store, nary net access, nary smartphone connection, and nary mode for them to get spam calls oregon texts. It’s down to $170.95 from $229.99 connected Amazon successful some spicy (green and gray, with a purple and greenish band) and mild (gray, with a grey and achromatic band) during the existent arbitrary buying event. My girl has been utilizing 1 since this summer, and we some urge it.

The Ace LTE is simply a cross-platform standalone watch; parents oregon guardians acceptable it up utilizing the Fitbit Ace app connected Android oregon iOS. That app is besides wherever you take who your kid tin telephone oregon substance (those radical besides request the Ace app), acceptable schoolhouse hours (no games oregon incoming telephone calls), and cheque connected determination (though determination sharing besides shows up successful the Google Maps app, which is nice). Calling, texting, and determination sharing necessitate the Ace Pass, which is $9.99 per period and enables LTE access. There’s nary bearer integration required.

The ticker besides has interchangeable bands, astatine $40 a pop, that unlock caller games and activities erstwhile connected. It’s a shameless effort to prosecute the gotta-catch-em-all mode — oregon astatine slightest promote watchband swapping astatine recess — and it’ll astir apt work.

The Verge’s Vee Song did a hands-on with the Ace LTE earlier this year, and my household has been investigating 1 since June. My favourite happening astir it is that it lets my nine-year-old substance me, which I truly appreciated during the summertime erstwhile she was astatine time camp. She was capable to archer maine her member needed adust shoes, for example, oregon that the toys astatine the artifact depository they visited looked creepy and that the spot smelled weird. It opened up a full caller mode of communicating compared to the preset substance replies and 20-second audio clips she had to enactment with connected the Garmin Bounce.

The Ace LTE is champion suited for kids betwixt possibly 7 and 11 years old, by which property they’ll astir apt commencement to chafe astatine its limitations compared to an Apple Watch oregon an existent phone. But for present I’m cherishing those limitations. Look for my afloat reappraisal soon.