XPLORAXPLORA XGO 3 - Watch Phone for Children (4G) - Calls, Messages, Kids School Mode, SOS Function, GPS Location, Camera and Pedometer – (Subscription Required) (Black)

Why did you pick this product vs others?:I'm a mama who takes a lot of measures to keep my child off screens. But for safety purposes, I needed my son to have a text, talk, location device. This one is perfect for what we need. There are no games, so I don't have to worry about addiction. It does have camera and a calculator, which my five year old love. He is able to text emojis to me, his dad, and his grandparents. We keep it put away when we're together, but it helps him feel safer when he's not with me.

Quick background: we're a very tech-savvy household; my husband is a software programmer and developer, and we use multiple Android and iOS devices.Quick synopsis: after experiencing hardware malfunctions that are still not resolved after 5 days of back and forth, and then negligent actions on behalf of Xplora, we are starting the return process. Bottom line: IT'S UNACCEPTABLE THAT A COMPANY IN THE BUSINESS OF SELLING COMMUNICATION DEVICES WOULD NOT HAVE ANY DIRECT PHONE SUPPORT OR 24/7 SUPPORT, AND 24HR DELAYS IN RESPONSE TIME. I'll keep the pros/ cons up front, followed by additional details regarding the problems that have led to us throwing in the towel; it's too stressful to keep supporting and dealing with a company that has terrible customer support for a device that is continuing to experience problems. Glad we purchased this on Amazon and signed up for the monthly Connect plan (without a contract) to test this out, after seeing other reviews mention difficulties with the watch, customer service, and getting refunded when things went south. Amazon processed the return quickly (I was also able to return and get refunded for the insurance plan), and it was also easy to cancythe Connect plan; I was just barely within the 30 day window, so the only silver lining here is that we experienced so many issues and such a terrible support experience from the beginning that we were able to quickly determine this wasn't the right fit for us.PROS:- Sleek design with smooth edges and not too chunky; a good fit for 10yo and easy to keep clean- Crystal clear voice calling- Parent-managed contacts only- Can call directly from my phone/ contact list- School Mode = clock only (all other features are disabled except the SOS calling). You can also set up multiple "school modes" which is helpful in limiting "after hours" use of the watch.- SOS call goes straight to me (the primary contact), instead of 911 which I prefer at this age.- Optional Asurion protection plan to cover damage + theft- Camera (I don't particularly care about the image quality, but I like that there's the option for my child to take and text photos)- Backed by Amazon's return policy- Good battery life (we haven't drained it yet, averaging 7-10K steps/ day, but haven't used it a lot for calls yet)- Uses T-Mobile network (could also be a con if you're in a bad service area or do a lot of traveling)CONS:- Ongoing hardware malfunctions (see below details)- Customer/ tech support is only available by email on business days (UTC+1), and takes at least 24hrs to respond to US customers.- Can only text via the Xplora app- Watch can only text photos or Xplora-programmed messages/ emojis (though watch can also send a voice message text for anything specific)AMBIVALENT:- Must remove any dashes or parentheses from contact phone numbers after copying into the app (you won't find these details anywhere else; it took 1wk for customer support to identify this simple problem which they should have seen from the beginning)- Unclear if you can keep/ transfer the phone number to a phone when the time comes- The app notifies you of any calls to/ from the watch; this is annoying in the sense that even when I call or the child calls me, I get a notification from the app, and since all the contacts are managed by me anyway and I can't disable this notification, it's slightly annoying. I can imagine it would quickly become a con if my child was doing a lot more communicating from the watch than currently.Unresolved hardware issues: malfunctioning GPS (pinging locations several miles away from our child's actual location while on the bus), freezing in school mode, unable to restart or power off, and network + internal server errors. Xplora offered to factory reset the watch and asked when would be a good time, indicating I should be with the watch since I would have to re-pair it with the app. I responded on a Monday asking them to reset the watch after 12:30pm UTC+1; they took 48hrs to respond and then said "We unfortunately are operating at UTC plus one therefore it is very hard to match the right time unfortunately." Not sure why it's hard to match UTC+1 time with UTC+1, but this illustrates the level of customer support you're dealing with. So I followed up asking them to perform the reset between the hours of 8am-12:30pm (UTC+1), and instead they reset the watch immediately (at 4:01pm UTC+1). This is on day 5 of back and forth about this, so now my child is at school and I'm unable to access the watch at all or put it back in school mode, and is really unacceptable.Decided to go with the Verizon Gizmo after returning this; the size and look is similar, though the Gizmo has more in-watch features, and you can set up your own activities and rewards instead of in-app-only Xplora coins. Plus, Verizon's support/ customer service is a dream compared to Xplora's.

This watch is amazing. It is a closed network system with its own data network (separate purchase of about $12/month) whereby the only people who can call or text your child are the people who you have both added in your guardian capacity to the trusted contacts section of the app. But then on top of that, this person must also download the app and scan your child’s unique QR code. A complete and secure closed system! We tested it by calling her phone number prior to authorization and the person simply cannot get through. You can have two guardians with the power to control this access. And, your child can send an SOS if they are ever in danger by holding the action button for 10 uninterrupted seconds and it alerts the two guardians (we also tested this and it worked perfectly!) This watch has excellent battery life and is sturdy. Lastly, I love the GPS functionality as I can see within great accuracy where my child is without having to call her first and ask. Note that it is not waterproof. Washing hands? Fine. But when my kiddo went swimming with it accidentally on, the previous XGo3 we got did get destroyed even though we realized our mistake within only minutes of being submerged. I love this watch so much that I bought a replacement. Customer service was amazing, fast and provided a month of free service as their warning about submerging was not as strongly worded as it could have been at the time; they changed it immediately upon reading my feedback. Also noteworthy is my daughter loves the watch :)

My original comment I will leave below, but I'd like to update that after posting my comment on our experience will the xplora Go 3 watch, the company contacted me within 24 hours to resolve the issue. They offered my daughter the latest model (xplora go 6) free of charge, as well as 3 months free subscription & 3 months of the subscription refunded for the issues we dealt with with the watch we originally purchased. They were kind, committed to fixing the issue & prompt. We reviewed both the new watch and a new SIM card within a week of each other and the company was even able to let me daughter keep her old number for the watch. They got it set up and working almost immediately after we received the SIM card and we are already very happy with how the new watch works. Doest drop calls, connects to the wifi, magnetic charger, etc. Thank you for being committed to customer satisfaction and allowing us another opportunity to give XPLORA a chance!I wanted to give the product a few months before deciding how we liked it. My kid has had the watch for 4 months now. For GPS tracking, it does pretty well. For calls, it's terrible. Cuts out quite a bit during a call and the call feature works when it wants to. Most days, it won't let me call the watch, just immediately drops the call after you hit the CALL button. Also does not let my kid make outgoing calls all the time. It works when it wants to. When making updates on the app to the watch or changing watch settings on the app, it takes DAYS for the watch to register the changes you've made. Will definitely be looking into a different product.