Garmin Bounce 2 Lets Parents Keep Track Of Their Kids, For A Price

Garmin has released a new watch, the Garmin Bounce 2, made to let parents keep in contact with their kids, without having to buy them a smartphone.

In 2022, Garmin released the original Bounce watch, and this follow-up brings some notable differences.

First up, its round face arguably looks a lot slicker than the original’s rounded-off square. Its OLED screen will certainly look better too. The Garmin Bounce 2’s predecessor had a less flashy LCD screen.

This is not the only line-up of Garmin wearables made for children. There’s the Vivofit Jr. series too, but Bounce is an altogether more robust tracker as it uses a mobile data connection to let parents keep in constant contact with their kids.

Garmin Bounce 2: Vital Stastistics

It has GPS, and the wearer can “check-in” with a parent to send their location. Calls can be made through the Garmin Bounce 2, as well as two-way texting.

While the watch only has a 1.2-inch screen, it has “a full on-device keyboard” for message replies, although Garmin also supports pre-written canned responses.

The Garmin Bounce 2 can notify a parent when the wearable leaves, or enters, a certain pre-specified area. One obvious use for this is setting the boundary as the area around your home or the child’s school.

Some user reviews of the original Bounce note its inaccurate GPS location tracking. And while the Bounce 2 may well have better location accuracy than its predecessor, it does not appear to have more accurate dual-band GPS, sometimes called dual-frequency GPS.

However, some real-world issues wouldn’t be solved by that either. GPS watches are never good at locking onto a GPS signal when indoors.

Connected features like boundary alerts, messaging and calls require a subscription to Garmin’s LTE service, which costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.

Thanks to its always-connected style, the Garmin Bounce 2’s battery life is also significantly shorter than that of most of the company’s watches, rated for just two days of use.

Many of Garmin’s usual non-connected features are present in the Bounce 2 as well. There are many exercise tracking modes, from running to paddleboarding. 5ATM water resistance means it’s ready for pool swimming too. The watch lacks an optical heart rate sensor, though, so may not be ideal for the young athletes out there.

Garmin touts its gaming features too. But unlike the Fitbit Ace LTE, these quizzes, games and collectables are part of the Garmin Jr. app on the connected phone, not the watch itself.

The Garmin Bounce 2 costs $299.99 and comes in dark grey, lilac and turquoise colors. It’s available to order now.