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

Update: The company sent me a new watch with a SIM that they promised would work. Indeed, it did work! I really like this watch for my 7 year old son. The GPS seems to be accurate, it has an alarm that he uses every morning to wakeup with, I put it on school mode, and he's able to receive texts from me through the app, and phone calls from anyone I put on the contacts list. The only thing I have not tried out yet is adding the app to my husbands' phone so he can also text. Assuming that will work but we'll see. Otherwise, great connection, you can hear the person on the call easily without having to hold the watch up to his face (some other watches we tried had that issue). Overall, great watch once you get one with the SIM working properly!Could never get the watch to work properly. Set it up and couldn't make calls. Did a few adjustments and restarts and it made a call and seemed to work for about a day and then started giving a "No SIM" error. Worked with customer service back and forth for 10 days (they only have email so it would take a day before I would hear from them and be able to try what they suggest to fix it) and finally got it working again. It worked for 1 day and then started giving a different error and wouldn't make calls again. I gave up and returned.

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.

We've now been using the XPLORA GO watch for a month or so now and we're really happy with it. There's something really special and comforting about knowing that wherever your child is, you have a way of contacting them, sending them an important message or just saying "I love you!" And then conversely if they need something or just want to chat, they can call or send a voice memo as well. Hearing my son's little voice over the phone and giving him the practice to carry on a whole conversation independently, is a really fun thing to experience as well.We love that we can track where he is and I'd say the tracking is better than the apple tag we were using previously.And one unforeseen benefit that we've discovered now is that our son can message and call his cousin (who also has a watch) when he misses him and wants to talk to him and it's like being able to be in one another's company. Overall, we're really happy with the XPLORA GO 3 and recommend it to anyone looking for a simple watch phone for their kids.

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.