Smart watches are great for kids and our nine-year-old Harrison has had one for a while now, which has obviously led to his younger sister pestering us for one like it. Not that she has a smart phone to connect one to, but for our kids smart watches aren’t about receiving messages alerts, they’re not really about telling the time either to be honest, they’re about counting their steps!
Before Harrison had his, for instance, asking him to come walk the dog with me was like asking him to donate his Nintendo Switch to the local charity shop. But once we started setting him daily goals for his steps on his smart watch it was a different story, especially if he knew he’d get Robux for meeting his daily targets for a month.
So I was really pleased when I was asked to review the Fourfit Mini 2 for our 7 year old daughter Ella. Here’s how our experience went:
The Fourfit Mini 2 certainly looks the part with its no nonsense design, that bears more than a passing resemblance to the (far pricier) Fitbit that my wife wears. The sleek body blends seamlessly with the silicone wristband, and it certainly looks and feels like a high-quality item.
Unlike some of the cheaper smart watches the actual band itself – available in black, aqua, blue, red and purple – feels very durable. It’s just as well that it does, as you have to pull really hard on it to remove one strap every time you want to charge the watch. This is because the USB connector is built into the body of the watch, which then tucks into the strap. This is a really good idea in many ways as it means you can’t possibly lose any charging wires. However, every time I pulled the strap off to charge it, I was convinced I’d somehow break the strap. So far though, it’s held up pretty well.
Once the strap is off, you’re left with an unusual looking USB connecter that plugs into anything with a USB port. Unfortunately, the angle of the connector means that USB plugs with their port on the underside make it difficult to charge without using an extension (see image). If you’re willing to overlook this though, it’s nice to be able to ditch annoying wires.
But what about the actual performance of the watch? Well I connected the watch to my own Android phone, as Ella doesn’t have one yet. I tested out the message alerts with Ella by getting her mum to send messages to Ella via my phone, saying things like “Hey Ella, have a great day”. She doesn’t know where the messages are coming from and loved this, especially when we sent her one from Santa wishing her a happy birthday.
I wrote earlier that it’s the step counting that Ella originally wanted a smart watch for and the Fourfit Mini 2 didn’t disappoint, performing exactly how you’d expect it to here. But what I hadn’t considered was how much she’d be into the other features, like checking her heart rate and taking an interest in how it goes up when she’s running around the house and then goes down again when she sits down to rest. Cue an impromptu biology lesson to explain why!
There are other health related features that didn’t set Ella’s pulse racing as much as the heart rate monitor, and they seem more geared toward the adult market. One of these is the oximeter, for measuring the saturation of oxygen in your blood (something I don’t think I’d be able to explain to her myself) and a blood pressure monitor.
I did test out the latter by using the watch on myself and comparing the results with the proper blood pressure machine we have at home. It was remarkably accurate, reading 120 over 80 for myself, while our proper machine showed a very average 122 over 78.
Functions that were far more useful in our house are the “find phone” and “search device” (which is basically a find my phone feature). I’m notorious for not knowing where I’ve put my phone in our house, and Ella is far more obliging when it comes to using her watch to find it than her mum is at calling me so I can track it down! Likewise, Ella takes after her dad in this respect and (once we’ve found my phone) we’ve been able to utilise it to find her watch.
Finally, Ella and I had loads of fun using the “shake for selfie” feature on the app, where she shakes her wrist and this takes a picture from your phone.
All in all, the Fourfit Mini 2 is a great little device if you can overlook the USB angle issue. It’s got a great, stylish design, it’s durable, splash-proof and has all the features you’d need for a child aged 7-17. I’d probably even think about one for myself as it has all the features I’d need and the strap had enough holes to fit just about any wrist.
