Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have had my Buddy Tag for about 3 weeks now. I have used it while at playground, grocery shopping, and at shopping malls. I got it mainly for my wife to use with our 6 year old because my wife's attention is often on the younger ones, who are 1.5 and 3 years old. Overall, it's a good product, and I will be getting another one for my 3 year old. I did have to call their customer services, and the lady I spoke to answered my questions. I will describe the questions and answers in my review below. Proximity Alert: This is the main feature that I bought Buddy Tag for, which is to help my wife and myself keep track of my 6-year-old when we are out with him. I like the fact that the app allows you to adjust the distance from far, medium to near. I found "near" is too sensitive, and often gets false alarms. So I kept it at "medium" when we are shopping with more people around us, and I set it to "far" when at playgrounds, so my son can have freedom to run around without the alarm going off. Overall it worked well, and it helped me keeping him within a distance that I can still see him. We will be taking a trip to Disney during the summer, and this will definitely come in handy. Water Alert: Since it's too cold to go swimming, I tried the water alert by dropping Buddy Tag into a cup of water, but the alarm didn't sound. Then I put it in my sink filled with water, and it didn't sound either. So I called their customer service, and the lady told me that the wristband has to be worn, and it has to be submersed into enough mass of water for the alarm to sound. So I asked my son to put it on and try it in his bathtub filled with water. Haha! Everytime his hand is submersed under water, the alarm went off!!! It really worked! I guess this makes sense because you don't want the alarm to sound when the child is just washing hands or taking a shower. Panic Button: Okay, be warned that your children will be pressing the panic button non-stop just to annoy you. My son did that, so I disabled the panic alarm feature in the app. He stopped abusing it after a day or two. He hasn't have to use the panic button yet, but I can see it can be helpful if he is lost in a crowd next me in a crowded space, and he can press the panic button to alert me. Wristband: I got the silicone wristband because I like the design and the color. To secure the band, you need to use a coin to tighten the fastener. This is a pretty smart design, but it can be tedious sometimes, especially if you have an active boy like mine who won't stop moving. But once it's on, it's difficult for my son to take it off because he will need a coin to unscrew the fastener. I have also taken out the fob (not sure what you call it) from the wristband, and put it on his shoelace, and it still worked without the wristband. Battery: I didn't know the battery can't be changed when I first got it. When I called the customer service about the water feature, I also asked the lady about the battery life. She said it should last over a year. If the battery ever failed within the year, she said to contact them, and they will send me a new fob to replace the old one. I guess I am okay with this since this is much more cost effective than a GPS tracker, which is an overkill for me anyway. App: I found the app to be easy to use and intuitive. You can adjust the tracking distance as mentioned above. I can change the name of Buddy Tag to my son's name. It's easy to connect and disconnect. It also shows the map location of where the phone last saw the Buddy Tag, and luckily I haven't had to use this feature yet. :-) Also, Buddy Tag can only connect to one phone each time. The customer service agent explained that they designed it this way on purpose, so that only one parent is in charge of the child, and not get into the situation of each person thought the other person was watching the kids and ended up with no one was watching. I can simply disconnect Buddy Tag from my phone, and let my wife connects to it when she takes charge of the kids. I thought this is a pretty thoughtful design. Overall, my wife and I are pretty happy with our Buddy Tag. It is definitely useful when we are out with the kids, and probably will be even more useful when we go to amusement parks during the summer. We will be getting another one with the camouflage velcro wristband for our 6-year-old, and let our 3-year-old use this black silicone one.