If you read my first entry about Findster then you are probably back to see what happened. So despite taking the Findster set all the way to Italy a back we just didn't need it. But last week we had a trip to Legoland being in the middle of the school holidays this seemed the perfect time to give it a go.
Despite the units being fully charged when I went to test them that morning they were all showing low power. So - this means they don't hold their power when in standby. Luckily all units charged that morning in about an hour and a half while we were getting ready. I packed them away powered down and turned them on when we were about 15 minutes away from the park. Both units paired to my parent unit without any fuss.
Both boys love wearing the necklaces and I slip them under their tops so that they won't accidentally get caught on something as they are zooming around.
The Test
We had two opportunities to test the system since both boys have a tendency to disappear but thankfully have the common sense to wander too far. On both occasions we could not see the boys in the mass of children playing and I hoped my phone would guide me. Unfortunately both times it showed on the screen that the boys were over 20m away when the reality was that they were no more than 4m from where we were standing. I think its because there is a delayed interval between the child units and parent units updating their location information. This delay for a parent is no good because naturally at that moment when you lose sight of your kid you are already in a blind panic!
But despite that the biggest issue with the set is the battery issues we encountered that day. Not only does the Findster app completely drain the battery on my mobile but the units failed to last the entire day. At 5pm we left the park and you can see that both modules lasted until around 3pm. Considering that we didn't get to the park until 11am - this basically gives you 4hrs of power with the modules. Furthermore if I hadn't taken my external battery boost charger for my phone that would have failed as well (in the screenshot you can see that I have it charging but its sitting at 26%). These two considerations are pretty heavily weighed against the Findster system in my opinion as knowing that you are basically killing your phone battery does not give you peace of mind on a day trip out and you can't fire the system up on demand either because the modules need time to pair - so that isn't an option.
The Verdict
Personally I don't think this system lives up to the hype and whilst this is probably perfect for finding lost pets when you go on walks (which is what the original system was designed for) as a system for keeping track of children it needs work. I find the whole thing more stressful than it needs to be. You couldn't grab the system 'on the fly' unless you keep the units charging all the time, but that really isn't practical. The real worry here is that you could be in a situation where think you can rely on the system to keep your children safe but actually what happens is that you end up with both the phone and the Findster system not working due to depleted batteries which, frankly, that just puts me off using it.
Despite the units being fully charged when I went to test them that morning they were all showing low power. So - this means they don't hold their power when in standby. Luckily all units charged that morning in about an hour and a half while we were getting ready. I packed them away powered down and turned them on when we were about 15 minutes away from the park. Both units paired to my parent unit without any fuss.
Both boys love wearing the necklaces and I slip them under their tops so that they won't accidentally get caught on something as they are zooming around.
The Test
We had two opportunities to test the system since both boys have a tendency to disappear but thankfully have the common sense to wander too far. On both occasions we could not see the boys in the mass of children playing and I hoped my phone would guide me. Unfortunately both times it showed on the screen that the boys were over 20m away when the reality was that they were no more than 4m from where we were standing. I think its because there is a delayed interval between the child units and parent units updating their location information. This delay for a parent is no good because naturally at that moment when you lose sight of your kid you are already in a blind panic!
But despite that the biggest issue with the set is the battery issues we encountered that day. Not only does the Findster app completely drain the battery on my mobile but the units failed to last the entire day. At 5pm we left the park and you can see that both modules lasted until around 3pm. Considering that we didn't get to the park until 11am - this basically gives you 4hrs of power with the modules. Furthermore if I hadn't taken my external battery boost charger for my phone that would have failed as well (in the screenshot you can see that I have it charging but its sitting at 26%). These two considerations are pretty heavily weighed against the Findster system in my opinion as knowing that you are basically killing your phone battery does not give you peace of mind on a day trip out and you can't fire the system up on demand either because the modules need time to pair - so that isn't an option.
Personally I don't think this system lives up to the hype and whilst this is probably perfect for finding lost pets when you go on walks (which is what the original system was designed for) as a system for keeping track of children it needs work. I find the whole thing more stressful than it needs to be. You couldn't grab the system 'on the fly' unless you keep the units charging all the time, but that really isn't practical. The real worry here is that you could be in a situation where think you can rely on the system to keep your children safe but actually what happens is that you end up with both the phone and the Findster system not working due to depleted batteries which, frankly, that just puts me off using it.
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