So our twins refuse to be kept on harnesses, leashes and any other of anti-child escape device we have tried and now that they are too big to be strapped down in a pushchair they find nothing more fun than darting off in every direction at any chance they get got me thinking about if there were any possible technology solutions out there that could help with this dilemma.
I embarked on some serious research discarding nearly all that Google presented to me as most require subscriptions or SIMs cards = ongoing costs. Which when you weigh level of usage with these ongoing charges it didn't justify the investment. The cheaper offerings looked to be pretty unreliable and there just didn't seem to be anything inbetween.
So I firstly decided to go low cost and ordered two ID bands from eBay which are worn on their wrists when we go out with a full explanation that this is the information in case they get lost. There are a few different types available at a reasonable price some with clasps that cannot be opened easily. So - at least this way I know when we go out that if they do get lost and are found that our contact information is easy to find.
But as a parent this isn't enough and I felt like I could do better. It was after that thought and subsequent search on the Internet that I stumbled across Findster's Kickstarter projects. I was intrigued by their ethos and belief that as a parent this sort of technology should not have any ongoing costs the system also looked simple to use and not bulky (as some other units were).
So I contacted Findster to ask if they were shipping to the UK and if they would be interested in being featured in my blog. I received a fairly medium of the road response and indifference about being written about here since 'we are so popular that we sell out all the time thanks to Kickstarter'. 'Wow' I thought, 'They must be good' so placed the order and patiently waited.
The package arrived over a week later from Portugal. The following video was made minutes after it arrived after which I put all three units to charge.
Later that day I started to try and set it up hoping to be able to use if. Unfortunately that has simply now been the case and I am beyond disappointed. Three days later I am still no closer to having a working Findster system and having waited very patiently with their 48hr technical support response times my much awaited 'technical support' help was less help and more of an email that arrived while I was asleep (seems to be based west coast USA) containing lots of links to the Findster FAQs which I have thoroughly already pawed over in desperate quest to resolve this issue myself.
Just to give some context to the level of frustration that I am experiencing right now I am going to reset everything to zero and demonstrate in a second video my Findster groundhog day loop which I am so disappointed about because I wanted this to be another great gadget!
UPDATE: Findster have been in touch. It appears that they have sent me a Findster Duo Guardian module in error which is for their pet GPS tracking system and won't work with the Kids system. So its going back and I await a new set to try again!
I embarked on some serious research discarding nearly all that Google presented to me as most require subscriptions or SIMs cards = ongoing costs. Which when you weigh level of usage with these ongoing charges it didn't justify the investment. The cheaper offerings looked to be pretty unreliable and there just didn't seem to be anything inbetween.
So I firstly decided to go low cost and ordered two ID bands from eBay which are worn on their wrists when we go out with a full explanation that this is the information in case they get lost. There are a few different types available at a reasonable price some with clasps that cannot be opened easily. So - at least this way I know when we go out that if they do get lost and are found that our contact information is easy to find.
But as a parent this isn't enough and I felt like I could do better. It was after that thought and subsequent search on the Internet that I stumbled across Findster's Kickstarter projects. I was intrigued by their ethos and belief that as a parent this sort of technology should not have any ongoing costs the system also looked simple to use and not bulky (as some other units were).
So I contacted Findster to ask if they were shipping to the UK and if they would be interested in being featured in my blog. I received a fairly medium of the road response and indifference about being written about here since 'we are so popular that we sell out all the time thanks to Kickstarter'. 'Wow' I thought, 'They must be good' so placed the order and patiently waited.
The package arrived over a week later from Portugal. The following video was made minutes after it arrived after which I put all three units to charge.
Later that day I started to try and set it up hoping to be able to use if. Unfortunately that has simply now been the case and I am beyond disappointed. Three days later I am still no closer to having a working Findster system and having waited very patiently with their 48hr technical support response times my much awaited 'technical support' help was less help and more of an email that arrived while I was asleep (seems to be based west coast USA) containing lots of links to the Findster FAQs which I have thoroughly already pawed over in desperate quest to resolve this issue myself.
Just to give some context to the level of frustration that I am experiencing right now I am going to reset everything to zero and demonstrate in a second video my Findster groundhog day loop which I am so disappointed about because I wanted this to be another great gadget!
UPDATE: Findster have been in touch. It appears that they have sent me a Findster Duo Guardian module in error which is for their pet GPS tracking system and won't work with the Kids system. So its going back and I await a new set to try again!
Read the Road test and verdict here: http://kaosfusion.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/findster-finally-road-test.html
