AngelSense GPS review: A durable, accurate tracking device tailored for special-needs kids - crawfordtimperall

Designed for the guardians of special-needs children, the AngelSense GPS tracker offers perpetual trailing, frequent location alerts, and a way to call a child World Health Organization can't or won't arrest a phone call on their have. The device has the potential to be a lifesaver, but it does fare with a steep monthly flyer—on with thorny privacy and effectual issues raised aside AngelSense's "Listen-in" feature.

Editor program's note (February 28, 2020): AngelSense recently launched a new interlingual rendition of its GPS Tracker for Kids that's about 50 percent smaller and promises 4G LTE connectivity, a step buffet, and adequate to 48 hours of bombardment life. The older version detailed in this review has been interrupted.

Note: This review is part of our coverage connected the best Global Positioning System trackers for kids. Follow the link for details about competing products and how we reliable them.

Design

Measuring close to 4.5 x 2.5 x 0.5 inches and weighing a little o'er quintuplet ounces, the AngelSense GPS device is about the size and weight of a little touchscreen phone—and that's exactly what IT is, as you'll discover if you remove the AngelSense device from its thick nylon sleeve.

The AngelSense module is intentional to last out in its arm at all multiplication, with the device itself (a customized LG smartphone) encased in a water-repellent silicone covering fire absolute with red "Do Non Remove!" stickers. Though the touchscreen lights up when you press and hold the power button—which, by chance, only reboots the gimmick rather than powering it turned—the show will go dark again within a some seconds.

The arm itself features a pair of fasteners on the top and bottom, only no controls at all save for a power button along the side (which, when positioned properly, sits atop the handset's power push). It also has an opening in the bottom for a little-USB charging telegraph.

Ben Patterson

The AngelSense GPS device (which is basically a custom-made LG touchscreen phone) comes incased in a water-resistant silicone cover.

Once inside its arm, the AngelSense canful equal fastened in a child's haversac, pocket, or worn as a belt (using an optional belt-equipped sleeve). A lockable pin (similar to the anti-theft devices used by retail stores) keeps the AngelSense arm firmly in place. I fast the AngelSense handset to a backpack, and it felt equivalent it wasn't active anywhere.

Service costs

The AngelSense "Guardian Outfit," which includes the device itself, a travel case, a arm, a charger, a trio of fasteners, and a magnetic key for unlocking the fasteners, goes for $79.

The monthly service project, which covers unlimited Global Positioning System tracking and 60 minutes of voice calls, costs a $53 a month. That's substantially more than, say, the $5 monthly fee for the LG GizmoGadget tracking watch, but the LG device does ask a Verizon Wireless subscription.

You can knock the AngelSense's monthly fee down to $40 a month with a one-year contract, or $33.33 a month for a full year reply-paid in get on (which comes out to nigh $400 for the full year).

Setup

Getting the AngelSense up and running game takes just a few proceedings. Formerly you enter your username and password into the AngelSense GPS portal, a suddenly questionnaire helps you determine how long your child might take to produce wont to to the gimmick, supported factors so much as age, special needs (from autism and Asperger's to OCD or general anxiety), and arcdegree of afferent sensitivity. Depending happening your answers, the portal may rede that it'll take anyplace from a workweek to a month or more for your kid to grow wont to wearing the AngelSense.

Once you're through with with the questionnaire, all you penury to do is make a point the device is charged up. Within a arcminute Oregon then, the AngelSense's location should bulge out abreast a map within the AngelSense app or internet site.

Through the Settings section of the app, you can MBD more caregivers WHO can track, call, OR flush listen in on your child (many connected the "Listen-in" feature momentarily). You can also add a list of first responders, much as schooling officials or police enforcement, who can get a schoolbook message with a tracking link in case your loved ane isn't where they'Ra supposed to constitute.

Trailing and monitoring

Unlike otherwise GPS tracking devices that speck your child only during regular times or when you manually tap the Find button, AngelSense Global Positioning System updates its position frequently and automatically, particularly when your child is in transit OR at a location you haven't previously tagged.

In my tests, AngelSense's GPS readings were timely and, generally speechmaking, accurate to within a half-block or inferior. While AngelSense is prostrate to the selfsame cellular and GPS receipt problems as other devices (particularly when indoors), the device does support Wi-Fi—Handy for keeping track of your child if their cultivate or other frequently-visited locations have spotty cancellate reporting.

Ben Patterson

The AngelSense GPS app keeps constant course of a child, particularly when they're in transit or at a place they put on't regularly confab.

If you're disquieted that your kid is lost or wandering, you can enable Runner Mode, which boosts the frequency of GPS tracking (at the expense of assault and battery life). Optionally, you can send out an alert to the first responders you've previously designated, full with a link that'll Lashkar-e-Tayyiba them tag your missing child. You force out also activate either a soft or loud alert along the AngelSense device to assistant searchers locate your Kyd.

Vocation and communication features

AngelSense GPS's "AngelCall" feature is designed specifically for particular-inevitably kids who aren't competent to use a traditional cell phone or career twist. It lets you call your child without requiring her to pick sprouted a receiver or press any buttons. Just tap the Call picture happening the AngelSense app, and the AngelSense GPS device will ring briefly and automatically put you on speakerphone. Whatsoever calls you puddle will count against the 60 vocation minutes included in your every month AngelSense contrive.

This AngelCall feature is what AngelSense means in its specs by "two-way calling." Just keep in mind that your kid can't initiate a call using the AngelSense device—it is forever a parent or caregiver with AngelSense access who makes the call.

"Listen-in" feature

Additionally to the calling, the AngelSense also has a "Listen-in" feature that lets you discreetly hear whatever's going on near your child. The sport works more than or less like AngelSense's two-part AngelCalls, except there's no ringtone operating theatre alert to warn anyone that you're hearing.

Parents with limited-necessarily kids who tend to walk impossible of school OR otherwise wander off describe AngelSense's Listen-in feature as invaluable and even up lifesaving in an emergency. You could also use Listen-in to make steady your child is safe while they're in transit or visiting an unfamiliar background.

While AngelSense's Listen-in feature is doubtless reassuring for the parents of special-needs children, it also raises privacy and legal issues. For its part, AngelSense urges its users to disclose the Listen-in feature article to caretakers and educators. Indeed, the company provides downloadable form letters that describe the capabilities and rationale behind the Listen-in feature, handy for notifying school officials or caregivers that you have the ability to eavesdrop on them. For schools that don't allow Listen-in at all, you can automatically disenable the feature during civilize hours on the AngelSense Settings screen.

IDG

Above and on the far side the rules of your school, however, are federal, state and topical privacy laws. Some states (including California, Parvenue York, New Jersey, Texas, and FL) stop the transcription or "interception" of a conversation unless one or all of the participants are aware they're being monitored. While AngelSense says its Listen-in feature doesn't actually track record conversations, the mere act of eavesdropping without the consent of whatsoever or all of the involved parties could be considered a crime, depending where you are.

While an stallion page of AngelSense's tolerate site is devoted to the legal issues surrounding Listen-in, the service should do a better job of admonition parents roughly state and local seclusion laws earlier they usage the feature for the low gear time. After passing on my feedback, an AngelSense PR rep told me the company would make changes to its initial setup process to foreground Listen-in's valid issues.

Battery life

Because the AngelSense GPS device is constantly checking in with its location, shelling liveliness is relatively short compared to that of other GPS trackers I've tried. In my tests, the AngelSense handset only lasted virtually 18 hours before its battery ran outer. That means you'd need to be diligent about charging the AngelSense nightly, just as you would with a smartphone.

The good news is that you can set the AngelSense to email or schoolbook you when its battery level falls below 20 percent. You can also create daily alerts to remind yourself to charge the device.

Conclusion

AngelSense GPS offers some of the most comprehensive monitoring features we've seen in a GPS trailing device, and it's the one of the few designed specifically for special-needs children and their parents. That said, the monthly service charge for the power-hungry AngelSense Global Positioning System isn't cheap, and you should be witting of the privacy and legals issues surrounding the "Listen-in" feature before you start using it.

Updated on February 28, 2020 to note that this reviewed interlingual rendition of the AngelSense GPS tracker has been discontinued, and that IT has been replaced by a new and redesigned translation.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/401813/angelsense-gps-review.html

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