BIGGERFIVE Kids Smart Watch Review: a simple fitness watch that kids actually use

I bought this BIGGERFIVE kids smart watch for my 8‑year‑old to see if it would get him moving a bit more and stop him constantly asking for my smartwatch. I went for this one because it was fairly cheap, didn’t need a SIM card, and could work without giving him his own phone, which was important for me. We’ve had it on his wrist pretty much every day for a couple of weeks now.

In day‑to‑day use, it’s basically a simple fitness tracker in a kid‑friendly shell: steps, heart rate, sleep tracking, some basic sports modes, and a handful of small puzzle games. No calls, no messages, no camera – which, honestly, I see as a plus at this age. My son mainly uses it to check his steps, change the watch face, and sneak in a game or two.

From a parent’s point of view, the main question is: does it hold up to kid abuse, and is it actually useful, or just another toy that ends up in a drawer after three days? So far, it’s survived school, the playground, a couple of rainy days, and one full dunk in the sink. The screen is still fine, and the strap hasn’t torn or cracked.

It’s not perfect. The tracking is a bit rough, the battery life depends a lot on how your kid uses it, and the app feels basic. But for the price, you get a watch that gets the job done: it tells time, counts steps, gives them a little health dashboard, and doesn’t feel too fragile. If you expect Apple Watch‑level accuracy or fancy features, this isn’t it. If you just want a simple starter watch for a kid between 6 and 11, it’s pretty solid.

Looking at the price bracket this sits in, I’d say the value is good, as long as you know what you’re buying. You get proper step tracking, basic heart rate and sleep monitoring, a color touchscreen, some mini games, and an app with parental controls. For a kid aged 5–10 who wants "a watch like mum/dad" but doesn’t need calls or messages, it hits a nice middle ground between a cheap toy watch and an overpriced full smartwatch.

Where it really makes sense is if you:

• Don’t want to give your kid a phone yet, but want some basic fitness tracking
• Like the idea of locking games during school via the app
• Want something waterproof enough for daily life, not something you have to baby
• Are okay with recharging it every 1–3 days

Where the value is less clear is if you compare it to slightly more expensive kids watches that add calls, GPS tracking, or 4G. If you specifically want a safety watch to track your child’s location or let them call you, this isn’t it – you’d need to spend more on a different category of device. Also, if you’re picky about very accurate heart rate or sleep data, you’ll probably find this too basic and a bit rough around the edges.

For my use – casual activity tracking, getting my son more interested in movement, and giving him a small tech gadget he can manage himself – I think it’s good value for money. It’s not the cheapest thing on the market, but compared to the no‑name junk I’ve seen that breaks in a month, I’d rather pay a bit more and get something that actually works and survives school life.

Design‑wise, it looks like a small, plastic version of an adult smartwatch. The 1.8" rectangular screen is big enough for kids to tap icons without missing them every time, which matters if your child has clumsy fingers. The bezels are a bit thick, so don’t expect a fancy edge‑to‑edge display, but my son didn’t care at all – he just liked that it was "big and bright". The blue color is pretty neutral and works for both boys and girls; it’s a simple matte blue, not flashy.

The watch is light (around 40 g), so it doesn’t feel like a brick on a small wrist. My son forgot he was wearing it after the first day, which is a good sign. The buckle is a standard tang buckle, nothing fancy, but it holds well. He’s yanked it off a few times in a hurry and I haven’t seen any tearing around the holes yet. The strap has enough holes to fit both his skinny wrist and, when I tried it for fun, my adult wrist on the last holes, so it should cover the 5–16 age range they claim.

The interface design is pretty straightforward: bright icons, simple menus, and big touch targets. My kid figured out how to change the watch face and start a sports mode without me explaining much. There’s no crown or side wheel – it’s all touchscreen, with one side button mainly for waking the screen and going back. Response is okay, not super fast, but not painful either. Sometimes you need a second tap if the finger is a bit wet or dirty, which happens a lot with kids.

From a looks point of view, it’s clearly a kids’ gadget, not something you’d wear to a formal event, but that’s fine. It’s plastic, slightly chunky, but that also means it doesn’t feel fragile. Compared to cheaper no‑name kids watches I’ve seen, this one looks a bit more modern and less like a toy from a pound shop. It’s not stylish, but it’s practical and readable, which is what I care about for a school‑age kid.

Battery is one of those points where the reality is a bit different from the optimistic expectations. The watch has a 150 mAh battery, which isn’t huge. With my 8‑year‑old using it fairly actively – checking the screen a lot, playing games, and running around with sports modes on – we get about 1.5 to 2 days before it really needs a charge. If he goes heavy on the games and keeps tapping the screen all the time, it can drop closer to a single day, which matches one of the Amazon reviews.

On a quieter schedule, like school days where we’ve locked the games and he mostly just checks the time and steps, it lasts closer to 3 days. So the realistic range, in my view, is 1–3 days, not a full week. The brand doesn’t scream insane battery life, so I wasn’t shocked, but if you were hoping to charge it once a week, that’s not happening unless your kid barely touches it.

Charging is via a small USB cable with a magnetic connector. It snaps on reasonably well, but you do need the watch to sit still on a flat surface or the magnet can disconnect if bumped. From around 15% to full, it took roughly 1.5–2 hours on a normal USB charger. That’s okay – you can easily top it up during homework or TV time. There’s no big heat while charging, and so far the battery percentage seems to drop in a predictable way, no weird sudden drops.

For a kid’s watch at this price, I’d call the battery life acceptable but not impressive. It’s fine if you’re okay with plugging it in every other night or so, like a phone. If your kid forgets to charge things all the time, you’ll be the one reminding them. Personally, I would have liked a slightly bigger battery, but given the size and price, I can live with it.

Comfort was a big point for me, because if the watch annoys the kid, it ends up in a drawer. My son wears it basically from breakfast until bedtime, and he hasn’t complained about rubbing or itching, which is already a good sign. The silicone strap is soft and flexible, not one of those stiff rubber straps that dig into the skin. After a couple of days, it molded a bit to his wrist shape and sits more naturally.

He did say at first that it felt "big" compared to his old basic digital watch, but after day two he stopped mentioning it. The weight is low enough that it doesn’t drag his wrist down. The underside sensor area is slightly raised, but not sharp. I checked his skin a few times after sports and there were no red marks or irritation. He has fairly sensitive skin, so that’s something I watch for. Of course, if the strap is too tight and he sweats a lot, you get the usual sweat marks, but nothing unusual for silicone.

During sleep, I was a bit skeptical he would keep it on. First night, he took it off by himself around midnight. Second and third nights, he forgot about it and kept it on. Now he usually sleeps with it without complaining. The watch doesn’t feel bulky against the pillow, and it doesn’t have sharp edges that catch on bedsheets. If your kid hates anything on their wrist at night, that won’t magically change, but the watch itself isn’t especially annoying.

Only minor downside: in hot weather, the strap can feel sticky if he sweats a lot, and he tends to adjust it more often. Also, if you fasten it too tight to make the heart rate sensor more accurate, it can leave a slight imprint after a full day. Loosening it by one hole fixed that for us, with only a small trade‑off in heart rate accuracy (which he doesn’t really care about). Overall, for daily kid use – school, playground, home – comfort is pretty solid.

Durability was one of my main concerns because kids aren’t gentle with electronics. So far, this BIGGERFIVE watch is holding up better than I expected. The IP68 waterproof rating seems legit: my son washed his hands with it on several times, got caught in the rain, and once dunked his wrist fully in the sink while messing around. No fog under the screen, no weird behavior afterwards. I haven’t tried full swimming sessions yet, but for splashes and brief submersion, it’s been fine.

The plastic case and screen have picked up some very light hairline scratches after a couple of weeks, but you have to tilt it in the light to really see them. There’s no deep gouge or crack despite a few bumps against desks and a fall from a kitchen counter onto tile. It’s not built like a tank, but it’s tough enough for normal kid chaos. If your child is extremely rough or plays contact sports, I’d still tell them to take it off for those activities.

The silicone strap feels solid. The holes haven’t stretched out yet, and the buckle pin is still straight. With some cheap kids watches, the strap starts tearing near the buckle after a month; this one doesn’t show that so far. The only thing I could see long‑term is the strap collecting dirt and sweat if you never wash it, but a quick rinse under water and a wipe solves that.

Overall, in terms of build and durability, I’d say it’s pretty solid for the price range. It doesn’t feel premium, but it also doesn’t feel like it will fall apart in two weeks. If you treat it as a normal daily kid gadget – not construction‑site gear – it should easily last at least a school year, probably more. I’d maybe add a cheap screen protector if you know your kid is clumsy, but it’s not mandatory.

Let’s be clear: this is not a sports watch for serious training. It’s a kid fitness toy with some tracking, and that’s how it performs. For steps, it’s reasonably close to my own smartwatch. On a day when we walked together, my watch showed around 9,800 steps and his showed roughly 10,400. So it’s a bit generous, but for a child who just wants to hit a target, that’s fine. It does count some arm movements as steps (like most cheap trackers), so if your kid waves their arms a lot, the step count climbs.

Heart rate is hit‑and‑miss. At rest, it’s usually in a believable range and close to what my watch shows when I check his pulse. During sports or when he’s jumping around, it sometimes lags or shows numbers that jump up and down quickly. For a kid, it’s more of a curiosity than a medical tool, so I’m okay with that. If you need precise health data for medical reasons, this is not the device to trust.

The sports modes are mostly the same thing with different labels. Whether he selects "walking" or "football", the watch records time, estimated calories, and steps. There’s no GPS on the watch itself, so distance is estimated from steps and stride length. The 80 sports modes in the specs feel like overkill; 95% of kids will use 2–3 of them at most. Still, my son likes scrolling through them and pretending he’s choosing a "pro" mode for his activities.

The mini games are simple, Tetris‑style or reaction puzzles. They’re not addictive masterpieces, but they keep him busy for a few minutes in the car. The nice part is that you can lock them in the app during school hours. I tested that and it works – the game icons disappear or won’t launch. Overall performance: the watch is responsive enough, tracking is "good enough" for a child, and nothing has crashed or frozen so far. Just don’t expect adult‑level accuracy or advanced metrics.

On paper, the BIGGERFIVE kids watch packs a fair amount for the price. You get a 1.8" color touchscreen, step counter, heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, 80 sports modes (in theory), IP68 waterproofing, some mini games, and an app if you want to dig deeper. There’s no SIM, so no calls or GPS tracking on its own – GPS is only via the phone for basic route stuff. For me, that keeps it in the "fitness gadget" category rather than a full communication device, which is fine for younger kids.

In practice, my son only uses a small part of all these features. The main things that actually get used are:

• Time and date (obviously)
• Steps and calories (mostly as a daily step challenge)
• Heart rate now and then, because he finds the number fun
• Sleep tracking, which he checks in the morning
• 2–3 of the puzzle games

The app (on my Android phone) lets you see more detailed stats, control notifications, and, most importantly, lock the games during school hours. That part works, but the app interface looks a bit dated and sometimes takes a few seconds to sync. It’s not buggy to the point of being unusable, just not super polished. The nice part is that the watch still works fine without the app – you only lose the detailed graphs and some settings.

Overall, the presentation is simple: it’s a kid’s fitness watch with a few extras, not a full smartwatch like adults use. If you go in with that expectation, it feels like decent value. If you expect it to replace a proper Garmin or Apple Watch, you’ll be disappointed. It’s clearly built for basic tracking and a bit of fun, and on that front, it does the job.