Garmin Bounce 2 review: a pricey but clever smartwatch for younger kids

Of the many Garmin launches this year, I thought the brand would spare me from having to review the child-specific Bounce 2 – I was wrong. We requested one for the T3 Magazine Christmas photoshoot, and Garmin asked, since the watch was already with us, whether I could consider testing it with my son.

I can’t say no to Garmin, so once the photoshoot was done, I handed the Bounce 2 over to my 12-year-old for testing. A few weeks later, I can confirm that in 2025, the watch feels better suited to much younger kids, due to its limitations in health and fitness tracking.

There is also the price, both the hardware and the subscription, the latter of which allows you to communicate with your child via the watch. The Bounce 2 is a lot more expensive than your average fitness tracker and can’t track heart rate, sleep, or other health metrics – something that might deter parents with older children.

My son’s verdict? “It felt fancy,” he said, grinning – before immediately pointing out that “the battery died quicker than other watches.”

Garmin Bounce 2 review

Price and availability

The Garmin Bounce 2 is available now in several regions, priced at around £259 in the UK and $299.99 in the US. In Europe, it retails for approximately €299, while Australian buyers can expect to pay about AU$479. The smartwatch comes in multiple colour options, including Slate Grey, Light Purple, and Aqua.

To access its full connectivity features, including two-way calling, voice messaging, and live location tracking, an LTE subscription plan is required, billed separately from the device purchase. It costs $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$17 per month or $99 / £99 / AU$170 per year.

Design and build quality

The Garmin Bounce 2 is a thoughtfully engineered kids’ smartwatch that strikes a balance between durability, comfort, and visual appeal. It’s compact, measuring 43 × 43 × 12.4 mm, and weighs just 40.4 g with the strap, making it light enough for all-day wear without feeling cumbersome on smaller wrists.

The Bounce 2 features a 1.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 390 × 390 pixels, which is plenty resolute for a kids' smartwatch. The screen delivers sharp graphics, vibrant colours, and excellent visibility indoors or outdoors, while the responsive touch interface feels natural even for younger users.

The display is protected by chemically strengthened glass, like most beginner Garmin watches, adding a layer of scratch resistance that stands up well to everyday knocks and scrapes.

The watch body and bezel are made from fibre-reinforced polymer, a lightweight but durable material that resists drops and rough handling. The strap is made from soft, flexible silicone, chosen for its comfort, breathability, and easy cleaning. It fits wrist sizes from roughly 115 mm to 180 mm.

While the Bounce 2 relies mainly on its touchscreen, it also includes physical side buttons that make navigation simple for kids, particularly when their hands are wet or gloved. The 5 ATM water resistance means it can handle splashes, showers, and pool sessions without worry.

Features

The Garmin Bounce 2 introduces (an optional, paid) LTE connectivity for two-way calling and voice messaging, letting kids contact approved family members directly from their wrist without a smartphone. As a parent, you can reply, send text messages, and manage contacts through the Garmin Jr. app.

If you, like me, have an older child who prefers to see his stats on his phone, you can set up the Garmin Jr. app on his phone and enable ‘Kid Mode’ so he can only see certain sections of the app. My son enjoyed the challenges: “It motivates you,” he said. “It’s like a digital pet – it’s sad when you don’t do what it wants you to do.”

Children can see their challenges, and, better still, parents can join them, too, which is an excellent way to motivate families to collectively up their fitness game. There are three options: steps, active minutes and daily goal (completion).

Other parental control features include live location tracking, geo-fencing, and boundary alerts, which notify parents when their child leaves a predefined area. There’s also an Assistance feature that lets a child quickly share their real-time location with designated contacts in an emergency.

Activity tracking includes running, cycling, and swimming. Step counting, my son noticed, was “pretty accurate,” and he appreciated that the watch “counted individual steps, not in clumps like some others.”

The Bounce 2 doesn’t have a heart rate sensor, which is a bit of a shame, though with children, it might be harder to determine the correct heart rate. That said, I’m sure AI could help us with this, and Garmin, like most wearable companies, is hot on utilising machine learning algorithms as widely as possible.

Other highlights include music playback via paired headphones and a built-in speaker for messages. Interestingly, only Amazon Music is supported for offline listening, even though adult Garmin watches support other music providers, including Spotify and Deezer.

Games are included, too, a small but surprisingly fun addition. “They’re decent,” he said. “You wouldn’t expect amazing games on a watch, but they’re as good as they can be.”

The Bounce 2 is water resistant to 5 ATM and can be worn in the pool.

Battery life and charging

Battery life is rated at up to two days with typical use. My son’s experience echoed this, although he found it “died a lot quicker than other watches.” In fairness, with LTE messaging and GPS always running, that’s not unexpected.

One reason for the reduced battery life could be that the GPS is always on to help you locate the child. In that regard, a 48-hour GPS battery life is commendable, even though there is no option to turn it off (as far as I know).

Verdict

The Garmin Bounce 2 is perfect for parents who like to know where their younger children are. Like most Garmin watches, it’s not cheap, and the ongoing LTE subscription adds to the cost. However, it effectively replaces the need for a smartphone, giving kids a safe, limited way to stay connected.

Younger children will love the colourful design and games, while parents will appreciate the excellent controls and peace of mind. Older kids, though, may quickly outgrow its limited feature set. As my son put it, “It felt fancy,” but once the novelty wears off, the Bounce 2’s simplicity might start to show.

I would have loved to see a heart rate sensor on the watch, even something like the Oura Ring 4's illness-detection feature, given how much Garmin is charging for it. Due to the lack of an HR sensor, I’d recommend picking a decent fitness tracker, such as Amazfit Bip 6 and Moto Watch Fit, for teenagers.