ionKids child locator--anybody use one?

[wvdislover]

I have a DD10 who has AS and tends to wander. She has NO sense of danger, whatsoever. We have been trying to find some sort of GPS locator that we could pin on her or something. Tonight, I found a website for an ionKids child locator. It consists of a bracelet that the child wears that can be taken off only with a key, and a remote for mom or dad to keep. Has anyone else ever used one of these? Will it help me find my DD only with "beeps" or will it tell me visually which direction to go to find her (I'm concerned neither of us will hear "beeps" at WDW). She has a cell phone that we got her for our last trip, but in loud places, she doesn't hear or feel it ring, which doesn't help us out much. Thanks!

 

[4rkdz]

I used the ionkids bracelet and receiver 2 years ago at WDW for our autistic son who also runs away and has no fear. In fact all 3 of our kids wore the bracelets (5,3,3 at the time). We are returning later this month and they will be wearing them again. It works as advertised. You set the alarm distance and if the child exceeds the distance both the wristband and receiver vibrate and buzz. When you open the receiver it points to the direction of the missing child. The problem that I have with it is that the pointer is not exact enough. The receiver face is divided into about 8 or so pieces of the pie and the pointer points to 1 or 2 sections. In other words it will point you in better than the general direction but I wish it was more exact. It's a tough call because of the expense but I am not aware of another product like it.
Feel free to email any more questions.

 

[wvdislover]

Thank you so much for your reply. You answered my questions well. We're not sure if we want to make the investment or not, but it seems to be exactly what we've been looking for. As I said in my post, the cell phone doesn't always work, since you can't always hear it ring or feel it vibrate. We would use the 2 in conjunction with each other. I wish the ionKids was waterproof, though. I lost my dd not once, but twice, last year at Blizzard Beach for about 20 minutes each time! And she didn't even realize she was lost!
BTW, welcome to the Dis! Everyone here is really nice and helpful. We have a lot of fun together.

 

[tacomaranch]

We recently purchased one for our 4 yr old autistic son. I was hoping for a bit better locater as we are use to our avalanche gear which will pin point and show the depth of the revcing unit. But for what it is it seems to work ok. We have played games with our son so he knows to come back when he beeps and vibrates. We have not used it at Disney or out in a busy area yet.

I truly wish some avalanche gear company would come with a device for our children. I gladly pay the price for an avalanche peeps because they are so good at locating. Right now they are about the size of two fists put together and not too heavy but for a child it could be hard. I just keep wishing and praying.

Good luck, April

 

[wvdislover]

OK, I NEED to get DH to look at this online with me. I lost DD10 in the mall twice in the mall today. It's scary sometimes, but then again, I'm so used to it, it doesn't scare me as much as it probably should. It's just a part of our lives. It's more frustrating to me. I tell her to stay with me, and then 2 minutes later, she's gone again. My DH calls her Houdini, b/c she can disappear so fast.