Get Kids Moving (GeoPalz Review and Giveaway)

*Contest closed.  Winner were chosen randomly from their comments and pictures received.  Congratulations to Shawn (comment),  ChemoMom (comment), and Bec (picture)!  Please email me to claim your prize! mountainmamatales (at) gmail (dot) com*

**Check back in April for another chance to win from GeoPalz!**

It is no secret that kids are moving much less these days.  With the onset of video games, T.V., electronics, and plain laziness, obesity is at an all-time high.  Part of the goal of Tales of a Mountain Mama is to inspire families to get their kids outside and moving much more.  It is a mission we obviously believe in whole-heartedly and strive to make one of the top priorities of our own family.

Back in the fall, I was given a chance to test out a GeoPalz tracker that I won from the Outdoor Blogger Network.  It has taken me a while (which is good news because that just means a lot of testing to report back to you) but here is what we think of the company, the pedometer, the mission and the prizes.

About GeoPalz:
GeoPalz is a company aimed at getting kids moving through fun pedometers and prizes they can earn by basically being active.  The GeoPalz are $25 each, but you can also use your own pedometers if you already have one.  That being said, the GeoPalz have quite a few neat features (explanations below) that make me believe they are worth buying them from the site.  Kids (and parents) track their steps on the GeoPalz site (J likes tracking his and listening to the sound effects of lots of steps taken and cheering!)  You earn points that you can trade in for prizes.  The prizes range from frisbees to balls to gift certificates and you just pay the shipping to have them sent to you.  They also just started a program where parents can add their own prize to your child's "prize store" through Amazon.com and determine how many steps it will be worth.  These prizes are paid for by parents (they are NOT free) but it is a great way for kids to have to earn something they really have their eyes on.  Finally, there are milestones completely with printable certificates (and geo-tags you can collect - you just pay shipping on them.)

The Trackers...
...come in a bunch of different designs with the idea being that if the wearer likes the design, they will be more inclined to wear it.  There are definitely a variety ranging from cutesy to sports to nature-themed.

J has the "Tree of Life" tracker.

The stats:
- 98% accurate (we agree.)
- Tri-Axis Accelerometer
- Calibration (which is great for little steps like J's!)
- 21 Days of storage (no need to worry if you miss reporting a day.) You can check the steps for each day and it will flash the date at the same time.
- MVPA - intense play tracking


For Entire Families:
The whole family can participate and parents can track steps, weight, height, calories burned and consumed for everyone.  Graphs make it handy to easily see what those stats mean.  Third party recommended devices can be used (FitBit, Nike, Garmin, Polar, WiThings, DailyBurn and MapMyFitness.)  

What We Love:
- It truly does inspire kids to get moving, even someone as young as J (almost 3 years.)  They say the minimum age is 5, but apparently that is just for insurance reasons and I think ANY age is great!
- The GeoPalz trackers have a cover on them so they are not being reset accidently.  As a family, we have had a lot of pedometers and this is the only one so far J hasn't been able to reset just by pushing a bunch of buttons.
- Kids can earn prizes on the site or their own prize determined by their parents and themselves.
- The customer service is amazing - they truly want families to be able to be successful!
- Parents get weekly emails noting their child's progress.
- There is a "No Cheat" system in place (see explanation below.)

What We Aren't So Crazy About:
- We did have an issue with our original tracker and had to have it replaced (it kept resetting on its own which I guess has been a problem in just a few of their trackers.)  However, there is a guarantee on them so it was replaced quickly and easily.
- J attends a Toddler Gym class where there is a Bounce House.  I wanted to see how the tracker was doing as he jumped and noticed that if he wasn't actually putting the energy into moving (because he was getting bounced by other kids) it was still tracking that movement as his "steps".  I honestly don't see any way around that happening, but thought it was note-worthy.
- Sometimes you just get sick of wearing a tracker (or Mom making you wear a tracker.)  Like anything, it takes some time to get used to doing it, and it is like any exercise regimen or diet and requires discipline (hence the rewards!)
- The actual GeoPalz prizes are eh (at least on the lower end of the point scale.)  Because we wanted to trade in his points and get a prize sooner than later (for the sake of the review!) J chose the Recycled Bike Plate (which is the "cheapest" prize you can get).  Let's just say he was super excited to get the mail, not so psyched on the prize.  I would love to see things like stickers or bouncy balls or small things like that which would be fine for toddlers too.  He's working towards the Flash Ball now.

No Cheating!
I don't really know what this says about me, but I was immediately skeptical of kids cheating to win prizes.  GeoPalz apparently was thinking, though, and have it covered. First of all, if kids enter more than 16,000 steps a day, parents get an email letting them know (so they can double check.)  Even better, kids can log-in the site and instead of entering a numerical step rating for the day, you can set the pedometer so they enter an encoded string of 5 characters that represent your steps.  It is much harder to cheat that way!

Let's Get YOUR Family Moving!
GeoPalz has very generously offered to give 3 of our readers their own GeoPal (winner's choice) to put to use.  Please note that this isn't just for kids!  All ages need to be moving and all ages can win!


For your chance to win <-- This has been revised to be considerate for people not willing to have their kids' photos on the internet:


1.  Required: Comment on this blog post about what your favorite way for you/your kids/your family to be active.
2.  For an extra entry: Email me at mountainmamatales@gmail.com a photo of you/your kids/your family being active.  I will use these photos for a post just about being active, so you have to be ok with your face showing up on the blog (though no names will be used)!  Ideas: Playing in the snow, biking, hiking, making forts outside, playing soccer, playing basketball, etc.
3. On the honor system: Promise me if you win, you will use it! :) 


Three winners will be chosen randomly after February 23rd and emailed to claim their prize.  Open to US and Canada.


We won our GeoPalz pedomenter on the Outdoor Blogger Network.  However, all opinions expressed here are completely and honestly our own (as always!)