GoTenna works by pairing to a smartphone via Bluetooth, using the accompanying iOS/Android app. The other person, who also has a goTenna (because luckily they’re sold in pairs) can then get messages from you. It has a decent range, from half a mile to 25 miles. After playing with a demo version — which was basically just tooling around with it for a bit in a relatively hilly/wooded residential area devoid of tall buildings — it got a range of about 1.25 miles. There’s a likely scenario where you spend just as much time trying to get a clear goTenna signal as you do searching for more bars on your phone. GoTenna also comes with free downloadable maps and the ability to transmit/receive GPS locations. So even if your kids aren’t responding to your frantic texts, you know where they are. What this device is not really suited for is LoJacking your kid every day. The battery life is only 24 hours on standby, and requires a nightly charge. If the off chance they’re in homeroom during the zombie apocalypse, you’d be better off sending them with a crossbow. Buy Now $200 Want tips, tricks, and advice that you’ll actually use? Click here to sign up for our email.
