Sensible photograph body firm Skylight is launching a brand new model of its Skylight Calendar, a sensible household calendar. The Skylight Cal Max works identically to the present mannequin however has a sleeker, up to date design plus a whopping 27-inch display screen. It’s out there for preorder at this time beginning at $599 and can ship in June, based on the corporate.
The Cal Max virtually doubles the dimensions of the prevailing 15-inch Skylight Calendar, which is devoted to displaying a number of calendars in a well-recognized structure and syncing with on-line providers to maintain every thing updated. An enhanced 27-inch touchscreen show with a better decision (2560 x 1440 QHD in comparison with 1920 x 1080 HD), gives more room and higher high quality for simply seeing everybody’s schedules at a look.
A brand new etched anti-glare display screen and interchangeable frames are designed to assist the machine slot in higher with your private home decor. Choices will embody a traditional white or black body and a shadow field body in aluminum and charcoal. The frames might be swapped out if you wish to change issues up and can go on sale in June when the machine ships. The shadow field possibility provides $129 to the price of the calendar.
I’ve been testing the present 15-inch model of the Skylight Calendar — which has the identical options, only a smaller, boxier design and no anti-glare display screen — and have to this point discovered it to be one of the best answer I’ve examined for having one place everybody within the family can see and handle all of the schedules.
Through the years, I’ve tried quite a lot of options to this drawback, together with large dry-erase wall calendars, digital calendars constructed into my fridge, good audio system studying out my youngsters’ schedules for the day, and setting notifications on their smartphones for occasions. However for numerous causes (an excessive amount of repairs, lack of help for one calendar service or one other, being too straightforward to disregard), none of those have labored reliably.
Nevertheless, since I’ve propped the Skylight Calendar on my breakfast counter in full view of the household as they eat every morning, we’ve had considerably extra success retaining our schedules straight. Whereas good shows can present your calendar, the trick with Skylight that works for us is that it simply exhibits the calendar — on a regular basis.
This isn’t a multipurpose good show, like an Echo Present or Nest Hub, which suggests nobody can watch Teen Titans Go! on it as an alternative of reviewing their day’s occasions. It’s a devoted machine on your calendar. There are just a few different associated options — chore charts, meal planning, and to-do lists — however the calendar is the principle occasion. You may also have a photograph screensaver in the event you like, though that requires a $39 annual subscription after the primary yr).
Past visibility, one other function I like about Skylight Calendar is that you may edit and add occasions proper on the machine’s touchscreen. You may also scroll by means of the day and week and see everybody’s calendars concurrently. The interface appears loads just like the Google Calendar net interface and equally permits for colour coding for various calendars.
Skylight works with most main providers — I’ve efficiently imported Google, Apple, and Outlook calendars into it (Yahoo and Cozi are additionally supported) — or you may create your individual calendars utilizing its service and likewise handle them on Skylight’s smartphone app.
Whereas the 15-inch, $300 mannequin I’ve been testing can present 5 to seven days and about an eight-hour day in time slots, I can see the bigger model being useful for larger households or these nonetheless in that stage of a number of after-school actions.
The sleeker look appeals to me, too; I wouldn’t wish to wall mount the mannequin I’m testing. It’s too cumbersome, and the display screen might be distracting (even with auto-brightness enabled). The 27-inch could be too massive for my kitchen counter. You may solely wall mount it anyway, however mounted vertically you’d be capable of see the entire day without delay, and the anti-glare display screen might make for a greater photograph body when not in use.
At $599, Cal Max is costly, and as there’s a 10-inch model for $159.99 and the 15-inch is $299.99 with the identical performance, you’re paying much more for simply the larger display screen and nicer look. Nevertheless, Skylight says that the upgraded {hardware} will allow new software program options coming later this yr. That worries me a bit. Primarily based on my time with the unique machine, its simplicity is its greatest function — an excessive amount of extra performance, and it might lose that glorious focus.
The Skylight Cal Max is on the market to preorder now for $599 or $629 for the shadow field body possibility. It can start transport to clients in June.