Family Calendar - Echo Show 15 vs Skylight Calendar, vs "homemade"

[You Need a Thneed]

Hello all, looking at family calendar options, and was wondering if anyone had experience with these. Looking for something with a screen at least in that 15" range, that shows a calendar that updates from everyone's calendar accounts.

Options:

1. Amazon Echo Show 15 - Seems like it could be a good option, but appears to not be available anywhere / discontinued
- Customizable
- Can also be used to watch streaming services

2. Skylight Calendar Skylight Calendar
- Seems to be well liked by fans
- doesn't do much other than be a calendar
- most expensive at $429 - optional $49 per year plus plan

3. Some kind of homemade option using a smart TV/Display and an app like Mango Display
- Requires more setup
- Small smart TVs are pretty cheap, but generally wouldn't be touchscreen
- I played around with a free trial account yesterday, and it seemed to work fairly well - but is there a better app available?
- Mango Display say it is adding touchscreen support this fall - are self contained smart touchscreen displays a thing - for fairly cheap?

Anyone have experience using these options?

[You Need a Thneed]

perhaps this should go into tech talk, but I thought it could go here.

[bc-chris]

$429 + $49/year for a calendar?????? sorry.... but that's insane!

we use a paper calendar
easily updated with a pencil/eraser
very customizable
can be dropped on the floor endless times and never sustains damage
doesn't need to be charged/plugged in
requires virtually no setup, other than entering info (which you would have to do regardless of platform)

mind you, we can NOT watch a streaming service on it

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

$429 + $49/year for a calendar?????? sorry.... but that's insane!

we use a paper calendar
easily updated with a pencil/eraser
very customizable
can be dropped on the floor endless times and never sustains damage
doesn't need to be charged/plugged in
requires virtually no setup, other than entering info (which you would have to do regardless of platform)

mind you, we can NOT watch a streaming service on it

Well, you could watch a streaming service on it - you just need someone who is really fast with the dry erase markers!

[Locke]

Lol! Oh the times they are a changin'!!

I remember way back in the day we had a huge dry-erase board by the main entrance and everyone would fill in their work/school/sports schedule so that we all knew what everyone was up to for the week.

"Oh! Mom's working late today! Okay."

Things like that.

However, if I could go back in time? You can get this type of paint that lets you write on a wall like a chalk-board. That could be pretty cool?

[PepsiFree]

We just have a shared calendar on our phones.

Free.

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

$429 + $49/year for a calendar?????? sorry.... but that's insane!

we use a paper calendar
easily updated with a pencil/eraser
very customizable
can be dropped on the floor endless times and never sustains damage
doesn't need to be charged/plugged in
requires virtually no setup, other than entering info (which you would have to do regardless of platform)

mind you, we can NOT watch a streaming service on it

We have the Skylight Calendar. You don't need to pay the subscription fee (it unlocks some extra features, none of which seem critical to us).

It's still expensive but if you are looking for a digital calendar I'm not sure you save a lot of money by building your own - at a minimum you need a decent monitor and some type of minimal computer that can run a browser. Then add the time required to configure everything and it's not a slam dunk decision.

As far as paper - we tried that but we were struggling to keep it in sync with our online calendars. It's a lot easier to add things on your phone when they come up than to remember to write it on the calendar the next time you are at home and by the calendar. This way my wife and I can both throw our appointments and such into our Google Calendar and it automatically appears on the digital calendar. I wouldn't call it an essential item but it is nice. Ours is wall mounted by the kitchen and stays plugged in so no worries about charging/dropping.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Arsenal14

As far as paper - we tried that but we were struggling to keep it in sync with our online calendars. It's a lot easier to add things on your phone when they come up than to remember to write it on the calendar the next time you are at home and by the calendar. This way my wife and I can both throw our appointments and such into our Google Calendar and it automatically appears on the digital calendar. I wouldn't call it an essential item but it is nice. Ours is wall mounted by the kitchen and stays plugged in so no worries about charging/dropping.

Knowing my family, that would be the problem with trying to do paper as well. If it's not in sync, then it's going to get abandoned. My brother does a whiteboard with his family, and does an excellent job with it, but that's just not me.

And I like to have the physical device, instead of just synced calendars on phones, because that's a physical reminder when everyone is going through the kitchen.

[calf]

We just went through this and landed on:
1) Creating a common gmail account for all shared events, tasks, activities, etc. so we can update anything from our phones or computers while at work or school
2) A relatively cheap android tablet & stand from Amazon. Removed as many icons as possible and put widgets on for the calendar, any to-do lists, grocery lists, etc, at a glance instead of having paper notes/calendars everywhere.

Our first attempt was with a Google Nest Hub display screen - that thing was worse than useless. Do not recommend at all.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

We just have a shared calendar on our phones.

Free.

Yep, done this with significant others in the past and works great. If you use Outlook.com, adding those people to your 'family' will grant those parties access to the 'Family Calendar' where you can book things that everyone can see while keeping your personal calendar separate, or you can just share view-only access to your personal calendar.