Desk of Contents
The Skylight Calendar was one of many hottest items of the 12 months, and for good cause. Should you’re decided to remain extra organized in 2025, the Skylight Calendar is a sensible (and enjoyable) option to hold observe of your calendar, to-do checklist, grocery checklist, and chores.
Sure, you can get an Echo Show device, however if you happen to’re not an Amazon Echo family, you won’t want all of the options that include an Echo Present. Consider the Skylight Calendar because the Kindle of digital dwelling shows: It offers you every little thing you want, and nothing additional. There is no entry to browsers, no extra apps, and no smart home management. It is only a simple digital calendar that syncs up together with your present Google, iCloud, Microsoft, Yahoo, or Cozi calendars, and offers you organizational instruments to remain on prime of all of your to-do lists.
I juggle fairly just a few actions on a weekly foundation, and it may be tough managing a busy schedule. I am a journalist and editor, a dog trainer, and I work at a kennel in the future per week. On prime of hanging out with mates and managing my day-to-day family chores, I used to be beginning to overlook appointments and usually felt disorganized. My accomplice was continuously asking me, “What do you’ve gotten happening immediately?” to which I normally responded with, “I am unsure.” As soon as I received the Skylight calendar, my life immediately felt extra organized.
I can see every little thing on my schedule at a look.
Credit score: Jae Thomas / Mashable
Easy setup
It took about 20 minutes to get the Skylight Calendar out of the field, mounted on the wall, and synced to my Google Calendar. The check unit I attempted is the huge 27-inch Calendar Max, which is extra of a small TV than a tablet. Observe that the Max size was on backorder on the time of writing, and is predicted to reach on the finish of January.
The opposite sizes of the Skylight Calendar may be wall-mounted or used on prime of a desk or counter with a stand, however the Max measurement must be wall-mounted. It comes with a helpful paper mounting information to be sure to drill the holes in the proper spots, and the mounting bracket is a light-weight metallic piece, so it solely requires one particular person to put in. The one device required for set up is a drill — the calendar comes with every little thing else you want (together with a stage constructed into the mounting bracket).
As soon as the mounting bracket is drilled into the wall, you merely slide the display screen onto it, then you may start the precise calendar setup. Of the calendars I synced with Skylight, Google Calendars was the simplest. Simply obtain the Skylight app, click on on sync a brand new calendar, then choose Google, and the app will immediate you to log into the Gmail account related to the calendar you wish to sync. You possibly can then choose which particular calendars you wish to sync to the skylight, and it will load all of your present occasions to the gadget.
To sync an iCloud calendar, you should discover the iCloud calendar’s URL and paste it into the Skylight app. I discovered syncing Skylight to iCloud to be extra finicky than Google, and it took me just a few tries to get it to sync up correctly.
The one qualm I’ve concerning the setup is that the plastic body that got here with the calendar did not fairly match on the display screen. One of many items was too lengthy to suit correctly across the display screen. The unit appears to be like simply nearly as good with out the body although, so I simply took it off.
The ill-fitting body was a little bit of an eyesore, so I simply took it off.
Credit score: Jae Thomas / Mashable
The Skylight Calendar makes it simple for households to remain organized
Should you’re sharing a car with a accomplice, or have to hold observe of who’s choosing up the youngsters or operating the canine to the groomer, the Skylight Calendar will hold every little thing organized (and visual) to all members of your family.
You possibly can sync a number of calendars and assign colours to every particular person, so you realize who must be the place, and when. I like the to-do lists and chores lists you may assign to every member of the family, and the rewards characteristic is nice for youths. The extra they full their chores, the extra stars they earn. You set what number of stars equal a reward, and you’ll set totally different rewards for various quantities of stars.
You may also make grocery lists and handle meal plans with the Skylight calendar, although the meal planning operate requires a Skylight Plus subscription.
The chore lists allow you to assign gadgets to your family.
Credit score: Jae Thomas / Mashable
How a lot is the Skylight Calendar?
The Skylight Calendar is available in three totally different sizes and worth factors: The 10-inch calendar is $159.99, the 15-inch calendar is $299.99, and the 27-inch Calendar Max is $599.99 from Skylight’s web site. The 15-inch calendar can be obtainable at Amazon, nevertheless it’s dearer than shopping for immediately from Skylight — $319.99 in comparison with Skylight’s $299.99. Skylight additionally steadily runs small reductions on its calendars, and it can save you wherever from a further $10 to $30 by shopping for it immediately from Skylight.
Although the large show on the Calendar Max is visually interesting and makes it simple to see from far-off, the dimensions (and worth) is probably going overkill for many households. It appears like it might be extra suited in a small business or an workplace due to the dimensions. The smaller sizes of the Skylight Calendar really feel extra sensible and are a bit simpler on the funds than the Calendar Max.
If you wish to use the picture screensaver characteristic (principally, utilizing your calendar as a Skylight digital photo frame), you may have to buy a subscription. The picture screensaver characteristic cycles via uploaded pictures when the calendar is not getting used, and your loved ones and mates can ship pictures to the Calendar so you may keep linked. That is in all probability a very powerful characteristic that is lacking with out buying the subscription. With out it, you may additionally miss out on entry to Meal Planning and Magic Import (which provides calendar occasions from uploaded PDFs). These options are good however do not feel completely vital. With that being stated, the subscription is barely $39 per 12 months, so if you wish to use the picture screensaver operate, it is definitely worth the added value.
Is the Skylight Calendar value it?
The picture screensaver characteristic is a good way to remain linked with household and revisit reminiscences.
Credit score: Jae Thomas / Mashable
Sure, you can simply share your Google calendar with everybody in your family free of charge, however having a hub to take a look at and add/change occasions, conferences, appointments, and to-do lists makes me extra prone to keep organized. I discover myself getting little hits of dopamine after I verify issues off my to-do lists, and it is simpler for me and my accomplice to remain in sync on the place we’ll each be through the week. I really want I had this after we had been sharing a automotive — it might have saved us many arguments and miscommunications about scheduling.
When you have a giant household or plenty of appointments to maintain observe of, the Skylight Calendar is a user-friendly gadget that encourages you to remain within the learn about what is going on on in your loved ones/family’s life. I feel the smaller choices are definitely worth the worth, even when only for the quantity of stress it is taken off my shoulders round scheduling.
