My brain lives in my Notes app. And my Notion. And my calendar. And the shared events calendar with my boyfriend. Oh, and my one million notebooks which I happen to lose every month. My life is the definition of organised chaos.
If anyone looked at the way I plan out my weeks, they’d clutch their pearls in shock. It’s nonsensical. So when the opportunity to review Skylight’s new Calendar Max landed in my inbox, I leaped at the chance to get my life together.
The Calendar Max is a 27-inch touch-screen smart calendar that mounts to your wall. It’s designed to coordinate schedules, tasks, reminders, chores, shopping lists and meal planning, housing it all in the one hub. You can also add or remove tasks and events via the Skylight app.
Skylight Calendar Max: Setting It Up
I was so excited when this rocked up at my door in a giant box. After lugging it inside and opening it up, what awaited me was a big ass screen, a bunch of parts and a manual that quite frankly, I didn’t have time to read — it was still the middle of the work day, after all.
So, I did what any girl would do: waited for my boyfriend to come home and gave him the thrilling task of setting it up while I offered words of encouragement and an occasional extra hand.
He said the the device was pretty easy to mount, and it didn’t take him long to do. There’s a bracket that drills into the wall, and it just sits in that. You can choose whether you want it portrait or landscape — we opted for portrait because we wanted it in the entryway of our kitchen. Just make sure you install it near a powerpoint, because it needs to be plugged into the wall.
As for getting the calendar up and running? It was a piece of cake. The Skylight app walks you through it all, from setting up your calendar to syncing it with wherever you house your schedule: Google, Apple, Outlook, Yahoo, and Cozi (or multiple). Watching all our events appear on the screen moments after connecting our calendars was some pretty cool stuff.
Skylight Calendar Max: How It’s Actually Changed the Way I Plan My Week
The calendar has a bunch of different viewing options, so you can display your schedule according to day, week or month, depending on which you prefer. It’s incredibly easy to switch between views, add events, navigate calendars and other sections of the Skylight, too.
Now that it’s been a couple of weeks since we set it up, I can safely say the Skylight Calendar Max has become the command centre of our home. It sits in the kitchen, which means it’s always in view — when we’re making coffee, figuring out what’s for dinner, or doing the Sunday scaries scramble to get our lives in order.
You’d think that I’d love the calendar feature, since it’s literally the main purpose of the smart calendar. But it’s actually the task and chores tab that’s captured my heart.
I’m guilty of writing multiple task lists and subsequently forgetting about all of them, so standing in front of the screen, typing them in and ticking them off as I go actually made sure I completed them. If you’re not in front of the Skylight, you can update the task list in the app, too (like all of the device’s features). It separates your recurring chores from your daily tasks, so it’s kept neat.
The built-in to-do list is also super handy. This is separate from the task-list, and is a place where you can write shopping lists, etc. I pop my weekly grocery list in, and it magically appears on my phone. The best part? If I’m grocery shopping and my partner suddenly remembers something to add to the list, he can type it into the Calendar Max and it instantly appears on my phone through the app.
These are all Skylight Basic features, but there’s an additional optional premium subscription. It costs $124.99 a year, and lets you in on the meal-planning feature, chore rewards, and photo screensavers.
I’ve gotta admit, the meal planning feature is pretty cool. You can save meals you regularly eat to your ‘Recipe Box’, and you can also add in the recipes you’re following from a photo or URL. For families or people who like to meal prep, it makes it a hell of a lot easier to keep track of.
The photo screensavers are also pretty cute. You load a bunch of photos into the app and they play on a slideshow on your device when it’s not in use. As for the chore rewards? I haven’t tried it, but assume it’s good for encouraging kids to pick up the slack around the house.
Skylight Calendar Max: Downsides and Shortcomings
When I was first setting up the calendar, I noticed events I was adding directly to the smart calendar weren’t showing up in my iPhone’s calendar, which led to me getting very confused, frustrated, thinking I’d set my calendar up wrong and factory resetting the device.
Shortly after, I discovered that the Skylight only has a one-way sync to Apple Calendar, meaning it’ll display the events you make on your phone, but not the other way around. This isn’t an issue with other calendars like Google, but something to note for Apple Calendar users.
Another downside to the Skylight Calendar Max is that it ain’t cheap. It retails for $1521.37 on Amazon, which is a big price to pay for organisation. And on top of that, having to pay a subscription to get access to all of the features is steep, I’m not gonna lie. It’s worth it for some, but not everyone.
Skylight Calendar Max: Final Thoughts
I’m not kidding when I say this smart calendar has transformed my organisation habits.
As someone who’s all over the place and has one hundred and one things racing around my mind at once, it’s nice to unload it all on the one device. I use the calendar and task list daily to stay on top of both mine and my partner’s schedules, and it’s nice to not have to constantly ask each other, “Are you home tonight?”
I don’t think the premium features are worth it. Maybe if you’ve got housemates and like to coordinate dinners together, or if you live with family, but for a household of two, it’s a bit extra. And while it’s nice to have a slideshow of photos on a loop in the kitchen, I wouldn’t spend my money on it.
That being said, I do think the Skylight is worth the price. It’s become the most-used device in my home (other than my phone or laptop), and a staple in my routine. Standing in front of my device, organising my week ahead with a morning coffee, is now a Sunday ritual for me. My mind feels less cluttered, my to-dos are in one place, and I feel like I’m actually keeping up with life — instead of constantly scrambling for the latest Notes app dump to pile my plans into.
There’s also a 15-inch version ($529) if you’d rather a smaller, cheaper version that can either sit on your countertop or be wall-mounted like its big sister.
You can shop the Skylight Calendar Max here.
Need to establish more organisation habits? Allow me to introduce you to the ‘purse bowl’.
The post This $1500 Smart Calendar Has Transformed My Shitty Organisation Habits appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
