I read that he was looking at an 820 and asking questions about it, not planning on buying one.

I think we've done this song and dance about cell phone battery life on another thread. For what he is wanting to accomplish, the free RoadID cell phone app will do him just fine. It certainly is a lot more cost effective than purchasing a Garmin to do the exact same thing. He still needs the cell phone connected to the Garmin throughout the ride for the live tracking to work. Depending on how often Garmin Connect sends out an email, that could also drain a cell phone battery.

According to his itinerary and depending on where he is going to start along the Treasure Coast, the most he will ride will be around 170 miles (West Palm Beach to St. Cloud). I do an annual, 225 mile, 3 day ride from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico and my cell phone is my bike computer. I have an HRM, a speed/cadence sensor and a RFLKT attached to my phone and still send tracking data. And I do the ride each day (60, 85, 80 miles) without charging my phone until I get ready for bed. And guess what? At the end of each day's ride, I still have enough battery life to call my wife and tell her I'm OK, before charging the phone. If the OP is going to do this ride over more than a day, battery life with one app running and no attached devices is a moot point unless he forgets to charge his phone at night.

You are not at greater risk than if you were traveling by car.

i have been following this thread and wanted to say i downloaded the roadid app, so far works well for me, i tested it the other night showed my wife the app and the email breadcrumb message loaded the roadid from the text to the iPad so she could watch my progress, well i get home and asked if she looked at it to see if it works and she says oh i took a nap and forgot to look at it. so much for safe riding alone. guess that's why they allow more than one contact on the app. but it does seem to work ok. i would like to upgrade to starva premium but i'm a bit cash strapped at the moment and a thats a luxury i need to wait on.

RoadID sounds like it functions the same way as Strava's Beacon. If you do upgrade to the premium, Beacon becomes available to you and the other party doesn't need Strava on their phone, or device. It just sends them a text, or email I believe, with a link, when clicked on, opens up a map.

Hmm, just had my wife show me what she sees when I ride. Beacon seems pretty worthless so far. While riding my wife sees me moving, but no map background. What good is that?? We'll stick with Life360 for now. Anyone else trying Strava's Beacon? Are we doing something wrong?

I've been reading all of your posts. Thanks folks, and keep them coming.

Delorme Inreach will provide tracking, and has the additional advantage that it uses Iridium satellite technology, so functions in areas that do not have cellular coverage. People can ping your device and get exact location overlaid on a map. It also provides 2-way text messaging so that you can send/receive messages wherever you are.

As mentioned, Road ID has a simple to use app for iPhone and Android. The service is free. The tracking is good. It has an optional stationary alert -- if it's on, it sends a warning if you haven't moved for X minutes. And it eliminates the complications of sending data from the Garmin to the phone to the friends and family. I have Garmin, I use Garmin, I like Garmin, but some people have trouble with reliable communications between the Garmin and the phone.

Get a battery case for the phone -- you want that for a long ride anyway.

(And thanks to Road ID for this nice service. I have a Road ID as well.)