Well, it looks like from what I’m reading my Garmin 1000 might just have Incident Detection after all. Looks like an easy setup.

Btw, I’ve just added a free phone app where my wife can track where I’m located as well, at least where my phone is located. And I can see hers....This should really help when she supports me on tours, like this coming April.

Strava provides a function called Beacon. My wife can track live in rides. We also use Life360 to do this routinely while driving. We have Android phones. Both, obviously require cell service. I mention this only because one of my regular routes in the U.P. does lose cell service near the south end of the lake at times. Should add, Life360 claims to have crash detection, but no proof of it's usefulness.. thankfully.

If you don’t want to buy a Garmin computer just for the accident detection, Specialized is now offering something similar on some of their helmets. It is called Angi. It will connect to your cell phone and send a text to a designated person if it detects a crash. I believe they sell the units as an aftermarket item, for other helmet brands. It’s about $50.

My new helmet came with this feature, so I use it on most rides. Of course, I don’t know what my wife will do if she ever gets that text message. Maybe she’ll call 911, and maybe she’ll just log onto eHarmony and start creating a profile in order to find a new husband.

:p

Life360 is also the APP I just added for tracking purposes.

It took a little digging (finding the settings in Garmin Connect--it was under Safety of course.....) but I also just activated incident detection on my Garmin.

I have a Garmin 830 and use incident detection through my phone. I have had a couple rough stops which triggered the phone calls. I am usually able to get it stopped before the calls are made except for one time then I started getting calls from my kids and wife making sure everything is ok. I like the idea of knowing that I won't lay in the ditch for too long. lol

Just talked to a friend in Charlotte

It’s to the point you cannot ride on the roads safely around here

Too much growth too fast. With texting and with all the road construction and people not knowing where they are going because they are new.

get in a big group ride or go far out in the country as you can (love Valley for example) have your wife follow you in car or scooter

This is tough (I know)

helmet thing (specialized). They sell those at Bike Source Park Road shopping center.

Tried that app once. sucked up all my battery juice. Maybe it is better now.

Might be worth another try. We have Samsung S10's now, tons of battery power. Even our previous S6's handled both Beacon and life360 running simultaneously. Considering dumping Strava.😋

Although I do not use the Incident alerting feature of my Garmin 520, I do use the Live Track feature. On a couple of long rides I've stopped to take a rest and I'll get a text from my wife asking me if I'm ok? When using this feature also remember to enable the Extend LiveTrack feature in the Garmin phone app. Just in case anything happens your data will still be live for 24 hours. I usually email 2-4 friends with each of my rides. Although this feature is reached through a link in your email, it does give you pretty accurate up to the minute tracking.

Thumbs up on the ANGI devise from Specialized. Comes attached to some helmets or as a stand alone add on and connects through blue tooth to your phone. I have one, it was on my new helmet. It will send a text message to my wife if it detects a significant impact along with my GPS location. It also has a count down from the time of the impact before it sends the message so I can stop an accidental message from being sent. Just extra insurance for somebody out by themselves. Nothing else required, other than the cell phone you probably already have, not much money. Potential life saver. I like it.

I have the Incident Detection setup on my Garmin 520 Plus. It will text three contacts that I designated on my cell phone.
The Incident Detection sometimes goes off on sudden hard stops on rough roads, but you have 30 seconds to cancel.
The first time it went off, I thought WTH is making that noise. One reason I keep my cell phone in my jersey pocket.

Thanks. We've lived here for 25+ years and growth is continuing at an accelerated pace. I'm still able to get out to lower traffic roads from the house but have to ride in traffic for 3-4 miles. But I'm planning to head up to the Love Valley area tomorrow for some more dirt road riding.

The Road ID app will notify people when you are out o a ride and will notify them if you have not moved (presumably due to an incident) for a period of time. You do have the option to cancel the alert or pause the app if you are stopped for a break. It works well

If I or my wife felt that bicycling was so hazardous that I needed to carry a specialized immediate warning/ "incident" detection system to feel comfortable with my bicycle riding, I would give up bicycling.

Ice dot.

My wife enjoyed following my ride today via the Life360 app. Riding dirt and asphalt roads on a 40+mile loop about an hour from our house.

I have the Garmin 520+. I have both LiveTrack and incident detection enabled. LiveTrack went thru a several month period of being very unreliable after a Garmin Connect update in May 2019. Finally some half dozen updates later it seems to have settled down and mostly works.

I’ve had the incident detection go off maybe 8 times in 15 months, all false positives. Sometimes I don’t notice it and my wife gets a message. She’s leaned to check LiveTrack to see if I’m still moving.

I don’t know what sets it off sometimes, once it went off when I simply came to a stop at a traffic light. Smooth road, not a panic stop or other drama. Another time it went off in my driveway after I stopped the bike.

I did actually fall over once last year navigating a very tight switchback on a dirt trail in Whiting Ranch. I was barely moving and fell over, dislocating my left ring finger. The Garmin did NOT detect this one real incident.

I wish that was my experience.

Garmin Edge 530 -- zero success at getting LiveTrack to function.
Road iD phone app "bread crumbs" -- unreliable, but likely the cell service provider deserves some of that blame.
Strava Beacon -- anecdotally has seemed the most stable but even that has failed me on several occasions.
Apple "Find My" app -- works every time... but doesn't update as fast as the other apps.

Saying that, I'll add I think for us aging cyclists the Road iD bracelet is a good add. Since I won't carry my wallet and the driver's license is a pain to remove I think carrying the Road iD on my person is a good thing to include. Probably for an invincible 20-something the weight penalty is too much but for me, I'm ok with it.

better to be prepared than to be caught with you pants down

Have an Apple Watch 4, with fall detection activated to call my wife if I am down for over a specified time period. My iPhone will do the same without the watch also. With my Parkinson's Disease, its a peace-of-mind thing for her, and less to think about for me. My phone app to log rides also ties in to the alarms and all the above items are GPS enabled so they give a location to the designated recipient of the alert.

jppe , I encourage others to try these at least. I have no experience with Garmin, but as popular as they are with the cycling community, someone here can give you the gouge on them.

Bill

I find I enjoy my bicycle riding more, as well as ordinary living when not handicapped by irrational fear of being harmed and left helpless by extremely low probability events, such as lying immobilized on the side of a road or trail by an incident that requires immediate notification and rescue by a loved one.

My wife has enough confidence in my bicycle riding skill and experience and maturity to not take foolish risks so that she doesn't feel the need for tracking my whereabouts whenever I go out for a ride. If I should get into trouble, either I can call her or somebody from the police or EMT's will call her soon enough.

“Dumb”

Oh it won’t happen to me theory

I was also dumbfounded but after I realized it was satire I laughed at my self for being so gullible.

I would recommend that a person should take up a new activity for better mental health if he is so fearful of what might happen when bicycling, regardless of the low probability, that he/she is willing to buy and carry any techno device available that promises even the remotest possibility of being useful after an extremely unlikely bicycling event (disabled and incommunicado and requiring immediate notification of a friend/relative).