Had a pretty big accident on my bike today. Biking alone, in a remote location. All OK, just got back from the hospital, nothing broken, but a few weeks taking it easy until I’m better.
Drove it home though, if you have a smartwatch, bike computer, whatever, enable and configure any fall detection.
My Garmin instantly messaged my wife with my GPS location. If I hadn’t responded this would have been critical info.
First off, glad you are OK.
Second, glad the tech worked as advertised.
Yikes! Good to know the watch works! Take care!
Thanks, both. Up and about as normal this morning, so not as bad as the nurse said it might be the day after.
Now looking at the data, my speed went to 0 mph very quickly 
Turns out I bounce pretty well.
Pretty neat, thanks for sharing. What model Garmin have you got?
I have the Edge 830 bike computer. Linked to an old Pixel 3a for mobile data.
Also have a Galaxy Watch4 that does activity tracking, has fall detection and stuff but I decided to stick with a dedicated device. I don’t think the Watch4 detected the incident interestingly.
Glad to hear you weren’t too badly hurt, I wish you a speedy recovery.
I now have an Apple Watch, which has a similar function. I could have used that last winter, about a month before I bought the Watch.
I was going from our office to the main building and slipped on the ice covered flagstones on the path. I didn’t have my phone with me, luckily; I would have had it in my back pocket. I fell flat on my back and smacked my head on a flagstone. I wasn’t unconscious, but I couldn’t move for a few minutes.
Nobody saw me fall and it was only after a few minutes, that a neighbour came out the door to go into the village and she saw me laying on the ground.
In that circumstance, a Watch with fall detection, or something similar, would have been very useful.
Yikes, yes very useful. I have recommended to my brother who lives alone that he might want to get a watch for this reason. He was saying if he fell no one would know for days. Glad you weren’t hurt too badly.
Damn James - be careful out there – glad the device worked!!
Glad you were not badly hurt!! I had a fall alert come up on my Apple Watch and stopped the emergency call just in time!! I fell down the last 2 steps in my home carrying a bunch of crap down the stairs (Stupid, should have done 2 trips 
)
Thanks! Getting better slowly, still some aches and pains and impressive bruises 
I’d fallen into a habit of not padding up for ‘easier’ local rides. Won’t make that mistake again.
Remember, Semper Paratus!! 
Oh boy this is so timely. I will be moving in a month to my daughters Cumberland Lake house. The house is under renovation, and I will be assisting etc. My 3 bikes will be going with me. A triwheeler with Swytch electric assist. A Alpine 2 wheeler electric. and a conventional 2 wheeler. Google maps show a 220 ft rise/fall along the 4.7 mi trek to the Park/Marina. Google notes there is a sleep hill. I think I will invest in the Garmin based on your experience. If you had been conked out. do you think responders would have found you OK? Do any devices use the “what 3 words” locators. More importantly how many responders know what the hell that is?
If you look at the automated text it sent out, it includes the GPS lat-long. Just checked on Google Maps, and it’s accurate 
Emergency responders are aware of what3words too. There is a what3words app for Garmin, but don’t think it can be used for incident detection.
I am interested in this Fitbit watch.I have asked them for information on fall alerts as their site is not clear on this.
According to various review websites, there is no fall/incident detection or automatic SOS alert functionality on any of the Fitbits.
Fitbit states that the three words are displayed. Location is by GPS then you must read off the three words. Then probably loose a lot of time explaining 3 words to 911. I guess its going to be a Garmin for me.
Well from my crash test it was the Garmin bike computer that triggered. My watch didn’t. Thinking about it, you try to tuck and roll when you crash a bike, so a watch doesn’t come to a hard stop.
But if you wanted the reassurance of fall detection all the time, you’d need the watch.
I am about to take the plunge for a Garmin watch with fall detection. Glad I re-read your comments that made it clear it was a Samsung that failed the detection. Hope the Garmin will be better.
The Garmins are very good once you get used to them. They also have the advantage that they work with iOS and Android if you switch phones.
I think with fall detection it’s the accelerometer detecting a hard stop. So it’ll trigger if you bang a wall or fall straight to the floor. But maybe not trigger if you fall and roll.
I don’t recommend testing it though 
