# Smart watch Fall detection



## RustyGirl (Nov 3, 2015)

Anyone using a smart watch with fall detection when riding?


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## Mcfarton (Oct 18, 2021)

Yes and when I run. I have tested it and it works. You need to have your phone with you for most of them for it to work.


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## RustyGirl (Nov 3, 2015)

So if you are out where there is no cell phone reception it would be useless? I also wonder about fast, short steep ups and downs, would that set it off? False alarms?


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## TraxFactory (Sep 10, 1999)

Buddy of mine uses it and it goes off on a sharper drop and hard compression.


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## Bacon Fat (Mar 11, 2016)

RustyGirl said:


> So if you are out where there is no cell phone reception it would be useless? I also wonder about fast, short steep ups and downs, would that set it off? False alarms?


Yep, not going to work without cell reception. Watches usually do a count down before it will send the SOS, so that you can stop it if it is a false alarm. If you are moving, it usually won't send it at all.


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## whipnet (Dec 30, 2021)

My Galaxy 3 gave me too many false positives on the trails.(steep down & ups) so I had to turn it off. I now have to triple hit a button to activate SOS, so I need to at least be conscious. Cell range is not a problem on the Houston trails I ride. Never too far from civilization. 

*


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## SmittyMTB (Aug 12, 2019)

I have one. It has only detected twice, neither while riding, so not a lot of false alarms. I don't do jumps....intentionally. 
As previously mentioned, when the watch starts the SOS countdown, you can stop it. Mine can send a text which includes GPS location and can make a call. As long as you has even a little coverage, a text can usually be sent. No coverage at all will be pretty much pointless.


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## NumbNutts (Jan 30, 2004)

Will fall detection work without your phone if its the GPS/Cellular model? Just got one this week after my Garmin took a crap.


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## Bacon Fat (Mar 11, 2016)

yes


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## Mcfarton (Oct 18, 2021)

Garmin has a new 945 with service built in. I am hoping that it trickles down to the cheaper/smaller watches. I assume the Apple Watch with service will have something similar. I am not familiar with the other brands.


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## dysfunction (Aug 15, 2009)

Does that garmin use satellite comms for that? Mine doesn't, so you need your phone and cell connection still. Even if it has a cell transmitter, that's next to useless here.


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## Bacon Fat (Mar 11, 2016)

The garmin 945 used LTE-M1 cell service


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## Fairbanks007 (Sep 5, 2009)

I used an ICEdot for a while when I lived in New England and was riding gnarlier trails than what's available to me now in SE MI. It uses a G sensor to detect sudden deceleration, so no issues with steep ups/downs, and starts a timer on your smartphone that you can stop if you don't need an SOS message sent with your GPS coordinates. 

I never had a false alarm, even hucking 4' to flat, so it does take a fairly good whack to trigger it. I don't remember if that's a user configurable setting. Anyway, it made my wife feel better when I was getting silly on some technical trails by myself with some consequences if I got a feature wrong.


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## jrhone (May 23, 2011)

Apple watch cellular version and no false fall detections in 4 years. It did detect a crash and asked if i was ok. If i didnt respond then it would ramp up the alerts and call 911. No phone needed to call 911 if its the cellular version.


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## ZX11 (Dec 24, 2020)

jrhone said:


> Apple watch cellular version and no false fall detections in 4 years. It did detect a crash and asked if i was ok. If i didnt respond then it would ramp up the alerts and call 911. No phone needed to call 911 if its the cellular version.


Amazing tech. Saw Apple's advertisement with the bike rider being saved by it.

My fall detection was off. I now decided to leave it on for awhile and see if it false alarms with my activities. It notified me that it was for falls that can happen as we get older, when I turned it on. It's for old people slipping and falling perhaps. Not really for extreme sports and all those accidents that are better served by the buddy system.


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## jrhone (May 23, 2011)

ZX11 said:


> It's for old people slipping and falling perhaps. Not really for extreme sports and all those accidents that are better served by the buddy system.


False. It is like the Apple advertisement says, optimized for activities like mountain biking. Drops and extreme shocks wont set it off accidentally. It uses the gps, altimeter and gyroscope to detect a drop in height and the gps to determine if your moving or immobile immediately after the drop in altitude. Then uses the gyroscope to detect movement on the arm. So when riding you will never be stationary and motionless immediately after a drop in altitude. There are many mt bikers and hikers and skateboarders that have been saved because of the technology.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

All I ride are trails with drops, jumps, and extreme impacts, it’s called mountain biking.

I carry a SPOT, never had to use it, but I carry it just the same, most of my rides are solo and often remote.

You know, this thread is like an old mountain bikers version of “help, I’ve crashed and I can’t get up” 🤣

You all just kill me, I didn’t think it could get any better, and then this, well done 👏


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## jrhone (May 23, 2011)

Nurse Ben said:


> All I ride are trails with drops, jumps, and extreme impacts, it’s called mountain biking.
> 
> I carry a SPOT, never had to use it, but I carry it just the same, most of my rides are solo and often remote.
> 
> ...


hope you are never in a situation where you are unconscious and in a life threatening situation. Is your SPOT gonna help you in that scenario?


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## RustyGirl (Nov 3, 2015)

Nurse Ben said:


> All I ride are trails with drops, jumps, and extreme impacts, it’s called mountain biking.
> 
> I carry a SPOT, never had to use it, but I carry it just the same, most of my rides are solo and often remote.
> 
> ...


Hmm I have had several wrecks where it took me awhile before I could move. Takes Longer in old age. Lol. Didn’t need EMS but wouldn’t have been able to shut the thing off in time.


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## RustyGirl (Nov 3, 2015)

Bacon Fat said:


> Yep, not going to work without cell reception. Watches usually do a count down before it will send the SOS, so that you can stop it if it is a false alarm. If you are moving, it usually won't send it at all.


That makes sense, it shouldn’t call if you are still moving. Was worried about being unaware it had gone off.


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## RustyGirl (Nov 3, 2015)

ZX11 said:


> Amazing tech. Saw Apple's advertisement with the bike rider being saved by it.
> 
> My fall detection was off. I now decided to leave it on for awhile and see if it false alarms with my activities. It notified me that it was for falls that can happen as we get older, when I turned it on. It's for old people slipping and falling perhaps. Not really for extreme sports and all those accidents that are better served by the buddy system.


Not easy to find 60+ year old women to ride with. I like to go exploring, places where people seldom go. I sometimes wonder how long it would take somebody to find my body if something happened.


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## Bacon Fat (Mar 11, 2016)

You could always do something like the garmin inreach mini if you ride somewhere that doesn't have cell phone coverage. You can set it to upload every 10 mins your location by satellite back to you safety contacts. They can track your ride and if they don't see movement, they can text you by satellite to see if you are ok. You can a text back to them or send a SOS if needed. It won't automatically send out SOS messages if you are unconscious, but it will send your location automatically.


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## itsky (Jul 26, 2011)

I have, works well.


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## fly4130 (Apr 3, 2009)

My Garmin VivoActive 4 did it's job on my first fall. I was fine, but did stop with a thud. My wife texted me back "WTF is this message?" Small comfort in the acknowledgement, but not much more. Then it started going off at the weirdest times. My kid and I were on a slow snow ride once on some multi and I got a text from my wife asking if I was ok. There were no falls or even "mountain biking" on that ride. I eventually turned it off as the false positives were crying wolf far to often. I think it's an amazing idea for solo rides in cell-served areas, if it works.


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## dysfunction (Aug 15, 2009)

I'm kind of shocked that so many are riding in areas with reliable cellular coverage.


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

dysfunction said:


> I'm kind of shocked that so many are riding in areas with reliable cellular coverage.




Give it a few more years and I doubt you'll be able to escape cell coverage anywhere.


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## dysfunction (Aug 15, 2009)

J.B. Weld said:


> Give it a few more years and I doubt you'll be able to escape cell coverage anywhere.


Thousands of acres of national park and forest, it'd likely take longer than that.

I don't even have coverage at my house, really.


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## Bassmantweed (Nov 10, 2019)

I have/had the Garmin version. Too many false positives.


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## Sidewalk (May 18, 2015)

I don't think I have it active on my watch, or I just never get false alarms. I got a false alarm on a run a while back, so maybe? I should check.

I occasionally get false alarms on my 830. But honestly, the false alarms are RARE and in situations that could be confused for a crash by a simple device. Example, I come to a sudden and abrupt stop, not the type of thing I normally do when riding, it may get triggered. Last time I remember that happening I was flying down a trail to find a group of riders all stopped around a blind corner and I had to stop hard not to blow into them, that sent out a distress call (which I didn't catch in time and notified my mom and girlfriend when I was at a bike park).

It doesn't work without cell coverage. I carry an inReach when I am going out of cell areas.


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## itsky (Jul 26, 2011)

dysfunction said:


> I'm kind of shocked that so many are riding in areas with reliable cellular coverage.


Ha, I flew to Costa Rica, took a two hour van ride from the house, then another two area boat ride to a remote surf spot. I was still getting texts.


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## dysfunction (Aug 15, 2009)

itsky said:


> Ha, I flew to Costa Rica, took a two hour van ride from the house, then another two area boat ride to a remote surf spot. I was still getting texts.


The US has the worst communication infrastructure of any industrialized country I've lived in, or visited. Aside from that, I live in the mountain west. Between the vast distances, and the terrain, there are huge gaps in coverage here. Huge.


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## Kevin Matherne (Jul 27, 2021)

Apple watch with cell works well. Just started clipless so did a turtle the other day, felt the watch vibrate and it was inquiring if I was ok. Been using it for months and did not know that was a feature so no false alarms with it so far.


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## ZX11 (Dec 24, 2020)

jrhone said:


> False. It is like the Apple advertisement says, optimized for activities like mountain biking. Drops and extreme shocks wont set it off accidentally. It uses the gps, altimeter and gyroscope to detect a drop in height and the gps to determine if your moving or immobile immediately after the drop in altitude. Then uses the gyroscope to detect movement on the arm. So when riding you will never be stationary and motionless immediately after a drop in altitude. There are many mt bikers and hikers and skateboarders that have been saved because of the technology.



I read their note that their fall detection was designed to recognize falls that happen as you get older, as saying that their fall detection was designed to recognize old people type falls. That physically active people will trigger fall detection incorrectly. 

Apple may be wrong. 

Interesting that you say it won't false alarm in mountain biking, hiking, and skateboarding due to post impact movement. People don't get false alarms with these activities?

I'm gonna try it with my activities and see. It is easy enough to turn on and off.


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## jrhone (May 23, 2011)

ZX11 said:


> I read their note that their fall detection was designed to recognize falls that happen as you get older, as saying that their fall detection was designed to recognize old people type falls. That physically active people will trigger fall detection incorrectly.
> 
> Apple may be wrong.
> 
> ...


Just saying its a statement that covers them in the event of a false notification. I have seen a huge sample size, not just my personal use and have not seen one false fall detection. Not saying there wont be but its not the norm at all and its definitely tested with extreme sports in mind.


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## ZX11 (Dec 24, 2020)

RustyGirl said:


> Not easy to find 60+ year old women to ride with. I like to go exploring, places where people seldom go. I sometimes wonder how long it would take somebody to find my body if something happened.


The fall detect is worth a try. It should be great for me as I just use biking for exercise and not thrills and spills. So if it feels like a fall, it is likely a fall.

The notes when activating the feature say what it is designed for but it may work for your activity. It looks like the only down side is false alerts. Getting a false alert seems very dependent on the individual and what they are up to. I can see Apple wanting to forestall an avalanche of complaints about false alarms if they said it was for biking.


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## ZX11 (Dec 24, 2020)

jrhone said:


> full disclosure. I work for apple. Just saying its a statement that covers them in the event of a false notification. I have seen a huge sample size, not just my personal uae and have not seen one false fall detection. Not saying there wont be but its nit the norm at all and its definitely tested with extreme sports in mind.


Makes sense. I'm going to try it for my use in fat bike winter riding. Might be useful if I hit a tree.


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

Phones can also do this without the watch.

I track my son with the Life 360 (free) app. 
It has a crash notification feature that alerts me and can also be set to alert authorities.
It's mainly meant for auto crashes I believe, but we have the app because he rides ATVs and dirt bikes solo quite a bit.
The crash detection has gone off 3 times, twice in actual crashes and once when his phone flew out of his pocket at speed and hit the ground.


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## macduff (Sep 4, 2012)

I have incident detection turned off on my Garmin Edge 820 & Vivoactive4 watch as both were triggering on hard stops/drops or stutter bumps. And on the one occasion I had it on and did an involuntary OTB get off they never triggered.


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## fly4130 (Apr 3, 2009)

macduff said:


> involuntary OTB


There are other kinds? Biker Fox, is that you?


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## NordieBoy (Sep 26, 2004)

I live 1.5km from the center of a city. 10min on the bike and I'm out of cell range.
No vast distances in the country, but an abundance of terrain.


dysfunction said:


> The US has the worst communication infrastructure of any industrialized country I've lived in, or visited. Aside from that, I live in the mountain west. Between the vast distances, and the terrain, there are huge gaps in coverage here. Huge.


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

Cell coverage where I live (New England) is pretty solid. Have found very few spots within 3 or 4 hours drive of me that I don't get service. 

Looking at the different companies' coverage maps, looks like it's much more of an issue in the western part of the country.


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## goofyarcher (Jul 12, 2020)

Yes , i run it and my wife does as well, , we get very few false alerts


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## bitflogger (Jan 12, 2004)

Apple Watches have served me well.


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## woodway (Dec 27, 2005)

I ride with an Apple Watch. It's only gone off once and oh yeah I had crashed hard. I had plenty of time to shut off the notification (I was OK). Apple Watch is a really good product. Love mine.


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## NordieBoy (Sep 26, 2004)

Tempted to turn crash detection on on my Garmin 945 to see what it's like.


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## Mcfarton (Oct 18, 2021)

You have nothing to lose


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## macduff (Sep 4, 2012)

Mcfarton said:


> You have nothing to lose
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


What you loose is time when it triggers accidentally and you spend the next min trying to get it to shut off the crash alert. My 830Edge had restored crash detection after a s'ware update and it triggered today on some stutter bumps at the end of a downhill. To stop the alert you have to press and hold the screen cancel button for the duration of a countdown timer , its not a simple press once to cancel, if you dont hold it for long enough it will fire a msg to your emergency contact and cancel the active recording in progress which is a PITA especially if its in the middle of strava segment you thought you'd get a PB or FTD on... Its now switched off AGAIN.


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## Mcfarton (Oct 18, 2021)

macduff said:


> What you loose is time when it triggers accidentally and you spend the next min trying to get it to shut off the crash alert. My 830Edge had restored crash detection after a s'ware update and it triggered today on some stutter bumps at the end of a downhill. To stop the alert you have to press and hold the screen cancel button for the duration of a countdown timer , its not a simple press once to cancel, if you dont hold it for long enough it will fire a msg to your emergency contact and cancel the active recording in progress which is a PITA especially if its in the middle of strava segment you thought you'd get a PB of FTD on... Its now switched off AGAIN.


I use it on my 520 and forerunner245 and have almost zero problems. I think it miss fired once and has worked every time I have crashed. I guess I don’t get RAD enough  


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## NordieBoy (Sep 26, 2004)

Mcfarton said:


> I use it on my 520 and forerunner245 and have almost zero problems. I think it miss fired once and has worked every time I have crashed. I guess I don’t get RAD enough


A riding buddy had it enabled on his 520 and it activated when we coasted up to a gate and he bumped into it.
He didn't realize the timer was counting down as we were getting the bikes over the gate and having a drink...


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