[johnny_sapphire]

Looking for a device/solution that before a mtn bike ride i can set a specific time i should return by (usually 2-4 hours). At that specified time i will be prompted to 'cancel' that trigger(if i returned safely). If i don't respond/cancel, it will trigger alerts or texts to my emergency contacts with my GPS location.

Not looking for incident detection like garmin offers in the rare case it doesn't trigger, or if i have a medical issue non accident related on the trails, and dont want to send my live gps tracking prior to every trip to these contacts as they either stand by worried, or forget about it later and not know if i returned later.

Wahoo and Garmin devices seem to offer the closest, but can't pinpoint if they could offer something like a "timed trigger" or "return by trigger". The only solutions they have don't let my contacts know if i returned or not from the trip that day. Right now i send a text before my ride, and set a reminder on my phone to text when i get back, but trying to eliminate that manual process to something automated on both ends.

 

[NordieBoy]

Tasker or ITTT could do it.

 

[fredcook]

I've used Tasker (it's been while though). There are some types of tasks that might require root access, but not sure what may be required for what you're attempting. Something to research if you're concerned about rooting.

 

[mtnbkrmike]

I assume you are talking about a communication within cell coverage?

 

[Harold]

I assume you are talking about a communication within cell coverage?

the problem with something like this is that the places where I'd actually want to use this functionality have such limited and/or spotty cellphone reception that it wouldn't work.

I think the best option is still to leave your itinerary with your emergency contact(s) and then let them know when you've returned and/or if you have trouble via a satellite messenger device like a SPOT or InReach. Tracking on one of those devices will give you the best chance of giving that person your actual location if you are incapable of providing it.

 

[mtnbkrmike]

InReach Mini checks the boxes for me but I’m assuming the OP is talking about being knocked unconscious while riding solo, with a message being sent to his contacts automatically, with his GPS location. I have that scenario covered with an InReach Mini and my faithful riding partner - my daughter. We ride in lots of very remote places, but never solo.

There are lots of folks here in a much better position than me, to comment on this. Hopefully they chime in.

For riding within cell coverage, there is something on my Garmin Edge 830 that notifies contacts if I go down, but I have not explored it much (not have I activated it) as I had understood that it is either not applicable to, or highly unreliable for, anything but road riding.

 

[Harold]

InReach Mini checks the boxes for me but I’m assuming the OP is talking about being knocked unconscious while riding solo, with a message being sent to his contacts automatically, with his GPS location. I have that scenario covered with an InReach Mini and my faithful riding partner - my daughter. We ride in lots of very remote places, but never solo.

There are lots of folks here in a much better position than me, to comment on this. Hopefully they chime in.

yeah, that's why I mentioned using livetracking so that your location is sent to someone. the detailed itinerary (most importantly your estimated return time) is used to trigger a location check. no, it's not automatic. but your emergency contact should be someone trusted enough to actually pay attention to this kind of stuff.

I just don't know of anything better that's going to allow you to both set an estimated return time and automatically send your location if you're not back in time (sorta like a deadman switch of sorts?). I don't really care about this kind of functionality in frontcountry trails, as they're busy enough that someone is going to encounter my body long before I've exceeded my estimated return time. a crash sensor would summon emergency response faster (assuming cell phone reception) and riding with someone is fastest (and a person on site can also administer potentially critical first aid). response time is really important, especially if you have something that can kill you fast, like, oh, a femoral artery bleed. it's not hard where I live to get 2hrs from emergency response. even the frontcountry areas can be around 1hr. so I mostly do solo rides on busier frontcountry stuff. If I do solo backcountry stuff, then I'm going to be managing my risks a lot more than I would if I was riding with others.

 

[mtnbkrmike]

yeah, that's why I mentioned using livetracking so that your location is sent to someone. the detailed itinerary (most importantly your estimated return time) is used to trigger a location check. no, it's not automatic. but your emergency contact should be someone trusted enough to actually pay attention to this kind of stuff.

I just don't know of anything better that's going to allow you to both set an estimated return time and automatically send your location if you're not back in time (sorta like a deadman switch of sorts?). I don't really care about this kind of functionality in frontcountry trails, as they're busy enough that someone is going to encounter my body long before I've exceeded my estimated return time. a crash sensor would summon emergency response faster (assuming cell phone reception) and riding with someone is fastest (and a person on site can also administer potentially critical first aid). response time is really important, especially if you have something that can kill you fast, like, oh, a femoral artery bleed. it's not hard where I live to get 2hrs from emergency response. even the frontcountry areas can be around 1hr. so I mostly do solo rides on busier frontcountry stuff. If I do solo backcountry stuff, then I'm going to be managing my risks a lot more than I would if I was riding with others.

33% of the riding we do, we don’t see a single soul. I told my daughter yesterday that I don’t like midweek riding, even at the most popular places, because we don’t see any/many. I like seeing the odd person, especially when it’s gloomy outside. It’s especially nice to run into someone in the middle of nowhere. Always very nice conversation, because everyone is so happy to have had a chance meeting after what could be hours of pain without seeing a single person.

I don’t have my Edge with me right now but I was thinking more of the “rider down” alert. Not the live tracking. My GF tracks me with the love tracking, but almost no riding we do is 100% in cell coverage. When we are, it works well. But we rarely are.

Harold - I may be imagining things, but isn’t there a “rider down” feature on the Edge (which, again, is more useful for road riding)?

 

[Harold]

Harold - I may be imagining things, but isn’t there a “rider down” feature on the Edge (which, again, is more useful for road riding)?

There's something like that. It's been known to misfire in rough terrain. Even on road/gravel bikes when it gets rough. Not sure if firmware updates have improved that aspect of it or not. It's not a feature I bother with. I only use the phone connectivity features when I specifically want to upload a ride when I'm on a road trip. I don't like how bluetooth connectivity in general has a tendency to get flaky and then you have to reboot the devices, reconnect them, and go through all that dumb troubleshooting, the more you rely on it.

 

[ghettocruiser]

The incident detection automatically turns itself off on the Edge 530 as soon as you select mountain bike mode, a function that the 520 series didn't have.

Just as well. It's triggered pretty easily.... of the 20-odd times the 530 has detected a road bike crash, only one of them actually involved the bike hitting the ground.

 

[mtnbkrmike]

The incident detection automatically turns itself off on the Edge 530 as soon as you select mountain bike mode, a function that the 520 series didn't have.

Just as well. It's triggered pretty easily.... of the 20-odd times the 530 has detected a road bike crash, only one of them actually involved the bike hitting the ground.

Not surprisingly, same with the 830.

 

[Harold]

The incident detection automatically turns itself off on the Edge 530 as soon as you select mountain bike mode, a function that the 520 series didn't have.

Just as well. It's triggered pretty easily.... of the 20-odd times the 530 has detected a road bike crash, only one of them actually involved the bike hitting the ground.

Figures Garmin would handle it that way. I just don't see a way for it to work right for mtb purposes when attached to the bars.

The helmet-based sensors like the ANGi ones seem like a better location.

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But it still relies on a cellular connection to send any kind of alerts anywhere. Offer one of these that can send an alert through a SPOT/InReach (it can even use the phone as an intermediary for all I care) and I'll be interested.

 

[slapheadmofo]

My son rides moto/ATV by himself quite a bit.
I just use the free version of the Life360 app to keep tabs on him.
It's got some sort of collision/crash notification function that's worked pretty well in a few instances.
Obviously requires cell coverage, but that's rarely an issue in this part of the world.

 

[johnny_sapphire]

yeah, looking for more of the dead man's switch if something happens and i dont return or confirm by a specific time, than crash sensor. Road ID app on mobile is the closest, but if you dont have cell service, it really doesn't work.

thinking best option is a 3rd party gps device like garmin or others and using with tasker, but still looking. have some other possibilities, but want to research more before i discount or vouch for them. will update soon.

 

[Harold]

yeah, looking for more of the dead man's switch if something happens and i dont return or confirm by a specific time, than crash sensor. Road ID app on mobile is the closest, but if you dont have cell service, it really doesn't work.

thinking best option is a 3rd party gps device like garmin or others and using with tasker, but still looking. have some other possibilities, but want to research more before i discount or vouch for them. will update soon.

I just fail to see how this is useful.

If you're incapacitated and you are unable to ask for help, then don't you want help summoned ASAP (crash sensor)?

If you're not incapacitated and able to reach out to your emergency contact, then why don't you use something that will let you reach out to your emergency contact and tell them why you won't be back on time (satellite messenger)?

 

[slapheadmofo]

I just fail to see how this is useful.

If you're incapacitated and you are unable to ask for help, then don't you want help summoned ASAP (crash sensor)?

If you're not incapacitated and able to reach out to your emergency contact, then why don't you use something that will let you reach out to your emergency contact and tell them why you won't be back on time (satellite messenger)?

None of these technology-dependent notification systems really seem to save any hassle or gain any functionality over just letting your emergency contact know you're heading out and when you expect to be back.

Side question - do a lot of you guys really live/ride places so remote you feel you need satellite connectivity for a couple hour spin?
Or is cell coverage just way, way better in this part of the world?

 

[Harold]

None of these technology-dependent notification systems really seem to save any hassle or gain any functionality over just letting your emergency contact know you're heading out and when you expect to be back.

you're not wrong. I don't need any kind of technology to tell my emergency contact that I'm going for a ride, where I'm going, and how long I expect to be out. and I made the recommendation to OP to do this earlier in the thread.

Side question - do a lot of you guys really live/ride places so remote you feel you need satellite connectivity for a couple hour spin?
Or is cell coverage just way, way better in this part of the world?

I can go out for a 1hr spin at the trails closest to my house and have no cell service for most of that. I seem to lose signal about 3mi from the trailhead parking lot. I haven't personally had an emergency where I needed to reach out to anyone, but I have encountered other riders who had an emergency and have needed to reach out. Usually enough other people come by that someone is able to head off to where they can get a signal to summon help.

I'm not so concerned about myself in this situation. if I ride here solo, I leave my wife the relevant deets. and I am reasonably certain that other riders will find me if I go down and can't call for help on my own. it's busy, and even though there's poor cell service, it's still frontcountry.

the places where I am more concerned about a lack of cell signal are the less commonly ridden trails that still aren't all that far away (maybe an hour away). I don't ride here solo. but if I wanted to, I'd get a satellite messenger or PLB and also use my emergency contact, as there's no good option for a crash sensor that can transmit via satellite.

 

[johnny_sapphire]

I just fail to see how this is useful.

If you're incapacitated and you are unable to ask for help, then don't you want help summoned ASAP (crash sensor)?

If you're not incapacitated and able to reach out to your emergency contact, then why don't you use something that will let you reach out to your emergency contact and tell them why you won't be back on time (satellite messenger)?

Totally understand where you are coming from here. guess i'm just a rare case where i currently live alone and have 4 family members that live within 5 minutes that i want alerted if i dont return from a trip, but if i tell them im going out for a ride, they constantly get worried and check in non-stop while i'm riding and freak out a bit if i dont reply every so often, so more of a headache instead of being able to get out and focus on the trails instead.

The crash sensors (in my experience) go off way too often acccidently or not triggered during a crash or won't be for another medical injury, but might just be me. More just want to make sure i'm not stuck on a trail overnight with an injury, than wanting someone to come asap. like i mentioned earlier, i'm prob a rare case here. thanks

 

[slomtbr]

None of these technology-dependent notification systems really seem to save any hassle or gain any functionality over just letting your emergency contact know you're heading out and when you expect to be back.

Side question - do a lot of you guys really live/ride places so remote you feel you need satellite connectivity for a couple hour spin?
Or is cell coverage just way, way better in this part of the world?

San Francisco Bay Area is on the left. The central Sierra Nevada to the right: the red dot is where I live, and the green areas are where I ride. So yes, cell coverage is spotty for me.

 

[Harold]

Totally understand where you are coming from here. guess i'm just a rare case where i currently live alone and have 4 family members that live within 5 minutes that i want alerted if i dont return from a trip, but if i tell them im going out for a ride, they constantly get worried and check in non-stop while i'm riding and freak out a bit if i dont reply every so often, so more of a headache instead of being able to get out and focus on the trails instead.

The crash sensors (in my experience) go off way too often acccidently or not triggered during a crash or won't be for another medical injury, but might just be me. More just want to make sure i'm not stuck on a trail overnight with an injury, than wanting someone to come asap. like i mentioned earlier, i'm prob a rare case here. thanks

sounds like you need to tell them to chill the f*ck out. and maybe find someone with a more level head to be your emergency contact.

just because you're family doesn't mean you're going to be my day-to-day outdoor emergency contact person.