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What triggers incident detection?

Looking in the manual and 3rd party articles, incident detection is triggered when an incident is detected.  Not very informative.

Today, right after the start of our run, an angry goose lowered his head and charged at us.  After sprinting out of range, I noticed an incident detected and quickly fumbled to turn it off.  My run was ended 0.12 miles in and had to start a new activity.

what specific behaviors is Garmin looking for to trigger the alert?

  • I think it is a high G event, followed by no movement.

  • I got it triggered after sprinting for finish and then stopped quickly moving and leaned to my knees and Garmin was making noises :) 

    So yes, I think it doesn't really need to be really big of an impact, which is good as you can fall and have bad result without high G impact, but I think it will need some more than normal.

    Like in my case I really stopped hard so that I didn't hit another person, and then stopped moving and that was enough. So I think you can try that, have sprint, stop as quick as you can and don't move.

  • what specific behaviors is Garmin looking for to trigger the alert?

    Angry geese. 

    • I tripped over a curb and skidded across a sidewalk. I managed to cancel the call before my wife received it and called the cops, the ambulance, the FBI, and Homeland Security.
  • My Fenix 6 watch sent alerts to my emergency contacts (ex-wife) after I hit a big jump mountain biking and then circled around to watch my buddy come off it. That was irritating. It ended my activity as well without me knowing. I was still moving on my bike enough that I couldn't look to see why my watch was squawking like the angry geese that chased the other guy. 

  • I took a stumble when running, nearly tripped but didn’t fall and it set it off. First time it happened and got quite a surprise. Had enough time to cancel it. 

  • I finished a long run and thought my watch was beeping and buzzing to celebrate. No idea what set it off. 

  • I tumbled off the edge of a trail and gently landed in some tall soft grass and when I got back on my feet it was counting down the alert.  So it doesn't take much to set it off.  

    I'm curious about on the bike though, but not curious enough to try to simulate a crash.  Slight smile

  • Hi, it's looking for a quick stop to trigger the alert. If you stop suddenly that could be enough to trigger an alert. 

    "Devices that feature incident detection can trigger emergency contacts when it detects a sudden drastic deceleration or impact while recording a timed GPS activity. When such an incident occurs, the Garmin Connect app on your paired smartphone can send an automated text message and email with your name and GPS location to up to three of your emergency contacts."

    Setting Up Incident Detection and Assistance Features on a Garmin Fitness Device

  • It’s enough if you stop from 25km/h to zero in „oh *** i may hit That Truck who didn’t look at the cycling lane“ seconds and staying upright to trigger it. No fall needed.