"ARW" wrote in message
...
On 04/02/2020 21:26, Tim+ wrote:
Brian Reay wrote:
Brian Gaff \(Sofa 2\) wrote:
I wonder how much those gadgets costs?
Sounds like a good idea for many people actually.
Brian
About £200 for a non-floating one, the kind normally used on land.
They arent intended to be used in areas where €˜normal methods (mobile
phone etc) work. In the UK, at least on land, people like hill walkers
etc
would be the expected users plus, of course, people like the chap in the
article.
Every now and then you hear of the havoc caused due to one being set off
in
error, maliciously, or by some fluke- mainly maritime ones.
There are cheaper ones but if they communicate via satellites, you need a
subscription and its not cheap.
Eg. SPOT Gen3 Satellite GPS Tracker
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C8S8S..._jcEoEbVJYM2DK
There are versions that work through the mobile phone network but
obviously
you need mobile reception for them to be sure to work.
If there is a phone network available and you know where the person is is
there an app for a smart phone that will call someone if you do not move
for 5 minutes.
That isnt going to work, they can not
move for that long when they doze off.
And you cant even use a PIR alarm sensor because
that can't distinguish between someone just asleep
and someone who is unconscious.
I cannot find one but would like one.
In theory an apple watch can sort of get
close, but even it cant distinguish between
just asleep and unconscious. It does work
with those who dont have dementia who
can tell it to call when they have fallen
and cant get up etc, but not when they
just go unconscious.
It can in theory detect a fall but its not yet
clear how many of those it misses and how
often it does a false alarm when they just
fall but recover unassisted fine.
In theory that last can be handled by the
system telling you that it will call if you
dont cancel the alarm and some of the
wearable things do it like that, but the
person does need to be mentally
competent to be able to cancel the alarm.