The ICE Device Product Review

Consider a bad situation: You’re on your bike, involved in an accident and unconscious. People responding to the scene don’t know you, whether you have any medical issues or who to contact. Maybe you have that information on your phone, but it got busted up. Maybe it’s in your wallet, but that was in your tankbag and who knows where that ended up.

Randy Collins found himself in that kind of situation. “I was participating in a group ride outside my home state. The rider in front of me failed to negotiate a corner. His injuries weren’t life threatening—a broken collarbone and a broken rib—but none of us knew anything more than his first name and state of origin. Fortunately he was conscious and able to talk, but what if he wasn’t?”

Collins thought about that accident. A lot. “Anyone can have an accident,” he says, “but who has your personal information and how long will it take to find it? I wanted a way to convey information about me if I couldn’t. I wanted something bare-bones simple, easy to update and really economical.”

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The ICE Device.
The ICE Device.

Collins’s solution is the ICE Device. An ICE Device kit costs $9.95 plus shipping and includes five data carriers (2-inch waterproof vials with twist-off caps), ties to attach the carriers to your jacket, pants, key ring or what have you. You also get 10 rewritable personal/medical information forms that you fill in with pencil. Change meds or emergency contacts? Erase the old and write the new. When properly folded, the form prominently displays the ICE symbol through the carrier.

You may recognize the term ICE, the acronym for In Case of Emergency. Your mobile phone’s contact list may include the term. The ICE concept originated in Britain and awareness has been spreading through the community of first responders who are learning to look for “ICE” to locate personal and medical information in an emergency.

“Once attached to your clothing, equipment or keys, you shouldn’t have to think about the ICE Device again except to make sure it’s still there,” Collins says. “The carrier has no batteries. It’s waterproof and non-conductive. It’s small, lightweight and nearly indestructible. And it’s cost-effective.”
I spent my own hard-earned money for a kit when the ICE Device first came out. I’ve got a carrier on each riding jacket, another on my riding pants and one with each of my bikes’ ignition keys. At $2 per unit, it’s smart—and cheap—to have more than one. In case of emergency, redundancy can’t hurt.

For more information: Visit theicedevice.com

(This Gearlab article was published in the September 2012 issue of Rider.)

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