Personal safety devices come in many shapes and sizes. Up until this point, though, I’ve seen very few that made me say to myself, “yeah, I’d wear that.”
Ripple Network Technologies announced it’s launching a Kickstarter Tuesday for a Bluetooth safety device and companion service through Tunstall, a “connected care” company, that look pretty good.
Ripple describes the tiny wearable as being “penny-sized.” It certainly is discrete — small enough to dangle from the belt loop of a pair of jeans and go fairly unnoticed.
The square-shaped button is easily operated. Click it once and you’ll get a call from a member of Tunstall’s monitoring team. When you get that call, the person on the other end of the line already knows who you are, where you are and they have an in case of emergency contact on file for you.
If the situation is more dire, Ripple owners can click the button three times to trigger an emergency response (skipping the call from a Tunstall team member). That emergency response is customizable — so, depending on what’s been pre-selected, the triple-click could dispatch police or even an ambulance to the wearer’s location.
Ripple is also waterproof, doesn’t require charging and the company says it will replace Ripple (for free) if and when you need a new one.
Having a personal safety device isn’t a bad idea for any person, male or female. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, young people (between ages 12 to 34) are at the highest risk of being sexually assaulted or raped. And while men can be victims of sexual violence, women are especially at risk.
For a limited time, you can purchase Ripple and a year of service for $129 (exclusively on Kickstarter). Ripple’s also offering a monogrammed locket-looking version of the device for $199 that still comes with a year of service. The company plans to ship orders April of this year.
Not sold on Ripple?
Here are a couple other personal safety devices worth checking out:
Athena, made by ROAR for Good, is about the size of a half dollar coin and can be worn many ways. The wearable has an alarm mode and a silent ROAR mode, which sends texts with your current location to pre-selected emergency contacts. Athena is sold out currently, but it can be pre-ordered for $99 and will ship this summer.
Another worthy wearable made for personal safety is Revolar. This device looks like it’s just a run-of-the-mill key fob. Revolar also has two modes, one that sends location info and a text to someone you know and another called “red alert” that indicates you’re in need of emergency assistance. Revolar can be purchased online or at Best Buy or Target for $99.
