Onelife Stealth Squadra ID wristband

Simon Tuck

Review of the Onelife Stealth Squadra ID wristband

If you are unfortunate enough to have an accident, on or off the bike, you might not always carry ID with you. With the Onelife Stealth Squadra ID wristband – which is an In Case of Emergency (ICE) wristband – the emergency services will be able to identify you and access important medical and contact information from it.

The Onelife Stealth Squadra ID is one of those bits of kit you hope to never need

The Onelife Stealth Squadra ID Wrist band is a silicone wristband, rather like a watch, with an alloy plate that has selected information instead of a watch face. It even has a clasp like you’d find on a watch. With the wristband you get your own free online ID profile and ICE phone screen saver, which is linked to the wristband.

I’ve been banging on recently about commuting and urban cycling. The biggest problem with both of these is the possibility of having an accident. Contrary to popular (non-cyclist) belief, cycling isn’t particularly dangerous; BUT, when we do have accidents the results are more likely to end in a hospital visit.

If you were unable to communicate with a first responder, they may look for ID. ICE jewellery is quite common now especially with people who suffer from medical conditions like allergies, diabetes, epilepsy or other conditions that may render them unconscious and require treatment. Bracelets and necklaces are fairly common and paramedics are trained to look for them.

I tend to take a minimal amount of ‘stuff’ in my pockets when I cycle. This is a habit I’ve got into on my commute because I’m cycling through Central London at a ridiculous hour and I don’t want to be robbed! It’s also due to not wanting to lose things from my jersey pockets if I’m out for a leisure ride. I’ve also been thinking lately about how things I carry in my pockets could injure me in an off.

Typically I may have money for a coffee, my door key, maybe a debit or credit card, my phone, and that’s it. If I’m in an accident not only would it be difficult to identify me but my phone has a password lock on it so nobody would know how to contact my wife.

The Stealth Squadra ID wristband is a visible yet discreet way of displaying your details

Onelife iD has come up with a fairly cheap and simple solution to this problem. They have a vast range of bracelets and wrist straps with many different colours, styles, materials and fastening methods. They also supply ID cards for your wallet and tags to attach to clothing or luggage. All of these are customisable to show the information you want to show. They also link to an online profile via a web address and/or QR code which is also customisable and has different levels of security.

If you only enter the QR code or web address you can only access basic details, if you then put in the PIN number on the inside of the wristband you can see slightly more detailed info, then if you put in your personal details and password you have access to edit the information shown.

I chose a Stealth Squadra wristband. This means that the alloy plate is black rather than silver, and the range of colours is fairly muted as opposed to the Lumo range. The silicone band I have is black with a Team Sky coloured line through it. I chose to have a QR code on my plate with ‘In emergency’ and an emergency contact number on it. It also has a web address, which is www.onelifeid.com/ and then your unique username at the end. You can select a username when you register your purchase.

I don’t normally even wear a watch so this was quite a big step for me. A few people asked about my new accessory and thought it was a good idea. For the first few weeks I kept it on 24/7. It’s quite comfortable, slightly more so than a watch. The expanding fastener on the Stealth Squadra is like one you’d find on a decent watch. When you open the box you have to cut the silicone strap to length. This was really easy using the provided instructions and I got it right first time and haven’t felt the need to adjust it.

The only issue I do have is that it does rattle slightly over bumps. My bike is pretty much silent and the rattle was quite annoying until I got used to it, or was too tired to care on longer rides. I’ve been sweating quite a bit in the hot weather and this does leave the silicone strap a bit grimy. To fix this you can either take the strap off and give it a rinse, or have a bath/shower! The parts are alloy and as such they won’t rust.

The online profile contains a tab where you can create a lock screen for your phone. You can store copies of your insurance and travel documents for easy access in an emergency. You can include medical details including known conditions and allergies and a doctor, specialist or carer. There’s also room for up to ten emergency contacts and photos for proof of ID. This is all really easy to set up and only the details and info that you choose are accessible to anyone without your personal password.

The band I tested was £22.99 but the range starts from £14.99 for a basic single colour, un-adjustable size band to £25.99 for a fully adjustable ‘medical alert’ wrist band which features an engraved ‘star of life’ insignia on it. This includes the online profile which is quite a handy feature on its own.

I found the Onelife iD Stealth Squadra wristband to be quite comfortable. It meant that there would be one less thing to worry about if I was involved in an accident and gave my wife peace of mind that she’d know as soon as I was found if the worst happened. If I had any medical conditions it’s a great but discrete way to have the information available for emergency services and you can choose colours and materials to fit the band in with your lifestyle and other accessories. The colour I chose was quite discrete and perfect for me. I did have a bit of conflict though when using aero gloves, wearing a watch or wristband over such an item just seems a bit contradictory!

Onelife

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