GO-ID Personal Identification Kit

A while back, Brian sent me a neat little thingy called the GO-ID. ( The “ID” is for “identification”, not the ‘Id’, which is the part of your unconscious mind that relates to your basic needs and desires. Let’s clear that up now to avoid any potential confusion.) In a nutshell, the GO-ID is a way for first responders to have immediate access to your name, emergency contact numbers, blood type, insurance info, or other vital info that you’d want them to know in the event you get hurt and can’t tell them yourself.

Size Options

The GO-ID kit comes in three sizes. The Small is about the size of a dime, the Medium is quarter sized, and the Large is roughly the size of a US half dollar. I have the Medium, which will work for just about everyone and fits most watches.

When you open the GO-ID kit, you’ll find several pieces:

• A couple of labels for use with an inkjet or a laser printer, with matching laminate cover stickers (to protect your info label from getting wet and smearing.)
• A GO-ID itself (which is a round metal piece with pull tab)
• A few small dime sized Velcro tabs (to mount to the back of your watch)
• A reflective ‘Protected by GO-ID’ sticker (I stick mine on my driver side vehicle window)
• A small metal zipper hook (This is my preferred carry method)
• A protective silicon slip-on cover for the GO-ID

Also, the GO-ID silicon cover features two small holes on one side to allow you to feed a shoelace through, in case you choose to wear it on your shoe. It also has a hole for attaching the zipper hook. The GO-ID is available in stainless steel, chrome and black aluminum and has “ID” stamped on one side and the ‘Star of Life’ on the other. These two symbols are available in several different colors, by the way.

I should tell you that you will need access to a computer and either a laser printer or inkjet printer to be able to complete your GO-ID kit. Once you get all the pieces out of the package, the instructions will tell you to go online to the website and set up an account. Then, you design your label and choose what info you want on it. You have the choice of a ‘block text’ layout (which is easy to read) or a ‘spiral text’ layout (which looks cool, but will probably be irritatingly slow for an EMT to read while they’re trying to save your life.)

Printing The GO-ID Label

Once you’ve built your info label design, you print it off. I won’t go into tedious detail on how it’s kind of a hassle to print this off on normal printer paper, stick a GO-ID label on the exact same spot on the same piece of paper, then feed it back through your printer again and hope you have everything lined up so you don’t waste a label. Just follow the instructions on the website. Yeah, it may seem like a hassle, but if I ever need this little thing to help me out when I’m having a really bad day, I probably won’t mind that I had to spend five minutes at the printer.

The GO-ID can attach to the back of a watch using tiny Velcro dots, as I’ve mentioned. You get one ‘hook’ dot and two ‘loop’ dots. Stick the ‘hook’ dot on the back of watch and the ‘loop’ dots on the GO-ID itself.

I preferred the zipper hook attachment, since I’m almost always wearing something with a zipper, but not always wearing a watch and I feel like wearing it on a zipper increases visibility. There are several ways you can attach this to pretty much whatever you want, really. Even a safety pin will work.

Emergency Information When It’s Needed

I normally carry my driver’s license, insurance card and a few bucks with me when I go on a backpacking trip. This eliminates the need to carry the insurance card, at least. I feel better having something like this, rather than depending on the EMT’s looking for my emergency info in my wallet or phone (which could possibly have been separated from me.)

I can see this being a wise investment if you have children. Put their name, some emergency contact numbers, known allergies and their blood type on this thing and strap it to their shoes or something that they won’t likely be apart from so that , God forbid, a medical emergency should come up or they get lost, but at least the first responders will have some vital information that could really make a difference. Seems like a wise investment for a small price. Visit their website to read more about GO-ID.

Would you use a kit like GO-ID for carrying your personal emergency information? Do you use a different product to do this already, care to share via the comments below?

GO-ID Infographic by Keith Stone (GearToons)

Guest Review by Keith Stone

Keith Stone is the creator of GearToons. He lives in Alabama with his amazing wife of 11 years, Crystal. When not hiking or making gear review cartoons, he draws comic books as a ministry tool for missionaries. Some of his favorite places to backpack are Bankhead Forest and the Smoky Mountains. You can see more gear infographics via Keith’s GearToons Blog and keep up to date on his craziness by following him on Twitter (@GearToons).

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