| I agree it's foolish to do a dangerous trip with just one navigation method. But that doesn't mean your phone isn't a good tool, or that we'd have less emergencies if they didn't exist. I develop an app called Gaia GPS, which a vast array of backpackers, wildland firefighters, and SAR use as a tool to navigate in the woods. They use battery packs and rugged/insulating cases with their iPhone and Android devices to make them durable and long-lasting. Even if you are a master orienteer who knows how to use a compass and a map with great skill, there are situations where you will be safer to have a GPS along too (either a smartphone or standalone unit). Situations like I have been in, where there is so much snow coming down, that you can't see the trail you're following or cutting, much less peaks or other landmarks. In some situations, map skills and reckoning may get you home, but seeing yourself clearly marked on a map will make you safer too. People shouldn't fear GPS devices or phones as tools for survival and navigation. p.s. This comment is FUD and based on anecdotes from two articles about Scotland. |
From my perspective, it is about redundancy and flexibility within my environmental constraints. I usually just have my cell phone with me, even when I'm doing some potentially sketchy things. That's because if I break/lose battery/lose my phone, there are always tons more around me.
When that isn't true, I'll usually have at least a handheld ham with spare batteries, a list of repeaters around where I'll be, and GPS andd/or paper maps (along with other things of use when one is remote).
Oh, my phone, too, 'cause it is fun and handy. I just don't trust my life to consumer-grade tools built for the home and office that can't even get wet or survive a small drop.
If you are not familiar with outdoors adventuring (and even if you are), one important exercise is to think through your gear, asking yourself how you get by without each piece. What do you do if your tent poles break? Two flat tires or a blown engine? Something gets your food? Your phone (meaning comms and maps, for the purposes we're discussing) breaks or your spare battery shorts?