[__jal]

It is hardly FUD. If you want more horror stories involving wilderness and technical failure, I can set you up with as many as you like. There have been hundreds of cases people suffering in various colorful ways due to reliance on cell phones, GPS, etc. which were not reliable in their chosen environment.

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?