It is the expectation these days.
It is also a double-edged sword.
I was at a talk and book signing a couple of weeks ago, and this was a centerpiece of the discussion.
I have the Explorer+ and I've really put it through the paces over the past 5 years. Now that I have a better cell phone, I'm thinking about moving towards the Mini2 to save weight/bulk, but every time I say that, I end up having to use the pushbutton nav system of the Explorer+ while wearing gloves in adverse conditions. A cell phone stylus on a lanyard would mitigate this problem, though, should I move to the Mini2.
My Explorer+ rocks.
I've used it to coordinate with other hiking partners while 25 miles into the backcountry. I've used it to mee up with climbing partners on backcountry climbs, where I've gone in a day or three ahead of my climbing partner. I've used it to coordinate beer-thirty with the friends/SOs of climbing partners while coming down from backcountry climbs while way out of cell reception. Other climbing and hiking partners have used it my device to send out messages to family/friends/bosses while we've been scores of miles in the backcountry. That's just the random stuff.
For more deliberate uses, when I go on trips, I send an electronic file to one or two POCS, and in that file are hyperlinks to:
- weather sites
- wildfire maps
- snowfall and snowpack maps
- climbing route descriptions
Basically, links to anything where I'd want to pull up information if I had questions about stuff.
I'll just bounce a text out to my POC, and they'll bounce some answers back for me. It's a crazy capability that was god-level dreaming 25 years ago.
Now, the other edge of the sword...
It creates a dependency on contact - a mental dependency, maybe not for you, but for anyone who's on the other end. Real time tracking can also send out spoofed GPS locations in challenging terrain, and it can look like you've fallen off the mountain if somebody is watching it in real time, and that's really problematic.
And it's not just looking like you've fallen off the mountain. One of the speakers at this book signing dropped his InReach down the side of Mt Robson, Canada. Which creates a host of problems. Don't drop the thing.