One of my biggest fears, one that I have personal experience with, is going into the woods, getting into trouble, and not being able to communicate with the outside world. Don't get me wrong, I go into the woods so I don't have to communicate with the outside world. It's a nice reprieve for my headspace.
But getting into trouble, either breaking a bone, falling off a dirt bike, popping a tire, or exploding a snowmobile, takes all the fun out of having zero reception. That's why I carry my Garmin inReach whenever I leave the house for some far-flung adventure in the woods.
Yet, while Garmin's had a stranglehold on the backcountry communications industry for years, more and more upstarts and big players are entering the satellite communications game. You've got folks like Zoleo and Spot, as well as Apple launching its own satellite communications through its newer iPhones. And now, Garmin has another competitor thanks to the new joint venture of T-Mobile and Elon Musk's Starlink satellite company.
