Where do you carry your satcom device?
A satellite communication device, such as the Garmin inReach, or the one I prefer, the ZOLEO, are increasingly popular for backcountry users (and pretty much mandatory for guides).
What sounds like a fairly simple question: where do you carry it? There aren’t many options.
Inside your pack
Outside your pack, clipped to a shoulder strap
Outside your pack, in a pocket of your clothing or maybe in a padded pocket on a pack strap
If you have a device like this, what's your preference?
To a certain extent this is a pedantic question. In the bigger picture probably doesn’t matter too much. Everyone can do what they want, “Hike Your Own Hike”, blah blah blah. However, I’m coming at this from the point of view of a climber, where there is almost always a range of best practices, and not so much as a hiker, where personal choices like this ultimately may not matter very much.
I have my preference, but I have no agenda to convince people to do it. With this article, I simply want folks to think through what they're doing and realize the pros and cons to different approaches.
(Here, we're talking about a device that's only for emergency comms, and not for GPS navigation. If using any device for actual navigation, you almost always want to have it outside the pack and accessible.)
Reasons for storing a satcom device INSIDE the pack (my preference):
In a nutshell: Security is more important than accessibility.
Why clip an expensive and potentially mission-critical piece of equipment on the outside of the pack, where it has a much higher likelihood of getting damaged or lost? You don’t clip your iPhone to a backpack strap, why would you do this for a satcom device?
I’ve asked many mountain guides and search and rescue professionals this question. Every single one of them says they keep it on the inside of their pack or maybe in a pocket, never on the backpack strap. What does that tell you?
The fewer things clipped to and jangling around on the outside of your pack, the better.
You're going out in a group and at least one other person has one, so the reason for immediate accessibility decreases.
My device, the ZOLEO, maintains satellite connectivity just fine when it’s inside my pack, including sending location pings at preset intervals.
If you do take a fall, it gets ripped off of your pack, you're injured and you really need it, you may not have access to it.
Reasons for carrying a satcom device OUTSIDE the pack (on a shoulder strap):
(Not my imagination, I've heard these reasons from other people.)
You feel the need for immediate access to the device, no matter how unlikely that situation might be, outweighs potentially losing it or damaging it. (This sentiment seems more common for solo hikers.)
If you’re using it for texting a lot, if you have it on the outside of your pack, you can more easily hear the chirp of an incoming text. (For me, sending non-critical texts is the last thing I want to do when I’m in the backcountry, so this is not an issue for me, but it might be for you.)
If you're using it to send check-in (“all is well”) messages, it's easier to grab it off your pack and send one on-the-go than potentially forgetting to do so after you get to camp.
You've seen pictures in social media or ads about satcom devices clipped to pack straps, and so you think that's how it should be done. (I think it’s a subtle marketing ploy by the satcom companies to indirectly encourage the pack strap. Looks better in social media, and free advertising for their device. Not much of that happening if it can’t be seen inside your pack.)
The devices come with a handy little square shaped carabiner, which seems designed to clip onto the flat webbing backpack strap.
To show potential hostile people that you have one, which will hopefully deter any sort of a threat.
If you're in an emergency situation and you get adrenaline-fueled brain malfunction, having it on the outside of your pack might remind you or your partner that you actually have one and you can use it. (Don't laugh, this happened to a friend of mine in a canyoning accident. One of them had a satcom device and they had to deal with a serious accident for a LONG time before they remembered that they had the device.)
“I can get to it more easily in a crazy catastrophe, where I might not be able to get into my pack”. Yes, I can see this might be true if you’re in some sort of boating accident, like ‘man overboard’ in the middle of the ocean or something. But realistically, what’s the scenario when this could happen if you’re hiking or climbing? You could probably come up with some crazy contrived scenario, but if it's a 1 in 100,000 chance of happening, why are you even concerned about it? If you’re so severely injured that you can’t unzip a pocket of your backpack, you’re probably not gonna stay alive long enough for search and rescue to be much help anyway.
One scary story: a PCT backpacker attempted a sketchy river crossing at high water. They were pushed off their feet, ditched their backpack to swim safely to shore, lost their pack, and were then in a serious situation. (This person did NOT have a sat com device). Yes that would suck, but c’mon, how often does something like that happen? If you were in that situation, perhaps you might have the foresight to remove your satcom device from your pack before you did something sketchy and attach it to your body?
If you’re unconscious out in the woods and someone else walks by and finds you, they might see the device on the outside of my pack, hopefully know how to properly use it, and call for help. I suppose that's remotely possible, but extremely unlikely. With logic like that, you’d carry your first aid kit dangling around on the outside of your pack, but no one does that.
So, that pretty much summarizes the pros and cons for both approaches. Like I said, ultimately the more important thing is probably that you have one and know how to use it, either to assist yourself or someone else. If you have some other reasons, feel free to email them to me and I'll consider adding them to this article.
