Compact CampingGPS or satellite communicator: what do you actually need?
These get bundled together as "navigation gear," but they solve different problems. One shows you where you are. The other can get you rescued. Knowing which you need before you buy saves both money and weight.
A GPS only ever talks to you
A handheld GPS like our budget pick, the Garmin eTrex 22x, receives signals from GPS satellites to plot your position on a pre-loaded map, full stop. It cannot send a message, and it cannot call for help. What it does do well is work completely offline with no subscription, no monthly fee, and roughly 25 hours of battery life at around 150 g. For following a route or confirming you're still on trail, that's the entire job done.
A satellite communicator talks back
A device like our top pick, the Garmin inReach Mini 2, adds two-way text messaging and a monitored SOS button that works over the Iridium satellite network, completely independent of phone signal. At roughly 100 g it's barely heavier than the GPS, but it requires an ongoing paid subscription to actually send and receive messages. What you're buying isn't navigation, since most communicators have only basic mapping — you're buying the ability to say "I'm hurt, send help" from somewhere no phone would ever get a bar.
The subscription is the real decision
This is where the choice usually comes down to money versus risk. A GPS is a one-time purchase with zero ongoing cost. A satellite communicator's subscription runs monthly or per-trip depending on the plan, and that recurring cost is the actual price of the safety net, not the device itself. For short trips on popular, marked trails with regular phone signal or other hikers nearby, that ongoing cost is hard to justify. For solo trips, multi-day routes far from any road, or genuinely remote terrain, it's the difference between waiting for help and having no way to call for it at all.
Why a compass still belongs in the bag
Both of these are electronics, and electronics can fail — a dead battery, a cracked screen, cold weather draining charge faster than expected. Our no-battery backup pick, the Suunto MC-2 Global compass, weighs about 75 g and never runs out of power. It's not a replacement for either device above; it's the fallback for when one of them stops working at the worst possible time.
Flying with either device
Both a GPS and a satellite communicator run on lithium batteries, which airlines treat under specific rules for carry-on versus checked baggage. See our flying with camping gear guide before packing either for a flight.
Verdict
Day hikes and popular, marked trails rarely justify a satellite communicator's subscription — a GPS or even a phone with offline maps covers it. Solo trips, multi-day routes, or anywhere genuinely remote change that calculation: the Garmin inReach Mini 2's SOS capability is worth the monthly cost exactly when there's nobody else around to help.