> Had clear communication 23 miles away on mountain ridges at 5 watts.

May I ask what GMRS radio you're using with 5 watts? I'm having trouble finding them nowadays, since the manufacturers switched to FRS/GMRS combo units with a max of 2 watts.

My wife and I carry our GMRS radios into the wilds (of Frys Electronics, Macy's, Lowes, and other huge stores) so we can keep in touch without having to stay together. I find them more convenient than cell phones, since it's just push-to-talk. To each his own. GMRS also makes sense out in the woods when there are no cells; we use our GMRS radios at Burning Man, e.g.

Ham HTs generally have 5W (the Yaesu V7 does, for example), and better antennas, so I'd prefer amateur radios in the woods if my health depended on it and others in the group were hams, but few people are licensed amateurs.

When Louise and I camp in Death Valley on Thanksgivings, we rent a satellite phone and take it with us, because we can't count on cell coverage, and there are no amateur repeaters in the area. We have HF, but why try to get out to someone in an emergency when we can call local hospitals and tow companies (we bring a list of numbers with us). With a satphone, we know we got through, we know help's on the way, and we know they can reach us back if need be. Of course, we're in the van, so weight, size, and such are irrelevant.

If you've got HTs and the 2M J-pole and you know you can hit local repeaters, I'd say that works as well as satphones and better than PLBs, assuming there are enough repeaters you can actually raise someone 24 hours a day.

In the end, it's all a compromise. You can have a bag full of stuff and be safe but not able to carry it all or you can have a bag you can carry but leave out that one item that would have saved you but was too heavy. :-> If I were in a remote area, I'd choose the satphone myself if I were confident I'd be alone and outside cell & amateur reach.