Off leash recall is a life saver and if you don't have it don't have your dog off leash.
The cool thing is that you can have a reliable recall with a dog under high levels of distractions in a couple of months or shorter, and a remote collar is a fantastic tool to not only speed that along but also to proof the dog under high levels of distractions.
The bigger point being that having a off leash trained dog under voice control can be accomplished and save your dogs life.