Why are so many compasses produced these days so ********** useless?

[mrcharly]

Um, I don't generally need a compass when I'm in my native territory, the Peak District - although I'll still use a map if I'm on an unfamiliar route as I often travel in parts that my forebears did not pass on to me. I keep a compass for those times when I can't rely upon my natural sense of direction and familiarity with my surroundings, such as when I'm drunk and stuck in the South somewhere.

In the area where I grew up (south west WA), thickly forested, hilly, I could walk for miles, if someone asked me the distance and direction to anything, day or night, I could point to it.

Put me in a car or a train, airplane, fly me to a different country, drop me in the middle of a foggy moor that I've never seen before, I won't know where I am. If it is really foggy, I won't know north from south (if you think you can tell from the location of the sun, you haven't been out in a real winter fog, with the sun low in the sky). Drive a few hundred miles north and the instinctive compass from sun location is thrown out.

In those circumstances, a compass is useful.

 

[santaman2000]

In the area where I grew up (south west WA), thickly forested, hilly, I could walk for miles, if someone asked me the distance and direction to anything, day or night, I could point to it.

Put me in a car or a train, airplane, fly me to a different country, drop me in the middle of a foggy moor that I've never seen before, I won't know where I am. If it is really foggy, I won't know north from south (if you think you can tell from the location of the sun, you haven't been out in a real winter fog, with the sun low in the sky). Drive a few hundred miles north and the instinctive compass from sun location is thrown out.

In those circumstances, a compass is useful.

Up to a point. However the closer you get to the poles (North or South) like Joe, the less useful a compass becomes. When every way you turn is due south, a compass is completey useless; here in Florida they're very good (we also have near zero declination here) In between those extremes? Result vary.

 

[Robson Valley]

In Canada, the declination and rate of change/yr are marked on the maps.
The position of the magnetic north pole is not stable = it's moving all the time.
I adjust the offset in each compass and then forget it.

The needle in my Recta Prospector was balanced for the northern hemisphere.
In Australia, I had to hold it with the nose tipped down maybe 30-40 degrees.
Then the needle swung freely and worked very well.

Of course, every direction is south when you stand on the North Pole.
Not much to see or do, very few people go there for recreational purposes.
Alaska, Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Teritory are OK for compass work.

Inukshuk are used for direction in the tundra. Stupid tourists think it's clever to build them,
like they are some sort of iconic totem.

I have never needed +/- 1 degree. Just a a raw indication of direction in a snowstorm is good enough.

Best map I ever got was from a Cree native in northern Saskatchewan.
Scratched with a knife point on birch bark.
A series of landmarks, the pattern indicated direction.
You just travel until you get to the next one.

 

[forestwalker]

For button compass good ones are few and far between. Old Silva's, Suunto (really hard to get nowadays) and I found these ones on eBay;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162006953858?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Suunto Clipper is ok. http://www.outnorth.se/suunto/clipper-l-b-nh-compass

 

[santaman2000]

Of course, every direction is south when you stand on the North Pole.
Not much to see or do, very few people go there for recreational purposes.
Alaska, Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Teritory are OK for compass work.....

Thanks. That was something I was curious about; just how far north (or south for that matter) you could go before it became a problem.

 

[Robson Valley]

I don't know the declination up there. I'd have to read a Canada map sheet. Most of the needed poop is in the margins of the
1:50,000 sheets. Have to check the publishing date and the annual shift to do the math to compensate.
Somewhere in the bowels of my house are several tubes of maps. Haven't seen them in years.

In the west, it must be pushing 90 degrees, in the east, north of your place, less so.
Been to visit family in Dawson City, YT but messing with a compass was never on my mind.
Sure played a BIG ROLE in the Klondike gold rush. I had family in that.

 

[Tor helge]

Magnetic declination isn`t up there. It isn`t nesseccary larger in the North than elsewhere.
In the Atlantic (ekvator) the magnetic declination is larger than where I live.
Here is a map from the web showing the magnetic declination in 2015.

 

[Janne]

How weird. Where I live it is +6 degrees and where I spend my holidays it is -6 degrees.

I lived by the map and compass while in the army. I adjusted for the declination only when giving instructions before missions to cover my @$$ in case somebody got totally lost and risked his life.

When in the field, the compass was secondary to the map. Basically, we took out points between us and the target along the planned route, then roughly aimed with the compass. Followed the map, checked roughly with compass.

We used Silva.

 

[Robson Valley]

The main body of Lac La Ronge, Sask. goes over the curve of the earth so far that you can't see ANY shore line when you're in the middle.
Leaving La Ronge, headed east for Hunter Bay, you go by compass to save gas.
Bring a book, there's plenty of time to read.