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

[General Strike]

I was at the Bushcraft show for a couple of hours last Monday, chatting with a few traders and bushcraft schools etc, and I was keeping my eyes open for a few button compasses that I could use to make little adventurer toys for my son and his mates (they're about 2, but I say start them early!). There were plenty for sale, but I'll be damned if I could find a single one that would even agree with the compasses it lay amongst, let alone point in a single direction consistently! What use is a compass that won't point North, and what is this proliferation of junk? When I was a kid in the 80s, even the tatty paper and tin compasses that came in toys or science sets would point the right way, regardless of how cheaply made they were.

Where can one find a comparatively well-made button compass? I don't even want a super-duper one, just one that points the right way!

 

[HillBill]

Lots of magnets about these days.... most phones have them in. Most computers etc... put a compass near one and it will be affected. Once might not hurt, but repeated, or prolonged exposure can effect the ferromagnetic material the needles are made from.

 

[baggins]

you say the compass was lying amongst others? Well. there is the main problem, put 2 or more compasses together and they will all show different results. Magnetism is a fickle thing.
Best thing to do is get one and move it away from all the other instruments (inc, as HillBill says, any electronic devices). just make sure you have a good idea where north is before you check it.

 

[Robson Valley]

Easy for me to think back 50 years. HillBill's observation is spot on = now we live in an electromagnetic swamp and much of it is at less than arm's length.
Possibly, a display of compasses interfere with eachother?

I have a Recta Prospector, steel case, circa 1964. I have a Brunton Eclipse 8066, circa 1995. On the desk beside me with 3 computers running, they are both wrong by 30 degrees East.
One at a time, out the front door, they both read N by a land mark which I know is correct.

 

[Drain Bamaged]

I sent for some from Hong Kong the other week for the kids to use in bracelets via ebay from a seller called (delhanway2009) advertised as 10 pieces button compasses for bracelets (or similar wording) 99P for 10 plus free PP. they arrived quickly and ALL checked out as pointing true, I have no idea how long they will remain true but I fitted 2 into walking/wading staffs and they have been well used for the last three weeks with no problems. Maybe I was just extremely lucky but I was more than pleased with both the compasses, the service and the price. They really are nothing fancy but at 10p each I certainly wont hesitate to get more if and when......

D.B.

 

[Jared]

Look at Sun company from Japan... it's the button compass K&M match case settled on when the quality of button compasses declined.

http://www.kmmatchcase.com/content.php?page_id=78


Trunord make some brass ones, and then there's the Francis Barker survival compass.

 

[Tonyuk]

Silva make a good quality button compass that works very well,

Tonyuk

 

[General Strike]

Thanks for all the responses! I use Silva myself (preferred them when they were liquid-buffered, but hey) - and I didn't know they made a button compass. I'll check it out! Good tip regarding Sun company, too. Much appreciated!

I did wonder whether other magnets was the problem; especially since the proliferation of much more powerful rare earth magnets. However when I picked up and checked a few, the problem seemed to be more that they failed to rotate freely - that is the problem appeared to be more a manufacturing issue than a problem with the magnetism. That could have just been my perception, though.

 

[bushcraftkid2001]

I can sympathise with the poor quality of compasses-yesterday I took 24 mile hike with a compass I was given as a gift only to find out around 3 hours in that the needle labelled North actually pointed a few degrees off south and as a result ended up around 2 miles off course!

 

[Joe tahkahikew]

Only when you have thrown your compasses away and other fancy stuff will you be truly free to practice and navigate in the bush and see your environment as a resource and not a place to survive in. The wilderness is not wild. We never used a compass for finding our way. I have not met other 1st Nation people living up here who own a compass.

Maybe first thing is to learn and map your land in your head.

Second maybe learn how to navigate by natural means, looking for signs and so on. I saw all this possible in England as did my friend.

When I worked as a guide I was amused at how many folk from cities could not even tell me directions when the sun was out.

 

[General Strike]

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.

 

[bearbait]

I find a compass is useful in cities, particularly when you, for example, surface from the underground (subway) via one of the many station exits and are not sure which direction to head to your intended destination.

 

[Janne]

Only when you have thrown your compasses away and other fancy stuff will you be truly free to practice and navigate in the bush and see your environment as a resource and not a place to survive in. The wilderness is not wild. We never used a compass for finding our way. I have not met other 1st Nation people living up here who own a compass.

Maybe first thing is to learn and map your land in your head.

Second maybe learn how to navigate by natural means, looking for signs and so on. I saw all this possible in England as did my friend.

When I worked as a guide I was amused at how many folk from cities could not even tell me directions when the sun was out.

Yes, just like the Same in Scandinavia. The Second Nations.
But that is for us very difficult to obtain, as it takes a closedness to nature and living with nature for most of you time. Knowing your area well.

I am happy to be compass and map - less only in known areas. I can navigate with the sun and a watch precisely, with nature and sun - only fairly well, but would not trust my life or well being on it.
I would never wear electronics in the bush, nothing with a battery that can go flat or shorten out
No watch, GPS, no flashlight even.


When I was an officer, I had to take my guys to Stockholm for some training.
We had to teach the Sami how to behave in a big city. Pedestrian crossings, subway, revolving doirs. Big city stuff.
So it goes both ways.

They tought us real bush skills, we tought them real city skills.

 

[santaman2000]

Yes, just like the Same in Scandinavia. The Second Nations.
But that is for us very difficult to obtain, as it takes a closedness to nature and living with nature for most of you time. Knowing your area well.....

To be honest, almost everybody I knew growing up (all of us were country boys) could do the same; and our "closeness to nature and living with nature" were in no way comparable to the First Nations.

 

[SCOMAN]

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

 

[bigbear]

Well, there are situations where a compas is very useful. For instance I like to visit mountain areas that are new to me, and if the sun is, say, obscured by cloud then my compass allows me to have a good day out. I realise that the First nations did not visit strange areas, but some of us do.
In the UK the use of a compass is seen as essential for viaiting the hills.
Different strokes.......

 

[Robson Valley]

Hind sight tells me that I don't need a compass going out. A rough heading to get back in extremely bad conditions (blizzard) with no visible landmarks sure is nice.

 

[Tengu]

I can tell north from the sun.

However I live in a place with lots of cloud and fog. Compasses are a great help.

 

[santaman2000]

.....I realise that the First nations did not visit strange areas, but some of us do........

Wanna bet? There's ample archeological evidence of trading over several hundreds of miles overland in North America. In South America the Incan Empire extend over 1000 miles and required royal messengers travel over that distance. Lets not forget the Pacific Islanders long distance sea travel.

By the way, even when I was in the UK (not my normal area) I could still tell north from south, east from west without a compass; even in the dark. If you spend enough time outdoors (and it really doesn't have to be all day, every day) you learn to feel directions (not that I'd trust that in flight though)

Do I still use a compass? Of course. They're just plain fun! And besides, there's still that issue of flying and boating (as sated earlier, my skills aren't as good as the First Nations; here or Pacific Islanders)

 

[Joe tahkahikew]

About 35 years ago we were out hunting in late winter early/spring and we came across an Inuit and his dog team travelling across the tree line in northern Canada. One of the elder hunters in our party spoke a little Inuit with him and we found out he'd travelled across the ice from West Greenland. He thought it too late to return so he decided to stay. Last I heard he was working in a hotel in NorthWest Territories. When I told my Grandfather he said this often happened and later pointed out some of two of our people with Greenland inuit heritage. Apparently it was common in those days for Greenland Inuit to travel across the sea to northern Canada to hunt. Sometimes they stayed sometimes travelled back home. I don't know how many miles this is but it must be a few weeks by dog team/sled across the ice. All without compass and a lot of travel would be done at night when the conditions were faster.