Someone please explain button compasses

Years ago there used to be orienting organizations and clubs all over the country. I never had an interest in joining. However, I have a suspicion that GPS Geo caching has probably replaced that in popularity. That doesn't interest me either, but it seems to be quite popular from what I have read. A web-search will probably tell you quick enough. Orienting classes would probably be a great way to start learning and they probably have a lot of field practice. Same thing in the military, lots of practice… and where I learned they always waited for the worst weather possible, especially for night navigation… so the sooner you finished the sooner you got out of the cold, freezing, wet weather :)

Here are my thoughts on and about the button compasses, and the alternative as I see it:

–In a real pinch, the button/watch strap compasses are certainly useful enough to give a general idea of direction. This can be helpful after dark, in rough weather or when one is under duress due to cold, stress, whatever.

–If you're real good, one might even be able to navigate effectively with a button compass. I'm "good", however, and I sure wouldn't want to.

–Button and mini ball compasses are notoriously inaccurate and often correctly referred to as "toy compasses" by those of us that deride both actual toys and items that are just dumb.

–There are excellent, UL alternatives to the button compass. I'm not referring to fantasies about rubbing wool on a needle, and then floating that on an oak leaf you find in the snow, but actual products that work: the Silva Ranger LF/Brunton Trooper compass is a miniature sighting compass with declination adjustment and a killer pin-on feature. It's very light, and yet folds open and flat enough to plot on maps, also including plotter lines in the capsule.

I used an older version, called a Silva Huntsman (not the version online now) for many years that was the same, but w/o the sighting mirror. Now, I have the Brunton Trooper among my kit and it's a standout in terms of "UL with utility" — I can nail it on orienteering courses with this compass and it's tiny. Buttons are cute, but I prefer tools.

Button compasses are most useful to good navigators who understand when to use coarse methods, and when to use fine methods. If you have the knowledge and experience to use coarse methods like handrails, catching features, collecting features, and general terrain association then a functional button compass can be effective if it is all you have. (Google those last 4 terms and you will learn something useful). Button compasses are a reasonable option as backups to a 'real' compass, thus their popularity in compact survival kits.

A button compass is not a good tool for fine navigation, i.e. walking a specific azimuth.

The key is to use the concepts for real in the field so that you develop confidence in them, and (most importantly) you develop the judgment to know when coarse methods are good enough. Fortunately, they are good enough most of the time.

So the irony is that while a button compass is often seen as a cheap toy for dilettantes, it takes someone with real capability to make good use of them.

If you take the time to get reasonably skilled at formal orienteering, navigation on hiking trips will seem ridiculously elementary to you.

I agree that button compasses require a higher skill level to use successfully. You also have to aware of the potential magnetic fields being emitted by the various electronic gadgets that may be in close proximity – in your pack or pockets. This applies to all magnetic compasses. Another reason not to carry electronics in the bush?

I find that changing hemisphere is great way to lose your innate sense of direction. I have learnt to be very careful to think through my navigation decisions when I walk in the Northern Hemisphere as the sun, even on a really cloudy day, still affects your perception on N and S.

"I find that changing hemisphere is great way to lose your innate sense of direction."

Absolutely. All of my experience was in the Northern Hemisphere. I was used to the summer being in July, and I was used to the noon sun being in the Southern sky. I was used to the most snow and ice being on the North side of a mountain.

Then in 1996 we went to Argentina for a climb. Everything changed. It was summer in January, and I don't think I ever found the noon sun. The most snow and ice was on the South side. Fortunately, I had a GPS receiver along. Once I got it set to the datum for that part of the world, it was ready, but I kept wondering why everything was backwards in the sky.

–B.G.–

"Years ago there used to be orienteering organizations and clubs all over the country."

I take my boys orienteering from time to time. It's a fun way to learn map and compass skills in a semi-competetive environment. I bet you could find a YouTube video on it. :)

"I find that changing hemisphere is great way to lose your innate sense of direction."

I found that in Zimbabwe, I was always having to turn myself around be very consciously remembering I was south of the Equator for the first time. The procedure with the watch was different, etc.

Also, North American / Euporean compasses (at least the good ones) aren't magnetized parallel to the needle, because they'd try to point North AND DOWN. So they are magnetized at an angle to plane of the compass. (Physics class demos have a vertical-axis, horizontal-rotating compass (similar to a normal one) PLUS a horizontal-axis, vertically-rotating one to show, in combination, the direction to the North Pole in 3-space.) As such, good Northern Hemisphere compasses don't work as well in the South – they bind more on the pivot and the needle doesn't sit as level.

"good Northern Hemisphere compasses don't work as well in the South – they bind more on the pivot and the needle doesn't sit as level."

I love the Suunto global needle compasses. Even if you don't travel far from your home area, the global needle damps very fast and is more forgiving of being held less than perfectly level. They are very stable and readable while moving.

Non-mirrored:
http://www.suunto.com/us/en/products/Fieldcompasses/suunto-m-3-global/suunto-m-3-global-cm

Mirrored:
http://www.suunto.com/en/products/Fieldcompasses/SUUNTO-MC-2-GLOBAL/

I did the compass test the way Roger explained in his post before I threw it away basically I think it was the Captain Jack Sparrow Compass. It was just a faulty compass I have found that with most button compasses some are accurate and some are inaccurate .

I have the orienteering merit badge in boy scouts and I personally like a proper compass and map for trail navigation because it saves walking distance because they show the points and degrees in between North,South,East,West that is needed for proper cross country navigation.
Terry

I have a button compass on my watch band and have used it often in the real world to straighten myself out.

Okay for general direction finding, but a lot of them I have looked at lately are bad. N is pointing to NE or NW. One really bad one was pointing to WNW when it should have been pointing to north. Its best to check them against a good compass.

You put one in your girlfriend's/boyfriend's navel, you follow the arrow. Regardless of where it's pointing, it's pointing in a fun direction. Follow it.

Seems pretty simple to me.

keep the declination adjustment in mind

Well as a self-described compass nerd I’ll just post my $0.02.

I keep a button compass in my emergency kit. I tested it against a couple known good compasses to be sure it was accurate. I have found that a lot of these button compasses are so cheap that they are off quite a bit. Now would I use it for primary navigation? No. But in bad conditions if it was all I had I would definitely use it to keep from walking in circles. I have a Casio Pathfinder watch I wear that has an electronic compass that is accurate enough for me to use and keep my bearings in a rough sense.

Over the years I’ve managed to collect quite a few compasses and had a chance to use them in the field. I made a video with my observations. Now it’s on YouTube so some people may not want to watch it. :)

Compass Overview

The lightest full featured compass is the Suunto M-3G. This is a non-mirrored compass weighing 1.6 oz.. It has declination, global needle, inclinometer and useful map scales on the base. The global needle, as others have stated, is they way to go. I own the M-3DL version which I’ve had for years. It is the non-global needle version of the M-3G basically. The needle on it takes a longer to settle and it is harder to use when on the move. The global needle settles faster, works when moving, and is much more tolerant if the base is not perfectly level.

And for the record, I took my M-3DL to New Zealand for some hiking and when I pulled it out it the needle was stuck pointing straight down. It was completely worthless! I needed a compass that was balanced for that region. Supposedly the global needle will take care of that. However the chances that a button compass is adjusted for such a thing is basically zero. So consider that if Southern Hemisphere trekking is on your mind.

Last year I was out with a group of people and several of them had phone GPSs and didn’t think they needed a map and compass. Well the area we went to had no cell phone service. Without cell phone service there was no data network. No data network meant the GPS program they were using couldn’t pull down maps from the Internet. So all they had were lat/long coordinates which are useless for navigation without a map. Personally I use the map/compass as my primary navigation and phone GPS (with pre-cached maps!) as secondary.

My favorite button compass is the Suunto Clipper. I don’t think they make it any longer however.

Craig,

I really enjoyed your video. Nicely done.

> Last year I was out with a group of people and several of them had phone GPSs and
> didn't think they needed a map and compass. Well the area we went to had no cell
> phone service. Without cell phone service there was no data network. No data network
> meant the GPS program they were using couldn't pull down maps from the Internet. So
> all they had were lat/long coordinates which are useless for navigation without a map.

PLUS: the recent solar eruption risks putting many satellites temporarily out of action. No GPS for a while, and limited phones.

Snicker.

"PLUS: the recent solar eruption risks putting many satellites temporarily out of action. No GPS for a while, and limited phones."

So do their PLB's still work? :)

Nick,

Thanks for the compliment.

Craig

>PLUS: the recent solar eruption risks putting many satellites temporarily out of action. No GPS for a while, and limited phones.
>
>Snicker.

The thing is with a map is I get a better feel for the lay of the land and where things are situated. A GPS gives you this little postage stamp sized display, or maybe a smart phone display at best. It is hard to see the range of terrain around you, if water sources are nearby, alternate route planning, etc. A map is the best way to visualize these things. On another trip I was the only person carrying a map and other people had a GPS. When planning the return route they all wanted to use my map to see things and not their GPS units. The map was just easier to use.

I do use a GPS/Topo map on my iphone (iTopoMaps) though. It allows caching of quads and is handy for a quick fix, storing way points, etc.. But mostly this is always secondary to the map and compass.

"PLUS: the recent solar eruption risks putting many satellites temporarily out of action. No GPS for a while, and limited phones."

The recent solar activity does a couple of things. First, it increases the noise in the sky, so your GPS receiver will have a slightly harder time picking out the GPS satellite signals from the noise. Maybe it will pick up only six satellites instead of eight. However, that tends to be minor, and it generally results in increased position error. But, it isn't the end of the Earth as we know it.

Secondly, if a particular spot of this solar outburst were to hit just perfectly, it can temporarily screw up one or two particular satellites. In a worst case situation, it could even kill a satellite. However, that is why there are 30-odd GPS satellites in space. We can afford to have one or two satellites killed, or one or two satellites sickened, and still the overall system works, albeit with slightly reduced accuracy.

Now, if something happened to knock out one-third of the GPS satellites… then we would be in trouble. GPS would still work poorly. The system is intended to survive World War III.

That's funny. My paper topo map is still working fine.

–B.G.–

> So do their PLB's still work? :)
Maybe, but maybe not.
Given the uncertainties associated with the impact of a solar flare or CME on the troposphere and all the satellites, we really have NO idea what will fail.
But a recent solar flare took out parts of the power grid.

Cheers

Elite orienteering competitors use a thumb compass which is basically like a button compass strapped to your thumb. The accuracy with which these guys can navigate over featureless terrain using this type of compass whilst running is astounding.

"Given the uncertainties associated with the impact of a solar flare or CME on the troposphere and all the satellites, we really have NO idea what will fail."

The U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Air Force, and the Space Command all like to keep the Aussies guessing. It keeps them on their toes.

–B.G.–

I think it's been said that someone who's really good and practiced with a decent button compass can navigate. I know I did.

How-ever, those among us who don't walk the hyperbolic talk of the 'net may find that the "extra weight" of a good mini compass (as compared to a button) is the difference between "utile" and "futile". Hey, the super-gnar ultralighter will use a floating leaf, wooled-needle and water cupped in her hand to navigate in a hurricane at night. With a button compass, these folks could navigate accurately across polar ice, of course!

Mere mortals, however, occasionally plot lines on maps, take bearings or set a heading. Buttons do none of these, even when they're not just a toy. So, mortal UL wannabes must choose: carry both (eeek!) or carry the lightest version that's functionally useful. Your results may vary.

What about this compass?
http://countycomm.com/navcomp.html
Looks pretty beefy for a button compass and county comm carries military surplus items.