What compass to get? Digital or normal? Recommendations?

[matnoo]

I want to buy an accurate compass. I cant bring myself to spend anything more than about £15 on anything smaller than a can of beer as I LOOSE EVERYTHING!

Soooooooo. Which of these would you recommend

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Deluxe-Professiona...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V...p;rd=1&rd=1

or is a digital compass more accurate? Whats the difference practically? And how do they work? Would you recommend any (on ebay ideally) under £20? Although theyre generally quite expensive... but this is a cheap one, but how do you point them in an accurate position?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/digital-compass-co...1QQcmdZViewItem

Basically i dont know anything!

Any (fast!) answers would be good, as i need to buy this fairly soon!

 

[BrendanS]

These are ideal for marine use
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hand-bearing-compa...1QQcmdZViewItem

Tho I've one of these (well, mine is a 20 year old version), and it works perfectly at sea, as long as things aren't too rough, but you'll never get an 'accurate' result in those conditions.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silva-34952-Ranger-27/dp/B000KMEIV0

The first allows an accurate sight when there is a slight to medium swell. The second allows a very accurate sight using a mirror to allow you to see the actual compass and line up with the target when things are calm.

though a bit above your £15 limit

 

[noswellplease]

Funny thing is, I loose everything too, I'm presently looking for the stub for my Raymarine auto tiller, anyone got any suggestions where it might be? Perhaps I should board up some nooks and crannies.

 

[William_H]

I have got a beut little compass by Suunto. It was made for divers with a wrist strap. It has liquid filled (damped) bowl and card for both looking down on top of and peeping sideways for a bearing through the peep sights. It was quite cheap though bought some time back.
If you have a diving specialist store have a look for compasses.
olewill

 

[William_H]

www.divingniknaks.com appear to have what I was talking about for 24squid it is called a Polaris no connection olewill

 

[Bilgediver]

or is a digital compass more accurate? Whats the difference practically? And how do they work? Would you recommend any (on ebay ideally) under £20? Although theyre generally quite expensive... but this is a cheap one, but how do you point them in an accurate position?
...............................................................................

The digital compasses are not always as accurate as one would expect due to the effects of tilt on the fluxgate compass.

It is easy to get errors of plus and minus 5 degrees on top of any user errors /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[seumask]

I find the digital compas very usefull as the one i have (ancient autohelm) keeps a record of the last 10 bearings taken. Very usefull for that transit of a ship you are hoping to miss.

 

[jimbaerselman]

First Q, what do you want the compass for?

Steering? Taking bearings to assess colllision risk? Or for plotting fixes? or for underwater navigation? or walking?

Digital is NBG for steering, since orientation doesn't have much context. But it's very good for taking bearings on vessels - as long as you keep it level.

Horses for courses . . .

 

[whipper_snapper]

Except for old fashioned 3-point fixes, I prefer a non digital 'puck' type hand bearing compass.

For me, the most frequent use is to keep an eye on clearing or approach bearings in one form or another. For that you need to know which side of the 'danger' line you are and I find it much easier on the brain to sight along the bearing you want, and see which side the object is, it is then obvious which way to turn to stay on the safe side or to put the object on the desired bearing. That is much harder with a digital compass.

I hope that makes sense!