Questions about compasses

**Sarge47** · 07-16-2014, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by ninjasurvivor

I'm not sure I fully understand lensatic compasses. The only difference is they have a sight that allows you to more easily visually align yourself with your objective. I don't like the size and weight of them though.

One thing I've always said about using a compass is that it only works if you have a map, know where you are, and know where you need to be. A lot of people say a compass will help you if you are lost. I disagree. You can generally determine cardinal directions by using the sun or stars. That's all a compass does for you. If you don't know where you are at or where you need to be to find rescue, the compass provides you little value other than helping you travel in a straight line.

A compass does help you for other things as well. Plot a course, find a location, draw a map, etc....

**ninjasurvivor** · 07-16-2014, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Sarge47

A compass does help you for other things as well. Plot a course, find a location, draw a map, etc....

Ok, go grab your compass. Now draw a map of China. Is it helping???

**Sarge47** · 07-16-2014, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by ninjasurvivor

Ok, go grab your compass. Now draw a map of China. Is it helping???

You're losing your credibility, you know that, right?....

Try using it properly and you'll see what I mean. Whenever somebody is in a survival situation drawing a map with specific co-ordinates of the area is a great idea...Cody Lundin teaches this....

Get lost in a large forest, the kind we have here in the mid-west and don't have in Arizona. You can't see the sun or the stars and it's really easy to get turned around.

**Rick** · 07-16-2014, 06:27 PM

They may be a map of China on your Chinese compass. Just sayin.....

**Tokwan** · 07-16-2014, 09:55 PM

Ease your mind. You don't need a pro compass. You only need a conmpass for you to tell the direction. If you are using a topo map, ur compass is good enough. If the compass can show you the correct direction, allows you to calculate your bearings to show your location and it is correct, then it is good enough. Have a couple for back up..I only have 3 compass...one on my survival kit, one in my pocket, one on my Coughlan whistle...I carry a Garmin GPS..hehehe.

Get a GPS and mark all your routes there...and do have spare batteries....good enuff man.

**hunter63** · 07-16-2014, 10:10 PM

So is the Asia North the same as North America North?....
GPS programed local?
Don't you have an app for that.

**blackfinger** · 07-16-2014, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by finallyME

I was trained on compasses in the military with a lensatic. But, I ditched that when I bought my Brunton (silva ranger equivalent). I will always claim that a good baseplate compass with a sighting mirror is easier to use, lighter, easier to learn on, and easier to sight, than any lensatic. Plus, it has declination adjustment. This really becomes evident when I have to teach 12 year old boys how to use a compass. Trust me, a baseplate is much easier.

I wholeheartedly agree. I ditched the lensatic style years ago. I was trained by a military friend on a baseplate compass and never looked back. Been using the same Silva Ranger for over 20 years now. When I teach kids I always teach them with a standard baseplate compass.

**Sarge47** · 07-17-2014, 12:07 AM

Originally Posted by Tokwan

Ease your mind. You don't need a pro compass. You only need a conmpass for you to tell the direction. If you are using a topo map, ur compass is good enough. If the compass can show you the correct direction, allows you to calculate your bearings to show your location and it is correct, then it is good enough. Have a couple for back up..I only have 3 compass...one on my survival kit, one in my pocket, one on my Coughlan whistle...I carry a Garmin GPS..hehehe.

Get a GPS and mark all your routes there...and do have spare batteries....good enuff man.

Cheap compasses fall apart way too easy or don't always work properly, at least that's been my experience. You get what you pay for. A GPS is very costly, over a hundred dollars for the cheapest one. Why buy an expensive GPS when it's less costly to buy a good quality compass? Why spend a lot of money on good quality gear like a knife but not your compass that your life may well depend on? Why go primitive on a lot of other things but rely on an electronic device that will most likely fail you if dropped on rocks or into water?...

Boats, airplanes, and even newer cars have a built in compass in addition to GPS systems...why? To be safe of course....

**Tokwan** · 07-17-2014, 02:00 AM

I use both...GPS and compass.....a gs usually, then back to compass if the gps fails.....and i forgot to tell you..I have 3 compasses...One is a Silva, one is a Suunto and the other one is the button compass on my Coughlan whistle...

**ninjasurvivor** · 07-17-2014, 08:41 AM

The problem I have with "maps" and compasses, is that a map is usually for a large area. Unless you have some hand drawn pirate treasure map or something.

If you are talking about navigating over land on foot, you likely won't be covering that much territory. I hear people on the internet talk about how they hike 20 miles a day 7 days a week without sleeping (in the snow uphill both ways), but who knows if that is real or not. I know that when I am trekking/hunting/hiking/camping, I am not covering anywhere near that amount of territory.

When you have a small area of operation, a map of a 1000 square mile area isn't going to do you much good. I may only need to get from one precise location to another precise location a mile and a half away. It's important that I know my heading so I can make it directly there and return from whence I came, but other than that I don't see the value of complex orienteering. Maybe for military personnel, but not for me.

**crashdive123** · 07-17-2014, 08:59 AM

By printing your own maps from Google Earth or any of the myriad of sites that have them, you can make them as small or as large as you want.

**finallyME** · 07-17-2014, 09:06 AM

I print my own maps from the internet and can set the scale to be something that is useful to what I am doing. Since I like to go places I haven't been before, I rely on maps to get me to a specific "cool" location.

**Sarge47** · 07-17-2014, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by ninjasurvivor

The problem I have with "maps" and compasses, is that a map is usually for a large area. Unless you have some hand drawn pirate treasure map or something.

If you are talking about navigating over land on foot, you likely won't be covering that much territory. I hear people on the internet talk about how they hike 20 miles a day 7 days a week without sleeping (in the snow uphill both ways), but who knows if that is real or not. I know that when I am trekking/hunting/hiking/camping, I am not covering anywhere near that amount of territory.

When you have a small area of operation, a map of a 1000 square mile area isn't going to do you much good. I may only need to get from one precise location to another precise location a mile and a half away. It's important that I know my heading so I can make it directly there and return from whence I came, but other than that I don't see the value of complex orienteering. Maybe for military personnel, but not for me.

Remember, this is about surviving, not just hiking around the countryside. Here's a fun idea, take a plain sheet of paper and draw a small X right in the center, that's your home. Now, using your compass, draw a straight line in one of the bottom corners designating magnetic North. Orient your map to magnetic North using your compass. Now do some exploring, find out what's around you that might be important to you. Then, shoot a bearing to it using your compass, write what it is, and how many paces/yards/etc. it is from your home. repeat this designating water source, food source, emergency shelter location, etc.. Why? Well, to be honest, I don't know what the weather conditions are like where you live, but we get a lot of tornadoes here and the scenery can change in a heartbeat. I like to map out my general area to show berry producing bushes and trees, Morel locations, water locations in case of an emergency, emergency exits out of here if I have to use them. Just an idea and something to do while learning more about your compass....

**ninjasurvivor** · 07-17-2014, 09:47 AM

Good idea about making your own custom maps from google. That's obviously assuming you had the ability to plan your excursion in advance and have access to a printer.

I'm big on navigating by landmarks. Something as simple as taking off in one direction away from a road. You know that the road is back "that way" and if you continue in that direction you will eventually find it. You don't even need to know whether you are heading N S E W as long as you know which way to walk in order to return to where you started.

I rarely find myself in foreign locations where everything looks the same and I have no idea what geographical and terrain features I am looking at. All it takes is knowing that a high visible peak is north of your location, and you'll always be able to orient yourself based on that one piece of information. That's a specific example, but it could work under many circumstances.