I want to carry a compass but want to get as much out of pockets as I can.

I came across a cell phone compass program. I thought that this would be a great solution.... but ...

Unfortunately, I have Verizon which uses BREW rather than J2ME.

If you need a free compass download for your cell phone (if it is J2ME compatible). You can take a look at the one I ran across here:
http://qcontinuum.org/compass/

As another possibility I was also exploring watches that have compass's. But I was having a hard time locating one that might look good for a night on the town. I would rather not have one that looked like a calculator watch if you catch my drift.

For example the Timex Titanium E-compass Watch looked pretty decent (I thought).

I admit that even a watch seems to be unnecessary as most of us have cell phones these days, but it would still get items out of my pockets!

Also I'm looking for something that doesn't require a monthly subscription! Yes, my cell (LG VX8600) supports GPS if I want to pay for it too.

The Marbles liquid filled compass that I currently have on my key chain needs to be phased out.

Any ideas? Thanks

Look at this site http://www.survivalkeychain.com/compass.asp

Take one of the teeny-tiny button compasses and super glue it to an aluminum dog tag or something like that. Even turn/adapt the keychain compass into a necklace.

Just a thought

Avoid single point of failure to multiple systems;
Single item,i.e. cell phone fails,now commo fails,compass fails gps fails etc.
A simple button compass was used as a escape compass by the army in WWII can be concealed anywhere. You just can't improve on it.
The dry type NATO from PSI are great.
Electronics fail from time to time.
Remember that old adage that a tool that does many things does none of them well.
Blue Skys

Definitely always carry a regular compass as a backup since electronic ones can be unreliable and there is always the issue of batteries running out.
Bill

Unless you are going to have something based in a computerized electronic device, such as a cell phone or gps unit, or you are going to carry something large, or a magntic compass. You can get a magnetic compass in various sizes, but you seem to want something small that will not take up space in a pocket.

It's not the most accurate compass in the world, but maybe you should think of one for a zipper like: http://www.campingsurvival.com/rozipuco.html.

I'm not big on carrying a compass, I experience about one time a year when I feel like I want one on land, and that soon passes. Generally, I figure out direction without much thought at all, kind of an innate skill. However, I do have a couple of these, just in case, and because of the ease in carrying them.

Your cell supports aGPS which is not the same as GPS. A better name would have been simulated GPS because. It is dependent on the cell phone service which is why the subscription. Go out in the woods and loose the cell signal and you have no GPS, subscription or not.

Welcome to the board.

I use a small Suunto compass that clips to my watchband kind of like this. Except the one I purchased has a glow in the dark dial and pointer.

Welcome! It's not clear how accurate you need the compass to be. But like GarlyDog, I have used a little compass that slipped over my watchband in the past. Can't remember if it was Sunnto or some other brand. Unobtrusive but as easy to check as looking at the time.

Hi duckbill,

Thanks for the link for the mobile phone compass download. Have you tried the Silva SERE 40 Luminous compass. Its about 17 mm diameter and 4 mm thick (about the size of a medium sized button), so its really small fast and weighs less than a gram.



Silva SERE 40

I have this one by Cammenga, who make the compasses the US army uses. Pricy at $40 bucks, but the Tritium Lumination is nice comming out of the woods at night.

http://cammenga.com/cammenga-products.php?category=2