I just returned yet another butane-lighter-with-compass to elighters.com, this one the "Adventurer" from Solo, the outfit that makes the "Storm" lighter I currently use for EDC. The compass always pointed in one direction- relative to the lighter, not relative to the Earth.

That makes five lighters-with-compasses I've tried, from a few dollars up to about $80, from east-asian knockoffs (eBay) that I simply threw in the trash, to examples from Colibri, Lucienne and now Storm.

Not one of the compasses has worked.
Not one of the compasses has come close to working. Not one would consistently settle down within 45 degrees of magnetic North. That's not a very strict requirement.

I still don't see anything wrong with the concept- there's little or nothing in a piezo-butane lighter that needs to be made of ferrous or otherwise magnetic material... but it seems that not one of the current manufacturers has bothered to test to see if the factory output actually works, or perhaps they just don't care. Apparently they feel that including a compass shouldn't imply that the compass actually points North more often than in any other direction.

Along with some way to help with water procurement, fire, knife and compass are near the tops of most people's lists, and it's tempting to combine them in some ways to reduce the clutter in kits or EDC- but as of now this obvious avenue seems to be a dead end, and the best word I can offers is not to spend money on it until, or unless, the manufactuerers take the trouble to make one that actually works. Maybe the Swissflame/Campflame knife/lighters will be more successful.

The concept of putting the compass on the side of the lighter is flawed. Even a piezo lighter has a steel spring and the compass needle has a strong tendency to align with it. It´s possible to make springs from nonmagnetic material, but they are inferior.
It might work if the spring is aligned with axis of the compass needle. However that´s bound to bloat the lighter.
Maybe most of the customers don´t care if the compass on the lighter actually works. So the manufacturers can get away with a product that doesn´t work.

Silva markets an aluminum matchcase with a decent compass in the threaded cap. I personally find the concept of combination units fataly flawed. There will always be compromises due to size,conflicting ergonomics and simple cost.

Here at my local mall I found a great little round, flat liquid filled compass that was sold as a key-chain. The key ring attracted the compass in the same way. I just removed the metal parts and include these compass' in my various kits as back ups to my regular compass.

I have given up on combo-tools unless I can actually see and handle the piece. Mac

And a compass is not the tools to try and economize. If you ever really need to use it. you will be trusting it absolutely (dense fog at sea, featureless woods, etc.) Another one of those situations where the big bucks you spentin town shrink in significance when you get out in the wilds

In the case of the Colibri "Seal" model, the compass unscrews from the lighter. It must have taken real engineering to make sure it wouldn't work even when separated from the lighter, but they managed it somehow. I examined the one I received, and later three more in a shop, and not a single compass worked, even when removed from the lighter... and this was the most expensive of the bunch. I find that amazing.

I think you're right, I think many may regard it as just decoration. In the shop while this testing was going on, the clerk kept saying "it's a lighter", as though that explained why it was silly to expect the compasses to work, no matter what it cost.

Still, a compass that doesn't actually point North isn't really a compass, is it?

Whoah.. before we go galloping off with those assumptions, let me say up front that I've used compasses on land and water for decades, and I'm more than willing to spend for "serious" hand-bearing compasses in either venue- I own several. I'm not about to use a lighter-compass for orienteering, reverse-azimuth piloting on the water, or calling in artillery or air strikes.

This was more in the lines of an attempt to add a compass for EDC, mostly for city carry, mostly for orienting myself when coming out of strange subway stations, etc. Of course, there's always the possibility of emergency use, but still, in the city, it's pretty much a matter of cardinal points. I'd like to have something on my person, but, as was said in another recent thread, I'm reluctant to add yet another object to EDC. I already carry a lighter (even though I don't smoke) so it seemed a natural.

I was similarly disappointed with a Victorinox (The Swiss Army knife folks) watch I bought that had a compass on the watchband. The watch works fine, but the compass was worthless. Sometimes it would work okay if you beat it against something, but it generally just pointed off in a random direction, even when I took the compass off the watchband. I finally spend four bucks on a little Coghlan's wrist compass and stuck that on my watchband. Works like a champ!

Incidentally, the Coghlan's wrist compasses are easily disassembled into a tiny 1/2" diameter liquid-filled compass which works beautifully in a PSK! <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

For my urban carry compass, I use a Casio Pathfinder watch. Although it is accurate to 1 degree, and compensates for magnetic deviation, I still don't trust it enough to take it into the woods. Anything with batteries is obviously a weak link. It works as good as any other compass I've used. It is affected by nearby ferrous metals, but it is not affected by itself. For my EDC, particularly in the above mentioned subway scenario, it does a wonderful job. In a real survival situation, it would be better than nothing at all, and the battery should last 18 months (according to Casio). It can be used in the dark without using a flashlight. Fallible? Yes. Better than nothing? Yes. Do I have a backup? Of course.

I have a couple of "button" compasses in the kits that came from REI key fobs, and they work fine. Interestingly, they also seem to work fine when held against the side of a Windmill lighter. Doesn't seem like the technological hurdle should be that difficult.