Byrd_Huntr, let me know if you ever tire of owning the Taylor...

The Brunton 7DNL is a good little compass for the price and is the one I will be getting my nephew for his first compass.

Yes, the marketing does set of junk alarms, but it can't be all that bad. I'm a little surprised no one has any experience at all to contribute.

Thanks for the ideas. I never thought about buying a cheaper "trainer" just to test if the real deal might work with my eyes.

I also found where you can get a pair of these trainers for $13.47 (member price) at SportsmansGuide:

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=459641

I previously had written these off as junk imitations, but they might well be useful to test for eyesight issues and to play around with.

I'm not.

This crowd is above average when it comes to optimizing the gear they use and bring with them, I am not at all surprised that no one here has tested this particular gadget. Too many gadgets, too little time... don't waste time on the gadgets that trip your junk-o-meter.

Quality scepticism aside, there are some objective reasons not to choose this particular combination of instruments. Here's why:

1) It violates the KISS principle. Big time. (Keep It Simple Stupid).

2) Base plate compasses (the transparent ones you can place on a map so it is easy to read direction from A to B) are pretty much what you want when using the compass with a map. I've yet to see a digital compass that you can use this way.

3) Neither altimeter, barometer nor thermometer are vital instruments for your survival. I can give you a long rant under which circumstances they are useful. My experience with altimeters is limited to the research I did before deciding NOT to buy one. I found out when and how it would be useful - and that was just too limited for my liking. In addition, altimeter use for navigation is made obsolete by the GPS. As a weather forecaster I have a pretty good idea of what you can extract from barometer and thermometer. Going into detail will be a long rant that concludes that you don't really need any of them. A compass, on the other hand, is vital.

4) Electronic gadgets can and will fail for a lot of reasons, including failure to charge the solar powered device during daylight hours. A good quality analog compass will only fail if you crush it or loose it.

Although that's unlikely, it's good to see that you appreciate a nice piece of brass.

I wouldn't choose a digital compass. You are relying upon electronics that can go bad in just the worst time.

KISS is indeed the way to go when choosing gear you rely upon

Whatever you do, don't get a Silva voyager 8010.


Nice and high-vis, but the bezel creaks like the coffin-lid of a bad horror movie and the bevel markings are sort of stenciled and rub off very quickly (the black paint of the scale markings on the sides of the plate also seem to wear away quickl).

Half a year of daily carry and very frequent use and I can barely make out the bearing.

I also have a Recta DP 65, because I travel a lot.

I have all that in my watch. The compass is roughly equivalent to a button compass. It'll stop you walking round in circles, and make sure you are walking along a road in the right direction and not 180 degrees wrong. It's not really for precision orienteering. It's better than nothing, and it's main benefit for me is that I always have it on me, even if I wasn't planning to get lost.

I can't really comment on the barometer. All I've done with mine is compare it with a GPS height. In theory it might help you figure out which map contour line you are on, but only if you calibrate it first to a known reference, and even then the weather has to be relatively stable.

The purpose of the thermometer is to help the device correct the other sensors for temperature variations. It doesn't have much direct utility for the end-user.

Being solar powered is a big benefit for a gadget watch like this. It means you can use the features without worrying about bringing closer the time when you have to replace the battery; the features become free to use. MostlyHarmless mentioned a concern about it not being charged due to not enough sunlight or something. That's not been a concern for me. With normal wearing, my watch's power indicator has never dropped below "high". So this contributes to the "always with you, always available" vibe.

PS My watch is a Casio PRW-1500. Great if you like gadgets, but not the cheapest way to get a compass.

Just ran into a store sale earlier today and picked up a Suunto MC-2G on impulse buy. Having buyer's remorse now, I really don't need a compass that good.

Whats worse is they last a lifetime so you have a long time to remorse about it !