I completely agree!!! That is when I carry the Brunton 9020G in my pocket. That and when visiting large zoos, Disney parks, and similar.

My local suburban train station dumps out downtown at Chicago's Union Station, and I was happy to see large bronze (I assume) cardinal points embedded in the pavement just outside the station doors. Smart idea!

Went to Washington DC years ago, first time I was ever on a subway like that. Came up out of the ground and the streets were labeled like D4, I had to walk one way and then another to see if the letters and numbers were incrementing or decrementing to figure out what direction I was facing.

I like having a small, simple compass for coarse direction finding. I have found the Suunto Clipper (luminous) watchband compass to be pretty good. I have tried the no-name watchband compasses and they always fell apart.

The Clipper's mounting plate is open on 1 side. In my experience this invited the compass to get pulled off my watchband. I used a little JB Weld to close that side of the plate and it has been secure for over 2 years of daily wear in both urban and bushwacking environments.



A distinct advantage of a simple watchband compass is that you can casually glance at your wrist to read it. You don't have to take out your phone or keychain. People who see you think you're just looking at your watch. When standing or seated with your watch arm relaxed casually in front of you, you can check the compass by just glancing downward.

I love the idea of the digital watches from Suunto and Casio that have electronic compasses in them. But my research has shown that those puppies are expensive; the Clipper costs about $12. Besides, the Casio literature says their compass accuracy is spec'ed at only +/- 11 degrees, and I just need a general sense of the cardinal directions anyway.

I have been wearing a Casio w/ integral compass for a couple of years now. I don't remember precisely what I paid for it ($35, maybe), but if it was expensive, I would not be wearing it. Mainly the watch keeps good time and is water resistant to 200M, which is a lot more water resistant than I am. I don't think I have ever needed to use the compass feature, although it is nice to have around.

Sad to say, I do not have any experience with the smaller compasses being discussed. I will need to look into that. Appreciate the info on the Clipper.

I agree that the Brunton 9020G is a excellent pocket compass. I really like the fact that the 9020G can be adjusted for declination.

Visit www.magnetic-declination.com for declination info.

If there are any small models worth checking out please let me know.

Blake

www.outdoorquest.biz
www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com

I got the Sun compass with thermometer. The polarity is reversed. Does this sort thing happen a lot?

I assume there is no way to fix it other than throwing it away...

Your's is the second one I've heard of. The other was a baseplate compass (Suunto?) about 12-14 years back. I'm guessing it's rare. I don't think it can be fixed, but I'd hang onto it as a conversation piece.

Bingley... my Suunto Clipper also reversed

I your compass' polarity changes then it's time to put it in the trash.

The clipper looks interesting but also seems very hard to find.

The small ball compass with the safety pin type of clip are just OK. I find they will give you a trend of direction and thats about it.

Blake

I keep a couple 20mm button compasses with me most every day. In my job I might start a day in a motel, but end the day a 100 miles away searching for receivers or shot points in the densest thicket imaginable in the absolute middle of nowhere (just me, my machete and Big Foot). All I need is a general idea of true north and I can generally locate the lines and points (miles from nowhere) and when through, can generally meander my way back to my vehicle on some overgrown logging road before the sun completely sets. I loose these tiny compasses all the time (maybe one or two a week). Be sure to purchase the liquid filled Grade AAs. I purchase them six dozen at a time. They are much better quality than the Grade As for numerous reasons, but to me its mostly because the Grade AAs are more heat tolerant if left in a car on a summer day. When I'm in unfamiliar cities I use them when on foot trying to orient so as to locate a Starbucks or some shade tree attorney's office. However I always go a little out of my way to find a road that I'm reasonably certain runs due North and South and check the button compass's declination for that area. (Good roads to use for determining declination are harder to find than you may think. It's best to ask a local surveyor to tell you which local road or road segment comes closet to running true North and South.) Just remember to check it a couple times before you start depending on it in the woods or in the city --- to rule out outside influences.

By far the best button compasses in my view are the Nato ones. However, there extraordinarily expensive (expensive as all get out) and hard to come by. In any case, every member of my family keeps one of these Nato compasses with them in their PSKs.

As for key chain compasses, in my view the best in the business is the machined solid brass 150C Tru-Nord Key Chain model. What really separates the US made Tru-Nords from the European (Scandinavian) pack is that the Tru-Nords are compensated at the factory for the zip code where the key chain compass is to be used. When I work on projects outside of the USA, I just send Tru-Nord the Lat & Lon of where it will be used and they quickly have a new compensated one delivered to my door step. When using the Tru-Nord, you get true north only without having to fret over declination - although there's nothing they can do about the wobble of the earth. I have a drawer full of the factory compensated Tru-Nords, each tagged by location. They're my work horses on all my major field projects. They're light but built like tanks. High end in every respect.