Originally Posted By: ILBob
Originally Posted By: Snake_Doctor
My only concerns with GPS, which is great, are that the system could go down when I may need it, and battery failure. That's when a compass can be a lifesaver. Thanks for responding.


The chance of GPS going down is very low. Close to nil. The chance of it going down at the exact second one might need it is even lower.
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But it is also not real hard to break a compass, or to lose it. It is also not unheard of for local oddities such as deposits of magnetic materials to throw a compass off by a substantial amount.


Murphy's law says, and has repeatedly proven to me, that if it anything goes wrong it will go wrong at the worst possible time.

You're less likely to break a compass or GPS then you are to lose it. I've lost a number of compasses over the years and have picked up GPS's that other have lost. This is just general trail walking and not from catastropic loss (i.e. ditching the pack after ending up in the river) that would require a PSK.

As for a reliable compass; any brand name needle compass should do. I haven't tried the big military lensatic compasses, but the keychain disk compasses have questionabe reliability.
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