I'm of a similar mind on this. I've really questioned the usefulness of button compasses in many survival kits. Without a map and at least a general idea of where you are, I can't see them being much good. I guess as a minimum, you'd need to have a known baseline for one to help.

That said, I've started looking at them (and much of my "emergency" kit) as a back-ups. I should have a base-plate compass and map, but if something were to happen to my compass (loss, damage, etc) then having the button in my kit should actually be helpful.