I love my USAF survival compass so much that I am halfway afraid to carry it! The tritium is long dead on mine, but it is great.

I really want a TruNord compass too, but have put it off due to the price. They certainly receive great praises.

Let me also add that my previous post regarding Brunton compasses is incorrect. I wrote that from memory and upon checking the compasses out I realized they are actually 15mm and 20mm. Sometime today I will respond to the emails I have received.

the other advantage to those is that you know its laying flat since it's floating on water.

Paul D,

Triple Aught has the keyring model on sale for $9.95. I just ordered one the other day:

Tru-nord Compass

I just bought a Tru-nord Compass . For $17 I'm willing to see if it's all it's cracked up to be.

Has anyone ever heard of the compass that is only 1/8" in diameter? It was used by the military or spies during the cold war.

Yea I had some information about them somewhere I think. They were used in WWII as well or similar ones. The pilots could swallow them to keep them secure until they were through the searches and into the POW camps. They also had buttons sewn on their pants that could be used as compasses if floated in water. They usually had a mark to indicate North on the back of the button.
Oh I just found one of the ones I was thinking about its called the Peyser-SGI and are sold at www.bestglide.com which sales survival gear and other things to pilots ect.

I strongly disagree. I've seen compasses not only not point to magnetic north, but almost directly south. Also, a "halfway decent" bearing might land you in hot water if you follow it long enoug.




The moss thing can tell general trends and be helpful, but not always accurate. I've seen plenty of ridglines that obstruct sunlight and change the formula a bit.

I've also wondered how much good any of these button compasses are without a decent map. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Another approach is to magnetise the needle in your sewing kit. Then either float it or suspend it from a thread. If you are carring the sewing kit anyway, you get the compass for zero extra weight/volume.

I've seen it claimed that you can magnetise in the field, using static electricity or even the Earth's own magnetic field. I'm dubious about that. You can do it with, eg, the magnetic screwdriver on a Rambler knife, as long as you know which end is north.

I don't know how practical these things are in the field. If you can stop, take a bearing and turn it into a sighting of a distant landmark which you can then walk towards, that might be OK. If it is foggy and you can't see more than 10 yards, and you have to walk with compass in hand, then I'd want something big and stable.

I went and dug out my $16.00 Marbles (from Countycomm last year) pin-on compass and I have got to say that you are right on the money. It had a huge bubble which was not there when I was hunting with it last year. I turned it over and the bubble disappeared--and it began to point TRUE SOUTHWEST. I turned it over a few times, the bubble reappeared, and it began to point North again.

It's crap--no offense to the Moderator but that's what it is.

I thought Marbles was a good-maybe the best-compass. Now I'm going to try out the Tru-Nord or maybe the SAS.

I'm also going to drill a 1/32" hole in the cover and drain the fluid out of it. Maybe it will work halfway decently as a dry compass.

My question is this: is there some great scientific obstacle to overcome before sombody can manufacture a magnetic mini-compass that will actually point to magnetic North instead of non-magnetic Southwest? One that doesn't require a person paying $50.00 for it? I'd really like to know.

Regards, Vince

Looks like the same compass that tdagear sells. Best button compass I have ever owned!