Teslin, I should clarify my remarks as well. I usually go out with just one compass, which is rarely consulted. ut this is in the mountainous western USm where the skies are not cloudy all day and prominent terrain features and sweeping vistas are commonplace. For that matter, I am often travelling in country I know quite well. Even at that, i do have an electronic compass lurking within my wristwatch. I have played with it from time to time, but I have never used it "for real."

Things change drastically when you get out on the water and mix in some limited visibility and fog. A mounted deck compass is now mandatory when I am sea kayaking. I became a convert when I was planning, along with some friends, to embark upon a short (1 1/2 to 2 hour) paddle along the coast. I mounted my new fangled deck compass, mostly to impress this awesome babe (now Mrs.hikermor). We launched and bingo! -here came the peasoup fog. Maintaining a compass bearing became critical because we needed .to travel parallel to the coast just outside the breaker line. I consulted my compass more in thirty minutes than I ever have in forty years of hiking and climbing on land. That is not the only time I have made regular and frequent use of a compass, but all the notable situations are in marine settings.

Any compass must be completely reliable; if you are using it, you will be utterly dependent upon its accuracy - not a place for cheap junk.