Compasses....and Navigation

[Snappahead]

The one that came with the Smartek is a piece of crap.....

 

[JustAddWater]

I use my compass on most dives. I rely on it less during wall dives with excellent visibility, but still refer to it out of habit. Mine is mounted on my console. Choose a compass that is easy to read even in poor conditions.

 

[ianw2]

Above the water, I'm a Licensed Land Surveyor. I use my compass on most dives.

I prefer my Sherwood compass in a wrist boot. The contrast between the white background and the black numerals seems to work better with my older eyes and the gimble seems to be a bit freer than any of the Suunto SK7s I've played with.

The wrist boot makes it very easy to use. The console mount (before I moved up to my Vytec) just wasn't that convenient.

BTW, the Sherwood compass is a chunk less expensive than the Suunto SK7, too.

Ian

 

[underwasser bolt]

short distance underwater navigation should not require a super compass. No underwater dive I know even takes into consideration declination error. And that's ok over short distances.

 

[Homunculus]

compass is a good think. at first i did not usse it much and relied on kindness (well, as well as knowledge) of my buddies. however, after taking AOW, i got much more familiar with navigation. i have suunto sk7 (i believe it's the best one out there) that has 30 degrees tilt and fluorescent dial. i have a wrist mounted version. apparently DSS makes a mount that people love. i'm sticking with suunto rubber band for a while.

 

[nereas]

The one that came with the Smartek is a piece of crap.....

Suunto makes great compasses. Take a look at them next time you are at a dive store. If it is a good store, it will have Suunto compasses.

I prefer to wear mine on my left wrist. I lead a lot of dives, and I dive a lot on my own, so I am actually using my compass a lot.

A console is a better place for a compass if all you ever do is follow someone else.

Some people mount their compass onto their DPVs. I don't like this idea, however, because it is too easy to break the compass that way.

For beach diving, you normally need your compass to re-orient yourself correctly back to shore. For boat diving, it gives you better precision in getting back to the anchor line. Natural (aka terrain) nav is fine, but there are times when only a compass can tell you which way to go.

 

[Snappahead]

Thanks for all your replies...guess I'll be investing in a decent compass.....

 

[awmurray]

I use a compass on most dives and all the time on low vis dives.
A compass on a slate is good for learning and practicing navigation.
http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=RetractCompass

I've used that compass before and didn't like it. The setup is nice, but it wasn't responsive enough for me. I could hold it in front of me and quickly turn and it wouldn't read true anymore. I was being very careful to hold it level but it didn't change anything.

I even thought might be defective, except that I had two of them. Another person and me both tried to point out the same heading and we'd come to different results sometimes!

Bottom line is I couldn't trust it so I ended up with this instead:

www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=CompassAtta

That one works like a charm. I can spin in a quick circle and it quickly reads true. The magnets must be much better in it and it has more tolerance for tilt. Plus it is wrist mounted. Oh, and cheaper.

 

[tracydr]

I have one snapped to my BC. It has a long cord which allows me to get it perfectly level in front of my face underwater. Picked this style because I've used it above water a lot too. In fact, we were turned around recently on a dive trip and without it would have driven around lost for a lot longer.
I never used to use my compass much but now that I'm doing DM training and lots of shore diving I use it every dive. It does come in very handy once you get the hang of it.