New Compass

[Ludicrous Depth]

Will be diving in the Caribbean again this year. Wanted to buy a new compass for this trip and was wondering how much of a difference it makes if the compass is calibrated for zone 1 and you are diving in zone 2?

Am looking at the Suunto SK-7 and would love feedback and thoughts

Thanks for your answers.

 

[knotical]

For normal diving it should make no difference since you'll probably use the same compass throughout the dive.

An exception could be if you were following compass bearings provided by someone else or from a chart.

 

[blue steal]

I have the Suunto SK7 compass and purchased the DSS bungee mount for it. It is a very good compass. I use it on most of my cold water dives, it has become a great tool to find my way back to the anchor line or the boat.
knotical is correct for recreational use do not worry about zones.

 

[ajduplessis]

The new Suunto compasses have a "global" magnetic needle that can be used in all global zones without issues.

 

[miketsp]

For normal diving it should make no difference since you'll probably use the same compass throughout the dive.

An exception could be if you were following compass bearings provided by someone else or from a chart.

The bearing change between compasses for different zones should not be perceptible.

The only difference between compasses for different zones is the balancing of the needle to help keep the needle level to compensate the angle of dip of the magnetic lines of force.

While this is of possible concern to a pilot who may be trying to use a magnetic compass, in the case of a gyro-compass failure, while accelerating, decelerating or banking it is just about irrelevant to a diver.

The only inconvenience for a diver of using a wrong-zone compass is the possible need to incline the unit to leave the pointer turning freely.

 

[knowone]

You can use a 1 in 2 no problem.
You can use a 1 in 3 no problem because it's close to the equator.
I have a few old 1s and SK7 1s that read exactly the same when I use them in 5?
Mine are all standard magnetic compasses.
See if there is a price difference between zone 1, two zone and multi zone?

 

[Ludicrous Depth]

Thanks to all of you who have replied, Looking forward to my upcoming dives with this new compass.