maxingout
Adventurer
Many people regard non-electronic compasses as old school and downplay their role in expeditionary travel. After all, we have iPads, GPS, Spot, and lots of electronic wizardy that should make it easy to get from point A to Point B. I have an iPad and GPS units galore with all their magic tricks, and I like to use them when there is plenty of electricity and wireless connections to make it all work. But reliance on electronics can get a person into a jam when the electronics go down for whatever reason. We carried electronic charts on our sailboat as we sailed around the world, but we also had paper copies to back us up in the event of an electronic failure. The government can turn off the GPS system anytime they want, and they can degrade it's performance so that it is not nearly as precise. The iPad can break or there can be a software problem. When the electronics fail, it's important to already have a plan for how you are going to deal with it.
One of the main problems with electronic navigation is that as you rely on it, your other navigational skills begin to atrophy because you don't practice your non-electronic navigational principles in real life situations.
I belive it is much better to go out on a trip using compass and maps, and then periodically check your position with a GPS to confirm your position. That way you are navigating on a dual track, and if your electronic track fails, you will feel comfortable navigating with your paper maps, compass, and odometer.
A non-electronic compass tells if I am heading generally in the right direction on the correct track. It keeps me honest rather than optimistic. Often tracks slowly veer off to the right or left, and the compass alerts you to the fact that you are no longer heading where you want to go. You need to correct your course by selecting a different track that heads closer to the direction you want to travel.
I have found a compass to be indispenable when I am navigating in large cities where there is no wireless connection and all the traffic signs are in a foreign language like Arabic, Russian, or anything other than English. Riyadh is a city of 5 million people, and when I was wandering in some remote corner of that city, I often used my compass to travel in a general direction to get me to a place with which I was familiar. With my compass, I could get from the soutwestern city to the northeastern parts of the city by simply staying on the same general compass course. I may not have known exactly where I was, but I never wandered around in circles because my compass kept me moving in the same direction until I was in a place that I knew.
A compass makes you situationally aware and keeps you honest about where you are actually heading (taking in to consideration deviation and variation).
I always mount a compass on my windscreen on my Land Rover 110 trucks to make myself situationally aware and honest about what is actually happening as I travel on tracks or cross country. The fact that it is mounted on the windscreen makes it easy for me to see and difficult to ignore when we are getting off track. I mount it in the middle of the windscreen as far as possible from magnetic influences.
I also mount it in such a manner that I can instantly remove it, and walk far away from the magnetic influences of the car to get an accurate bearing if it is important.
I always mount a Plastimo Iris 100 hand-held compass on my windscreen using silicone. I mount it equidistant from the right and left sides of the car and slightly up form the dashboard to get it as far away as possible from the electrical influences in the dashboard.
The compass mount is simply a small piece of plywood attached to the windsreen with silicone, and then the plastic mount screws to the piece of plywood. The silicone creates an extremely strong bond of the mount to the windscreen, and I have never had a mount fail in tens of thousands of miles of off-road travel on corrugations. When it comes time time to remove the mount, I simply use dental floss to cut through the silicone, and the mount easily comes off.
The compass mounts in the middle of the windscreen and instantly becomes a handheld compass by simply lifting the compass off the mount.
Side view of the compass and mount.
Head on view of compass.
Close up of the Plastimo Iris 100 compass.
The single most important principle of offroad navigation is situational awareness and non-reliance on a single navigational tool. A windscreen mounted compass is a giant leap in the direction of situational awareness and is a constant reminder to practice those skills that keep you from relying solely on electronic navigational tools.
If you want to brush up on your non-electronic navigational skills, visit the following link on the Portal:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/61498-Expeditionary-navigation-in-the-arabian-desert
One of the main problems with electronic navigation is that as you rely on it, your other navigational skills begin to atrophy because you don't practice your non-electronic navigational principles in real life situations.
I belive it is much better to go out on a trip using compass and maps, and then periodically check your position with a GPS to confirm your position. That way you are navigating on a dual track, and if your electronic track fails, you will feel comfortable navigating with your paper maps, compass, and odometer.
A non-electronic compass tells if I am heading generally in the right direction on the correct track. It keeps me honest rather than optimistic. Often tracks slowly veer off to the right or left, and the compass alerts you to the fact that you are no longer heading where you want to go. You need to correct your course by selecting a different track that heads closer to the direction you want to travel.
I have found a compass to be indispenable when I am navigating in large cities where there is no wireless connection and all the traffic signs are in a foreign language like Arabic, Russian, or anything other than English. Riyadh is a city of 5 million people, and when I was wandering in some remote corner of that city, I often used my compass to travel in a general direction to get me to a place with which I was familiar. With my compass, I could get from the soutwestern city to the northeastern parts of the city by simply staying on the same general compass course. I may not have known exactly where I was, but I never wandered around in circles because my compass kept me moving in the same direction until I was in a place that I knew.
A compass makes you situationally aware and keeps you honest about where you are actually heading (taking in to consideration deviation and variation).
I always mount a compass on my windscreen on my Land Rover 110 trucks to make myself situationally aware and honest about what is actually happening as I travel on tracks or cross country. The fact that it is mounted on the windscreen makes it easy for me to see and difficult to ignore when we are getting off track. I mount it in the middle of the windscreen as far as possible from magnetic influences.
I also mount it in such a manner that I can instantly remove it, and walk far away from the magnetic influences of the car to get an accurate bearing if it is important.
I always mount a Plastimo Iris 100 hand-held compass on my windscreen using silicone. I mount it equidistant from the right and left sides of the car and slightly up form the dashboard to get it as far away as possible from the electrical influences in the dashboard.
The compass mount is simply a small piece of plywood attached to the windsreen with silicone, and then the plastic mount screws to the piece of plywood. The silicone creates an extremely strong bond of the mount to the windscreen, and I have never had a mount fail in tens of thousands of miles of off-road travel on corrugations. When it comes time time to remove the mount, I simply use dental floss to cut through the silicone, and the mount easily comes off.
The compass mounts in the middle of the windscreen and instantly becomes a handheld compass by simply lifting the compass off the mount.
Side view of the compass and mount.
Head on view of compass.
Close up of the Plastimo Iris 100 compass.
The single most important principle of offroad navigation is situational awareness and non-reliance on a single navigational tool. A windscreen mounted compass is a giant leap in the direction of situational awareness and is a constant reminder to practice those skills that keep you from relying solely on electronic navigational tools.
If you want to brush up on your non-electronic navigational skills, visit the following link on the Portal:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/61498-Expeditionary-navigation-in-the-arabian-desert
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