Compass

[MOguy]

I've had the same handheld compass for decades, but I have to step away from a Jeep to use the.

Anybody know of a decent option that I can mount in my Jeep. I see lots of options but all of them have poor reviews. Anybody know of a decent Compass I can use inside a vehicle.

I am not looking for another app on my smartphone.

 

[jimi breeze]

You will always have deviation caused by the of all the steel in your vehicle. A high quality magnetic compass will have adjustment screws to compensate for the magnetic influences of your vehicle.
To adjust you would head your vehicle in all direction and note the difference and make minor adjustments until most of the error is removed. A deviation table would be drafted with your corrections which records the error for each 15 degrees of heading, used onboard a boat or ship. A corrected compass is a must in long distance navigation using only a compass heading to steer by on open water. But is this really practical on a vehicle?
Using an electronic compass is more forgiving for vehicle use. Adjustment is easy and it will give general direction.

 

[Bill Ruttan]

For general direction orientation ONLY I found (through trial and error) a spot on the center console of my Defender that had the least amount of deviation. I then attached a small compass (actually a re-purposed wrist compass) to this horizontal surface with double sided tape. I got lucky in that the local magnetic variation tended to cancel out some of the error, such that my crude “compass correction card” ended up like this:

Indicated Heading/Correction to Yield True Heading

N/+20
E/+0
S/+0
W/+10

The whole project cost less than 10USD

 

[Alloy]

Look for an aviation compass. They can be bought used.

The deviation will change depending on which electric/electronic device is turned on/off.

Long long time ago we use to swing the compasses and make deviation charts. Some compasses were mounted in a remote (roof) location and need mirror(s) to read them.

 

[axlesandantennas]

Maybe a Bagnold Sun Compass?

Desert innovator: Bagnold's sun-compass | National Army Museum

The Long Range Desert Group were masters of navigation. They owed much of their success to the scientific talents of Major Ralph Bagnold, whose sun-compass invention revolutionised desert travel.

www.nam.ac.uk

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Kinda depends on what you want, generally I am on some sort of a road and actual compass numbers don't do me much good because I can't just drive at 187.3 degrees but it is nice to at least have a feel for which direction a guy is going. I snagged one of these out of a late 90's Tahoe, it will also display temp and the mirror is autodimming.



Best $4 ever...

Writeup I made on the install:

Compass Mirror Install

Difficulty: 3 out of 10 Time to install: Half a day. Disclaimer: The Ranger Station.com, The Ranger Station.com Staff, nor the original poster are responsible for you doing this modification to your vehicle. By doing this modification and following this how-to you, the installer, take full...

www.therangerstation.com

 

[ChadHahn]

I have an old Airguide 1601 compass. It mounts to the dash and if you push a button on the front it sort of lights up. It seems to be pretty accurate.

 

[DaveInDenver]

You will always have deviation caused by the of all the steel in your vehicle.

Indeed, we must obey the laws of physics in this forum!

There's many less obvious sources for error beyond just the steel body. Any cable carrying current will produce a magnetic field. The steel clip on a flashlight. The motor in your ABS pump. Heck, any powered electronics or even the anti-glare or UV coating on the glass might block or distort magnetic fields.

Just my $0.02 but I wouldn't take any bearing inside a vehicle as authoritative without at least having checked it in your typical configuration against a known good reading.

 

[Roger M.]

Actual bearings shouldn‘t be taken from inside a motor vehicle. Casual direction of travel is fine, but not bearings.
For boating and flying, one obviously can’t “step out” of the vehicle … but for overlanding you can … and likely should.
Nothing beats a high quality, deviation adjusted (for your specific locale), hand-held compass (I use the Suunto MB-6).
If you really need a bearing, (say your GPS has failed) even one degree off could send you entirely down the wrong dirt road.