Thread: Compass/Orienteering?

Just wondering if you guys still carry a compass and have the skills to use a compass to navigate in the bush.

If so, what compass do you guys use? I see Office Max has a copy of the silva for $16.

Thinking of teaching my kids to do it, does Victoria Park in Chch still have the orienteering points out there? If so, I'll need to find the maps.

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I still carry one makes me scratch my head now though. Rabbit Island up here in Nelson still has orienteering points.

Silva in my bumbag which I mostly use when bush hunting and Suunto compass in my pack pocket. Use them every so often just to keep the memory bank alive.

Still carry laminated map and compass.

Always have my suunto on me, most of the time around my neck, find it's actually easier/nicer to use rather than pulling the phone out all the time.

Nearly always have a compass in my pack or belt pack. And a good ol' fashioned paper map - cant stand those itsy bitsy teeny weeny apps.

At work, Garmin 750 all day long.

Weekends, just use paper map and sometimes compass as well. Etrex gets switched on if I want to save a waypoint, or occasionally if lost and I don’t want to add extra time to the trip getting unlost the old fashioned ways.

Originally Posted by erniec

Still carry laminated map and compass.

Me too.
GPS for marking specific spots I want go back to, but usually stays in my bag.

I guess hunting a familiar area will reduce the need for navigation?

I only use topo and I'm fairly familiar with the block. Im still busy marking waypoints.

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Yup, I carry a small map of the area I'm going - printed out from NZTopoMaps and laminated, and a compass in the front of the bino harness. Phones and apps are great when they work, but good for fuck all when they don't... if you're in the shit and your phone is at the bottom of a river our even just out of batt, with a compass you can at least ensure you're not going round in circles.

Map reading and nav are great skills to learn (before you need it), and then maintain.

The imitation compass will no doubt do the job, but def consider investing in a good quality one.

Do a search bud.i posted a thread some time back with photos out of old msc manual that dumbs it down very well. Silva or not at all.

Hi all
After 25 years of SAR nav training and 14 years teaching nav to possum monitors so they can find their start points in deep bush I advise don't get the short version of a Silva or Suunto. The short version is very hard to get a consistent line of travel where as the longer versions give a much better indication to our eyes of the selected bearing. They all will tell you where north is, however when you really need it to define the correct route the short ones are left wanting. I used to carry out a navigation test with my possum monitors where they had to navigate to a point in bush over 180-200m away and be within 10m of the desired destination. There would always be a couple who had to go back and do it again and they always had the short version compass. The small Silva or Suunto sighting compass are awesome, not heavy and very accurate

Just having a play and taking those photos above, when my phone was within 250mm of the compass it deviated the needle by 10 degree's. If you have your phone in your shirt pocket or your rifle hanging on your shoulder they most likely deviate the compass by enough to bugger your day up. In the army we use to have a rule that the SLR had to be a metre away from the compass to ensure no deviation. Anything with batteries or a speaker will cause issues with compasses. I just checked with bino holder which has magnets on the lid to keep it shut and within 200mm it had an effect on the compass needle. Just thought it might be interesting to those getting to know their compass.

I carry Silva full length type compasses. Don't go for a cheap copy - I tried this for my son, got him one from Mountain Warehouse and it's just awful to use. A classic Silva or Suunto is worth the $50-70 or whatever they cost these days. Mine are 10-20yrs old, durable and easy to use. I've started teaching my kids to use a compass at the orienteering course at Victoria Park - there are different difficulty levels. Good fun following a bearing and crashing through the bush trying to find a marker. Halswell quarry is a little more open and flatter, that might be an easier place to start. We haven't taken them to Spencer Park yet. You can print maps of the different routes from the web - print them in colour if you can as it really helps to read the map. https://papo.org.nz/permanent-courses/

I still carry one but for most hunts I don't actually have a paper map. I'm a bit of a creature of habit so tend to hunt the same areas, which I know pretty well (hunting grounds I haven't been to, I'd have a paper map). Because I am pretty familiar with the areas, most of the time I'd be OK to get myself out without navigation gear, so the compass is really just there for if I really get turned around and my GPS and phone have both died, which is pretty unlikely, and I can use to navigate in a particular direction in order to hit a road or river or valley.

If I got myself in the shit navigation-wise in a new area, I'd be able to point myself at any of the (magnetic) cardinal points