This recent thread about maps got my little brain working in a sort of lateral thinking way and I came to the startling conclusion that I don't own a compass. In fact I've never used one.
I use maps all the time but never a compass.
Am I missing out ?
OK I've never travelled that far but would it be useful ?
Do other folk on here use one ?
Just interested like.

No need for a compass if the sun is shining and no need for paper maps anymore scince GPS was invented
Well i also use Paper maps to write down information i get from other travelers about road conditiones and for planing...

I use a compass. Sometimes I forget to bring one, and have to use my watch instead (which, with sun position and some sense of where you are within a given time zone can tell direction fairly accurately). On the other hand, I seldom carry a GPS, so I'm an anachronism to begin with.

If you're traveling on roads or trails and they're all nicely mapped, and your main interest is where to point your vehicle or take the next couple of steps, and you've got a clear line of sight to some satellites....well, what's the point of a compass, or even a paper map? Although: I once had a GPS malfunction and offer woefully-misguided information, and I've had batteries die in other electronics.

There's something comforting about a simple little device which operates in a straightforward manner, without printed circuitry, batteries or orbiting space junk. I like sighting distant objects and comparing to my actual paper maps, and I like maps themselves for their scale, flexibility, and the richness of detail available at a glance. And it's been my experience that *some* folks lose their sense of their own location within both natural and human landscapes once they start relying on electronic screens. YMMV.

The above applies most obviously when you have to choose your own route--and pay the consequences if you screw up. If you're just following a road or trail, a GPS is most likely sufficient for almost any situation, and a paper map without compass will usually do almost as well. In the end, I guess I just find it a lot more fun to loll around with compass and map than to hunch over a little screen--before, during and after a trip.

My US$0.02.

Mark

always have compass as a backup, also paper maps are excellent for planning and getting general idea of the terrain. If possible usually carry michellin map of country I visit.

I did navigate round France and Spain many many years ago with a compass and a page torn from a school atlas but not so much for road travel in recent years.

Still have a couple of high quality hiking compasses and use then + OS maps for walking / hiking trips but as I was taught how to use them together for navigation as a kid / teen (and its stuck) it's often easier than getting the phone out.

I do own and carry one but have never used it, as clichéd as it sounds I have always found the sun works fine as long as it is shining.

It is about finding out where you are.

If your on a road and know you have travelled some distance from your last fuel refill .. then finding the refill point on the map, the road your on and plotting the distance travelled is not too hard with a good map.

The difficulty comes where the "road" is not on your map .. or the refill point is missing .. then you might find a good map and compass to be handy. It is about the places you go and the map you have that determine if you will find a compass handy.

Only while at sea, during hours of darkness. and during the occasional sandstorm and white out blizzard - the rest of the time I'm just fine.

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Dave

I don't have one on my bike currently, but I can definitely see how a compass would be useful. I've been on road trips in cars that had a built-in compass display, and knowing your heading is the difference between being confident that you are on the right road, and wondering if you're going in the wrong direction. (At least once I mixed up the city destinations and headed north from Stockholm when I thought I was going west towards Oslo...)

A cheap compass glued onto the dashboard certainly doesn't hurt and might occasionally help!

I carried a Silva compass with me on my Thailand and Balkans trip for the just in case, I didnt use it though.
I would and will take it when I am out next

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The Balkans
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