Sometimes you just have to buy something for the boat and at the moment, I really should get a hand-bearing compass. Now my first and usual reaction is to find a cruiser flea flea market and find one for around $10 bucks or so but the problem these days, is you don’t see a lot of hand-bearing compasses around. Looking at ebay you’ll see a few but mostly at silly prices.
So, as much as I hate the thought of buying new…
The most popular hand-bearing compass (last time I looked) is the hockey puck sort like the Plastimo Iris 50.
The hockey puck makes a lot of sense as they’re pretty much bombproof, easy to use and they don’t take up a lot of room. The downside is they cost a bit more than I care to pay. A quick look at the usual suspects show that Amazon has the Iris 50 for $94 Defender is asking $110 and West Marine lists a whopping $147.99. There are any number of hockey puck clones but, as most are more expensive than the Plastimo, I’ll leave it to you to check them out.
For years we used a Suunto clone of the Silva UN compass but sadly, they no longer make them so the choice is now Plastimo (the Iris 100) and the Silva 70UN and 70UNE.
Since neither West nor Defender seem to have the Silva 70UN, Amazon seems to be the best deal at $94. I’m a big fan of this type of hand-bearing compass because it does double duty as a steering compass if the need arises, as well as making a great interior telltale compass. I’ve also seriously considered buying a couple of these for use in the Southern Latitudes where our northern latitude compasses won’t work.
Anyone want to buy a pair of Plastimo Contest 130’s?
Then there’s this compass…
This Davis hand bearing compass is OK and you should not pay more than $45 for it new. For most folk it is certainly enough to take the odd transit when needful and it’s cheap enough to consign to the dinghy when you realize it’s not quite up to your needs. Bottom line is it is better than not having one.
For myself, I’ll roll with the Silva…