Compass Help

[DougPaul]

It used to be that in the better grade you had a choice of liquid-damped or induction-damped compasses, if you have bad luck with liquid buy one without.

I have/had an induction-damped compass somewhere. It used a brass housing to provide the damping.

I suspect that the brass housing is incompatible with protractor bases and plastic + fluid is cheaper.

Doug

 

[paul ron]

Compasses have a lifetime warantee, so return them to the manufacturer adn they will send you a new one free.

The oil is either mineral spirits or kerosine. I have never had any of my compasses freeze since that's actual -40°F, not wind chill, I haven't experianced that low a temp yet.

 

[Paradox]

An electronic flux gate type compass will not form a bubble. Surfing the web I notice that typical operating temperatures are about -30 to 140 degrees F so that my not be low enough for your needs. Of course, now you will need to worry about keeping it in batteries.

 

[chinooktrail]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for the link, I have the MC-2G model. I will give Suunto a call and see what they will do for me.

I am not hard on my compasses, as I am still trying to learn to use them properly.

The Suunto has only been in the Northeast, I got it after I moved back from Alaska, so it never experienced the -60* that the Silva Ranger did. (With some frequency as my X used to bring it to the gold mine he worked at and they had weeks of weather that cold. He used it for skiing since they were in a remote area with no trails or roads, just a landing strip.)

With any luck I just got 2 not so great compasses in a row, maybe they were made on a Monday morning or a Friday afternoon, like my car!

I hope they stand behind their products and replace it, I will let you all know.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

A liquid (oil) filled compass can't burst from simply freezing, as the oil doesn't freeze.

Even if it DID freeze, oil does not expand when it freezes the way that water does. That expansion thing (higher density at a warmer temperature, is kind of unique to water.

 

[Nessmuk]

Even if it DID freeze, oil does not expand when it freezes the way that water does. That expansion thing (higher density at a warmer temperature, is kind of unique to water.

This is true. Imagine if water behaved like most other liquids and became denser when it froze. Ice would sink to the bottom of lakes. What a different world that would make.