Navigation Compass Map Protractor

Batteries go flat. A magnetised needle does not.

You are three hours down a station track with no bars on the phone, the tablet running the mapping app has cooked itself on the dash, and the only thing left that knows anything about where you are is the paper map folded in the door pocket. A map tells you where things are. It does not tell you which way you are pointing.

That is where it starts to unravel. You pick the wrong spur off the junction, you burn an hour and a chunk of fuel getting back to it, and if the light goes while you are still guessing, a navigation problem quietly turns into an overnight problem.

This is one instrument, not a set — a clear plastic baseplate with a liquid-damped compass capsule set into it, and the map scales printed straight onto the edges. Lay it flat on the map, read the tracks and contours through it, and take your bearing off the same tool.

What It Does

• Takes a bearing off the map: the transparent baseplate sits flat on the sheet so you can line the edge up between two points and read the heading without lifting it off.
• Measures distance three ways: a millimetre ruler along one long edge, a 1:50000 scale along the other, and a 1:25000 scale on the short edge.
• Runs on nothing: no battery, no charge port, no firmware, no signal. It works the same on day one and on day eleven of a trip.
• Holds a reading at dusk: luminous marks on the dial charge up in daylight and stay readable as the light drops.
• Reads the fine print: a moulded magnifying lens in the baseplate for grid squares and contour numbering on a busy topo sheet.
• Stays on you: a neck lanyard threads through the baseplate so it is not loose in the bottom of a pack when you need it.

Key Features

• Clear baseplate: you read the map straight through it, so the compass never covers the detail you are working from.
• Liquid-damped capsule: the retail box is printed "Liquid Filled Compass" and the supplier diagram labels the damping oil. The fluid settles the needle instead of letting it swing.
• 360 degree dial: graduated all the way round and numbered every 20°, with the cardinal and intercardinal points marked.
• Millimetre ruler: printed 0 to 120 mm along the top long edge and labelled "mm" at the end of the run.
• 1:50000 map scale: along the bottom long edge, numbered 1 to 6 km, with "1:50000 2km" printed on the baseplate.
• 1:25000 map scale: on the short edge, with the 500 m, 1000 m and 1500 m points called out.
• Drawing templates: a circle and an equilateral triangle moulded into the baseplate, the supplier's own description of them, for marking up a sheet.
• Direction-of-travel arrow: etched into the baseplate ahead of the capsule, with meridian lines and an orienting arrow in the capsule floor.
• Eyeskey marking: the maker's name is printed on the baseplate itself, not just on the packaging.
• Two colourways: green dial with black printed scales, or orange dial with red printed scales. Same baseplate, same scales, same size.

Limits

It points at magnetic north, not true north, and there is no adjustment for the difference. There is no declination screw on this compass. The gap between magnetic and true north is real across Australia and New Zealand and it changes depending where you are standing. The figure for your area is printed in the margin of any decent topographic map — you apply it yourself, in your head or on the sheet.

No accuracy figure is published. The supplier states no tolerance for the needle or the dial. We are not going to put a number on it that we cannot source. Before you lean on it, swing it against a direction you already know — a surveyed road, a known ridge line — the same check you would run on any compass.

Steel and magnets will pull it off. A bonnet, a roof rack, a tray, a radio speaker, a phone, a torch with a magnetic base, a knife on your belt. Any of them drags the needle. Step away from the vehicle and lay the compass on the map, not on the ute.

We are not going to call it waterproof. The capsule has to be sealed because it holds damping fluid, but the supplier publishes no IP rating and no immersion rating for the instrument as a whole. Rain and spray on the baseplate is one thing; dropping it in a creek is another, and there is no rating behind it.

Flat baseplate only. No sighting mirror, no lid, no clinometer, no global needle. It is built for map work and general field bearings, not for precision sighting on a distant target or for use a long way outside the southern magnetic zone.

Luminous, not lit. The marks glow after they have been charged in daylight and they fade through the night. There is no light source in it.

It does not know where you are. A compass gives you direction, never position. Without a map and some honest idea of where you started, it is a pointer and nothing more.

Q & A

The name says compass, map and protractor. Is that three items?

No. It is one clear baseplate doing all three jobs — the compass capsule, the printed map scales and the graduated bearing dial are all part of the same tool. You get one compass and one neck lanyard.

What scales are actually printed on it?

A millimetre ruler running 0 to 120 mm on one long edge. A 1:50000 scale on the other long edge, numbered 1 to 6 km. A 1:25000 scale on the short edge, with 500 m, 1000 m and 1500 m marked. Both colourways carry the same set.

Can I set the declination for where I am?

No. There is no adjustment screw. You read the magnetic bearing off the dial and apply the declination yourself, using the figure printed on your map for that area.

What is the difference between the green one and the orange one?

The dial colour and the colour of the printed scales. The green version has a green luminous dial and black scales; the orange version has an orange dial and red scales. Baseplate, size, rulers and features are identical.

Is the housing liquid filled or dry?

Liquid filled. The retail carton is printed "Liquid Filled Compass" and the supplier's own labelled diagram calls out the damping oil. That fluid is what makes the needle settle on a bearing rather than hunting back and forth.

How long will it take to arrive?

Ten to fourteen days from the day you order, and we ask you to allow up to three weeks. Regional and remote addresses take longer again. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs