Hey Dan. I spend lots of time in the big woods of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. I am an old guy and had learned years ago that you do not step into the woods without two compasses. Why two? I cannot tell you how many times I have been wandering through the woods, then taking a peek at the compass and say "No way that is North". When they both say "North is that way" you have to believe it. I have a pin-on compass from TruNord pinned to every vest, coat and packstrap that I use, just for general wandering, and a Silva mirror compass if I need to get serious - along with a good topo map. Do not leave without them, and a night in the woods is only if you had planned it that way. You have the best bushcraft channel going - every video stresses common sense, along with a great sense of humor. And that always works to our benefit out there. It would be a pleasure to share a campfire with you.
You touched on a very important point. It can't be overemphasized that in order for the compass to help you when you get lost, you have to have taken an initial bearing when you start out. A lot of people carry a compass in the wilderness just in case, but few have the wherewithal to take a compass reading as you are heading out on your trek. This is key.
It's surprisingly hard to explain to some people that knowing which way you're facing is no help when you don't know where you are OR where you want to be. 🤔
(1) To navigate, you need to be able to answer only three questions: Where am I now? Where do I want to go? How do I want to get there? And, (2) The best way to keep from getting lost, is to stay found. I wish that it could be simpler - but it can’t. It’s both that simple, AND that difficult to do. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
I generally carry more than one of everything. I prep for a survival situation too avoid the survival emergency. If I'm cought in a situation I can hunker down for a night or two .I let folks know where I'm going and when I expect to be back. Itinerary's and headings are most important in the beginning of any excursion into the wilderness.
If you have a map and can spot two known points (for example moutain peak or a church) you can find your location without initial bearing. But you need a proper compass for that.
That and also seeing the big picture. Uses large nearby baselines to perform intentional offsets, lops from landmarks that line up with brackets towards your start with maybe fall line bearings. Also remember that a good navigator knows thr limitations of his instruments , methods and procedures
A quick trick for finding the reverse is the +2-2 or the -2+2 rule. Take your 3-digit bearing and add 2 to the first number and subtract 2 from the second... or subtract first then add.... just a quick way to add or subtract 180... (pilot trick for runway numbers, btw)
I have 3 vintage brass button compasses. I got them at antique stores. I figured if they work after a few decades of being on a shelf in an antique store, they'll still work for me for a little while.
The founder of TruNord compasses was my great grandfather. They’re still manufactured in my hometown Brainerd, MN but I have no ties to the current ownership.
My wife and I went for our usual woodlands walk we went every weekend we knew the woodlands we thought no problem only onetime thair was a storm with heavy snow within half hour everywhere look so different the paths got covered it took us ages before we found our way back to the car we were so confident we left our mobiles phones in the car Alec from Scotland
I’m glad you talked about this topic. I always carry a good button compass when I hike and I’ve taught mt kids and grandkids to do the same. I carry it even if I am carrying/using a good baseplate compass. As I explained to my young’ens, the button compass provides instant access to a directional device. Every year, there are episodes of hikers who leave the trail to “relieve” themselves and are unable to find their way back. There are even documented stories of hikers who die because of this easily preventable skill. Especially for older hikers who have immediate biological needs, there is no time to fumble around thru your backpack to get your baseplate compass. The button compass can hang on your backpack arm straps, on your belt, in your pocket, or your binocular case. The button compass is simple to use. Grab it, orient it to north, and note the direction you are going to walk, and proceed walking. I also recommend counting your steps so you have a basic sense of how far you have traveled. Then, when you you have completed your task, walk out using the reciprocal of the bearing you went in on. Now, there are some who say this is silly and they are perfectly capable of finding their way back to the trail. Probably, they are right….9 times out of 10. But, it is so, so easy to get disoriented in the woods. In deep cover or foliage, landmarks suddenly all look the same and direction finding is impossible to get right. And, when your thoughts and attention are preoccupied with your task at hand such as following a wounded animal you’ve just shot, or hot on the trail of a life-list bird you’ve heard chirping, or responding to an urgent need to relieve yourself. Yes, hunters, birders, and hikers get disoriented every year and a simple button compass could have saved them the embarrassment of needing help, or even losing their life. Another hack for carrying it is to Velcro it to the top of your walking stick. So, thanks for talking about this simple topic. Oh, one last story. A hiker I know, was quickly proceeding up the trail to catch up with friends when he accidentally took the wrong fork in the trail and two hours later, he found himself back at the parking lot where he left his car. The trail he took was a loop trail in the park and a simple glance at a button compass would have alerted him to the fact he was no longer going up the trail anymore. Yes, he was embarrassed, to say the least.
In 1980 I worked in Libya. We were all issued button compasses. With my arial maps and button compass I found my way. Ah and walk away from your car to get a bearing. Once drove without a compass at night, because I could see the Milky way loud and clear.
I always check a button compass with a regular compass before heading out. If it's unreliable it gets tossed. If the button compass is embedded in something it gets painted black over the lens so I know it's unreliable. Not sure how others feel, but I'd rather have no compass at all than have one that is unreliable.
Add two major points here. Magnets are increasingly common in gear, and a phone will sometimes de-magnetize a compass. Take two in case one gets ruined. If you rotate your compass, and the needle rotates with you, it's hosed. Also any compass can keep you from tramping in a circle when you are lost. Any compass that works, that is.
I definitely agree that a button compass has its place in our tool kit Dan. I sunk one into the top of my tracking/walking stick and find that I use it fairly frequently.
Thank you for this video👍🏻 I also try, when there is a creek, to follow it as far as I can before branching off to the destination. Making note of any tributaries and from which direction they merge into the main stream. Then on return that is in reverse as well. Bonus is you are aware of a water source... & it may be extra gear but, topiary maps are wonderful!!~*
I have one on a keychain fob that has worked perfectly for 22 years! Obviously not used for precision navigation but works great for general orientation! Nice video!
My thoughts on the button compass is they have a time and place for use. If someone has gotten lost or is "geographically embarrassed" then they are aren't experienced enough in the first place and the button compass probably won't be able to help them out for detailed navigation. I agree the button compass is to orientate for general direction especially if you know there is a road or river in a general direction (west etc). Great video, thanks for posting.
Thanks for addressing a great topic. I used to (and probably will again) sell camping and survival gear, including knives & edged tools, military style medical kits (small to large), fire making needs, and compasses. I also sold books to support all of these and more. Button compasses were a contentious topic, excuse many (most!) were inaccurate. I have used them for probably 50 years, and a good one is definitely worth having. I never depend on one for precision navigation, assuming they are a curate to about 15% (+/- 7.5%),but they will definitely head you in the right direction... generally. It is up to you to know your general area (look at a map before setting out if you are NOT familiar with the area) and be able to recognize land marks and at the least larger creeks and rivers. Best advice was already given: use name brand and well respected, well reviewed gear, especially with button compasses and other sub-$10 easily knocked off ANYTHING. You buy a no name $2 to $6 compass of any size, then expect to get what you paid for. There may be some in that category that are worth using, but try them out over a period of time and numerous hikes while referencing to a known good standard BEFORE you have to depend on it. My compass preferences are Cammenga (US military issue and rather bulky and heavy lenstatic style), Suunto, Silva, "high end Brunton", and an assortment of others if I could cull out good ones, since I bought them in bulk. NOT a recommendation for the average camper, hiker, and certainly survivalist. The survivalist is either someone that is well prepared and schooled in outdoor trekking due to the potential need to travel a possibly unfamiliar area in an emergency, or it is someone unwillingly thrown into a survival situation. In either case, if traveling through the backcountry away from civilization and its support systems, they should have at the very least a survival kit to facilitate short term travel or sheltering in place awaiting rescuers, including basic shelter, fire, and navigational needs. Preferably more of course. And preferably the knowledge of how to survive, otherwise no amount of equipment is going to help.
Following a reverse azimuth only takes you back to your starting point if you've been walking in a straight line. If you're lost after walking in circles then reversing your initial bearing will likely only get you more lost.
Nice video. I’ve had a Suunto Clipper on my watch band for years. Still seems to work fine for my needs. Need to be careful how close it is to watch or buckle. Definitely doesn’t replace a good baseplate model, but nice to have a quick reference.
Thank you! I've had my button compass for many years. I've had many people tell me it's useless, but I carry it anyways. It does get me in and back out in unfamiliar places.
Years ago I bought a Marbles button compass for grins. Ihave afew compasses, from an Israeli Army surplus that is precise enough to drop motar shells on a manhole to the Suunto sighting type that are so common - and accurate. The old Marbles is not liquid filled, but the card sits on a quartz jewel pin, and points as true north as any of the others. It just needs an extra few seconds to calm down and rest. It has a neck lanyard ring and is a nice little novelty. Yes, I also give it a gentle spin when I actually pick it up and play with it.
I use a Suunto button compass to keep my heading 99% of the time (you can rotate the bezel on those!), mostly after checking the map with a base-plate compass. The woods here tend to be so dense with young growth that you can't walk in a straight line to anything distant and can't see it for long while moving anyways... a mirror compass is more like a nuisance in that situation.
I have hiked / backpacked 100s of miles with a suunto clipper. Its worth the extra $$. Like you say the cheaper compasses can dry out, develop air bubbles that interfere with operation. I just use it to keep track of my N-S line, and keep me going the right direction on the trails. Served me very well paired with a traditional topo trail map. I pack carry a lensatic compass, but I have never really needed that level of precision. Its good to learn the scout-skill, and have a backup though. One thing I do with the clipper is place a blob of epoxy over the open clip end so it can't fall off my watch strap. I hike an average of 3 mph (up and down hills, non technical terrain). So I know that's one mile traversed every 20 minutes. Paired with a good watch a basic compass is a must have... never hike without.
Great video. A button compass is definitely useful. I carry a small Brunton liquid filled compass on my lanyard and I use it much the way you described. For more precise navigation I break out the Suunto MC2 and my map.
Always worth keeping in mind that even the best compasses are built to tolerances of ÷- a few degrees over a set distance. Check yours by walking a bearing taken from the map to a fixed location. Stay on the bearing regardless and see how far away the magnetic bearing takes you from your target
You kind of forgot to mention something about keeping metal away from them because it will give false readings that outside of that great video as always. Thanks Dan these kids need to know this.
Good video. A.G. Russell sells those small brass compasses. I have had one for years and it is good quality and works just as well as my more expensive compasses in pointing North. Just because an instrument is small does not mean that it is automatically junk. And you do not have to know the direction you travel to the nearest degree in order to find your way back. Most of the time you just need to know the direction you’re traveling and then reverse that direction when you need to return. I used to dive and under the water in a lake or the ocean you get turned around very fast. My dive compass had a “lubber line” on the bezel and I would set that in my direction of travel and keep the north needle on north and could swim in a relatively straight line, then reverse the lubber line 180 degrees to return. Without a compass you have to surface frequently to see your destination or your starting point and without a compass you were always swimming in the wrong direction each time you came up, increasing the distance and wasting air. It is easy to learn. Be sure to make sure the compass is not affected by the steel you have on you - check it away from everything first, then see if it is changed when you put your pack and gear on. Usually it is not, but a rifle or knife close enough will affect the reading.
I like to use them to find a linear feature like a trail, river, road, etc. Much more margin for error then trying to find an exact point with a button compass. I also like to travel off angle slightly from my final destination. If i angle left on my route to the linear feature then I know when I reach it I have to turn right to get to my destination or vice versa.
During the Second World War all pilots and airborne troops were given a button compass and then if captured they had a way to navigate to safety. To hide them when first captured they would swallow them so they would not be detected during a search.
Excellent video. Button compasses get poo-pooed by lots of "outdoorsmen". They always talk about figuring out North by the position of the sun, etc., but I've been out many days (especially when it's snowing) that were so overcast you literally couldn't tell where the sun was. In that case, having a button compass is definitely better than nothing. Even if you don't have a map with you and you haven't been tracking your movements as you've hiked, if you've looked at the map before you headed out (or just have some basic familiarity with the area), you should know where some good backstops are - I call them "failsafe egress features". For example, in a worst-case scenario, if you know there's a N/S roadway on the east border of your hiking area, all you really need is a reliable indication of which way north is and you can simply hike east until you hit that road and find your way out from there.
I like a little button compass it gives me something to look at to make sure I'm not walking in a circle just being able to glance down at it now and again but I also like the little round ball with the liquid in it that you pin on your shirt they're small and convenient and most of them are fairly okay
Firstly, great video. But I did want to point out when you say "precise bearings" you're referring actually to azmiths. An azmith is a direction made using a bearing which is labeled on your compass. Not a very commonly known distinction but I figured I'd try to tactfully put it out there. Could be important to know the difference between the two when communicating between people next time you're in the bush.
Button compasses, and a little common sense, are more than enough if you have a map and using terrain features(way points). Just pick and follow a cardinal or intercardinal direction to your terrain feature(waypoint) and it's simple. It's not as accurate, you can't shoot and land precisely on one end of a field or the other but you'll get to the field.
I'm really struggling to find high detail topo maps. I'm looking for 1:10000 UTM for hiking, hunting, and land nav practice. REI, Sportsman's Wharehouse, USGS, don't sell them anymore. Please help.
I keep a Suunto clipper and a acme guide whistle on Lawson's glow wire around my neck 100% of the time it's kinda my signature the clipper is a accurate compass matches the mc-2 every time I check
Coming back to this video after a recent camping trip in Scotland to say THANK YOU. I will never head out without at least a button compass in my kit EVER AGAIN. We went out for a walk on a designated forest walk in a national park. Like many "disasters waiting to happen" the walk looked benign, promoted itself as well managed, and seemed perfectly safe. We collected our leaflets (which had a map printed on it), followed the route which had periodic coloured markers by the path, and headed off down the proverbial yellow brick road. Then this happened..... The map on the leaflet was neither accurate nor correct The marked route did not align with the real geography There were paths which were not marked on the map, so "take the second left turn" meant nothing The map was not correctly oriented with geographic North Then we got to a junction and ALL the paths were marked as the route ?@:>?:{}+_!"!!!! Seriously... we were 8 miles away from the drop off point, and all three paths were colour coded the same.......wtaf At this point, the map was not reliable, the path markings were not reliable, the map orientation was not reliable, we had no cell phone service, no comms, we were basically lost, we hadnt told anyone where we were and we each had less than 500ml of water on a blisteringly hot day.... facing at least an 8 mile walk back to civilisation AT BEST (and that premise was based on conjecture because we were lost at the time) I am fairly good at judging bearings in northern Scotland based on the sun, but even so...... 1. The accuracy is based on the rough time, and a ball park assessment 2. You need to actually be able to see the sun. We were in a forestry area and for most of the time we were surrounded by huge pine trees. Personally, I am never heading out again without at least a button compass to orient myself. They might not be a "navigational tool" but they certainly are a "where is North" tool.
@@winexhd9373 Not gonna lie, I had a moment of clarity when I realised that we were now in genuine danger, and if we didnt act smart right away we might end up on the evening news for all the wrong reasons. After looking at our crappy map yet again it dawned on me that we had two basic options: 1. Try and take the shortest route back, which would involve guess work and luck because we were completely lost. 2. Try and backtrack the way we came, which was a much longer route but at least we might recognise things and get our bearings. With binoculars I spotted a house on the side of the loch a few miles away which looked like nobody was home, and I realised that to the West and South of us was rural land, so if we stumbled that way by mistake we would end up in the middle of nowhere, with no roads, and the nearest farm might be impossible to find. With that clarity in my mind I decided on the following.... We were now in serious actual trouble, and if we act stupid now we are at best going to be sleeping in the woods. I read the riot act to my friend who didnt seem to get the memo about how serious the situation was. He had just been encouraging bad decisions, and insistent that if we just kept going, kept guessing, and got lucky, we would be fine. I took an executive decision that we would backtrack the route we came, looking for anything we recognise, and we would both shout out anything we saw on the route in. I instructed him that if anything goes wrong with either us (heat stroke, twisted ankle etc) the other one would go straight to the house to get help, and if nobody was home, we break in and use the phone. (and pay for the repair and apologise later) Then we started the long trudge back. Thanks to an act of mercy from the gods, a few hours later we saw the first person we had seen in ages, on cycle, doing a water run to a wild camp at the opposite end of the park. Thanks to him we got our bearings again, he showed us his GPS, related the REAL map to our crappy incorrect map, and we found our way back to civilisation. One point of note worth mentioning.... I kept thinking about a sign I saw on the way in. At one junction, someone had taken a good amount of time gathering up over a hundred stones to make an arrow marker in the middle of the track at one junction. With hindsight it was obvious that other people had got so repeatedly lost that someone had decided to leave an unmissable marker (most likely for his own party). That should have been a giant red flag. This entire event was a huge learning experience for me about how quickly you can get lost on a trail, get isolate, and then nobody finds you until its too late. Personally Im considering a GPS alert beacon, I never go anywhere now without a compass, water and supplies for a campout, and I am always thinking about the route to safety as much as where Im trying to get to. This said, Im sure you would have handled it just fine mate.
@@TheWtfnonamez Thank you for writing your story sir. Your story reminded me of my story that I would like to share with you: So basically in my city, here in Canada, there is this giant park in the city, with over 4.35 square miles in total. Anyways, I was like 20-21 years old, and I decided to ride my bike to get some Popeyes chicken. It was a longish ride for me, since I was a beginner at bicycling. Journey was around 11km through the national park, going from East to West to the fast food place and then had to go back from West to East back home. Going from East to West through the park wasn't bad, the Sun was high, well lit, I had my phone with me with a tiny backpack, downhill mostly, it was fun. But when I got there, packed my Popeyes chicken sandwitch in my little baggie, it was already slightly dark and rainy. I also had a really old Nexus phone that drained battery very quickly. My dad called me where I was at, but I said I am on my way back home and I can make it. Seemed like a little bit of rain at the time so I thought I could make it before it gets really dark. My legs were pretty tired at this point, but I guess I had high hopes for myself. I ignored all these signs; the soreness in my leg (keep in mind the journey back is uphill), the low-ish battery (it was around 45% which doesn't sound low), and rainy weather, starting to get dark. After I packed my "dinner" in my tiny baggie, I started riding back home with my GPS mounted on my bike. Initially I was excited and brave, felt like Rocky, for some time. Now I don't know why the heck I didn't check the actual route before, but apparently this route that I was already on was a lot longer than before (maybe Google Maps was trying to save me the uphills). Anyways, Google Maps glitched or something, and I realized I was actually going in the opposte direction from home!! At this point it was like dark grey, I wasted so much time there, my legs and arms were shaking (I was wearing short sleeves and shorts in the rain). After much frustration, I finally made it only to the West of the National Park. I had to go the East side of the National Park to go back home. At this point, it was raining and it was dark, but not too much. I thought I could make it. My battery was like at 30% which I thought wasn't too low. Boy was I wrong. The journey from West to East across the park was brutal. First, there was low visibility. Second, low battery, I couldn't afford to use flashlight. Third, there were many forks on the road. Fourth, my Nexus screen was broken, cracked, and now rain water was sipping in the cracked screen and glitching the Maps program that I was fully relying on. Fifth, journey was uphill mostly. It was the worst journey/experience of my life, I was literally racing against the Sun. I am still traumatized to this day, just writing about it. I know I said this was in city, but darkness in this park is like you can't see your hands, level darkness. Anyways I was pushing so hard, pedalling and pedalling until my legs litearlly couldn't "breathe". Small break, then pedal more. At one point my legs gave up and I fell on the muddy ground, in the dark place, in the middle of this huge park. I fell on the ground so hard, my cheap sunglasses on the top of my head fell and shattered. I fell, but there was no time to think, to check, to re-evaluate, I limped and limped, picked up my bicycle with broken sunglasses. I realized the lens was missing, but I looked around me in the dark and it was so dark I couldn't find the black lens. I also have ADHD and I was hyperfocusing on finding the lens, and I had to physically slap myself to move on. There were tears in my eyes as I pedalled far past I was capable. I was racing against two, the Sun and the low battery in my now shattered phone. At some point the rain and the wind froze off my hands. It was such a surreal experience. There was like 5 second delay in doing anything with my hand. For example, if I wanted to close my hand into fist, mentally I would send the signal, but the muscles to brain signalling would delay right infront of you. It felt like my hands didn't belong to me. My eyes were teary but I couldn't wipe my tears because my hands were like carrying dead weights, and I didn't feel like I have the time (I was right, I didn't). I don't know how, just thinking about it makes me relive that aweful nightmarish experience, but at one point I was 5 km away and I saw street lights. But I was little too late. I lost my race against the Sun, my phone read 2%. At this point I had to get off my bike, because it got so dark, I couldn't see my next step. There was no point of using GMaps anymore, it got so dark I couldn't see my steps. So those street lights became my North Star. But flashlight takes so much energy from the phone, the battery was going down rapidly. Limping with my bike on my side, I was scared. My only sight was the circle of the flashlight. I couldn't see anything else outside of the flashlight's cone. As I was nearing it, a big deer with giant horns jumped into my cone of vision. With less than 1% away, I didn't know what to do, I slowly walked towards the side of it (this deer was over 6 foot tall). Thankfully it ran away, but at this point, my phone died. I lost two wars that day, the war against the Sun, and my phone. Even though I was able to see the street lamp clearly, I was around 0.5 km away. But I couldn't see anything, not even my shoes or the ground. Gripping my bike with whatever strength I had remaining in my hands, one step at a time, I walked towards the street lamp like it was my God. This was a literal light in the tunnel of darkness moment. Finally when I got close enough to the street lamp that I can see the ground, I felt huge relief. I bent down, and started tearing, but these were tears of joy. All the pain I went through, I knew finally this nightmare will finally end in a good way. At this point it was 11:30pm. From there I knew my way back home so even without my phone I made my final steps to my home. Despite being in the city, I had practically zero supplies. A dead phone and a chicken burger isn't enough for survival. And this is Canada, it gets down to 0 degrees Ceclius (32 F) here night time, and with shorts on and sleeves, I would've been either dead, or at best, barely living. I get PTSD like symptoms from it, like flashes of memory. I try to burry in... what the hell did I go through, man... for a god damn chicken sandwitch.
Like all sources of information, I want two or more to confirm each other so I can make a better decision. If I use a button compass, I usually try to confirm its finding with another direction-finding tool or technique. As someone is fond of saying, "It's another tool for the toolbox." -- You don't have to take it out of the toolbox.
Lesson learned after getting lost for 2 days in the woods . .....never buy a Dollar Store compass and not test it before heading out. :( Of course, this is before I learned How to check in other ways.. . What a trip that was.!
You have errantly grouped all small diameter compasses as button compasses. Not so. A button compass is not only small diameter, it is so SMALL AND SMOOTH, that it can be easily swallowed, and pass all the way through the digestive tract. Certainly no wider in total than a dime. Those are particular characteristics of a button compass. If a military person is captured, they immediately swallow their button compass. When searched, they will have no visibble means of navigating after an escape. A day or so later, they do. Not all small diameter compasses are button compasses. And you are correct that many small diameter compasses are junk. The brass compass that you displayed is modeled directly after the famous Gladstone brass compasses that were made in the Gladstone factory in Gladstone, Michigan. Often, out in the woods, we don’t need to know a direction to within a degree or two. We often need to know only within, say, 10 or 20 degrees. Or maybe even 30. If we’re heading toward a toad or a river, that can be good enough. If we’re navigating cross country, and there is no convenient mountain peak off in the distance, then more precision is certainly needed. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
Suunto makes a wrist compass that actually has a rotating bezel on it and can be used to shoot an azimuth.. I also have a smaller base plate compass by Silva.. I don't understand why these companies don't come up with a micro version of the base plate compass? It would probably sell like hotcakes
