Built in compass or not?

[+AD0SB]

So heres the deal, I am looking for a new gps.

 

I see some of them have a built in compass, are there and downsides or reason to not have one built in. Is the battery life worse, are they not as accurate as a traditional brunton or sylvia magnetic compass?

 

Just trying to decide, and battery life is a concern, besides 'caching I am looking for a GPS to take on kayak trips up to the BWCA and Lake Superior. I don't want to have to lug a ton of batteries for a week long trip.

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Shawn

[eaparks]

On the Etrexes and the 60 and 70 series units the compass affects the battery life very little, can't say on the newer CO and OR. As far as being as accurate as a regular magnetic compass I would say not as accurate by a long shot if you are technical and really use a handheld compass professionally.

 

It is just my opinoin but I feel the 2 axis compasses on our recreational GPS was never meant to be as accurate as a good handheld, (I'll probably get some varying opinoins here). I use mine all the time, not expecting it to be accurate to any small number of degrees but just to steer me in the general direction after having stopped and before the satellites / my track start to give a good indication of my direction of travel toward my intended destination.

 

After having stopped for a few minutes (on overcast days or at night) you may have no idea in which direction to start moving and could go 180 degrees in the opposite direction until you realize it on your track or the distance to destination starts to increase. This could be quite annoying and a waste of time. So for the 30 to 40 more dollars that the compass cost if your talking about the Etrexes is very much worth it in my opinoin. Others feel just the opposite and want to save the extra dollars, I see this mostly from Geocachers. I use my for hunting, boating, ATVing, and several other wilderness adventures. For open water kayaking where just a short distance in the wrong direction is very energy and time consuming I would definitely get the compass.

[+julianh]

So heres the deal, I am looking for a new gps.

 

I see some of them have a built in compass, are there and downsides or reason to not have one built in. Is the battery life worse, are they not as accurate as a traditional brunton or sylvia magnetic compass?

 

Just trying to decide, and battery life is a concern, besides 'caching I am looking for a GPS to take on kayak trips up to the BWCA and Lake Superior. I don't want to have to lug a ton of batteries for a week long trip.

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Shawn

I have a Summit HC (with compass), and have tested the battery drain with and without the compass activated. I can confirm that on this model at least, the additional battery drain due to the compass is negligible, so impact on battery life is also negligible. My test results are here:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=3312626

 

The Garmin specifications say the compass is accurate to "+/- 5 degrees precision, 1 degree resolution". In my experience, after calibration, and when used properly (i.e. held horizontally) it is certainly good to 5 degrees or better.

 

For example, if I use "Sight'n'go" to set a course towards a landmark a kilometre or two away, and then follow the indicated course (use the "course indicator" mode, to get your distance off-course displayed), I will generally hit the target landmark within 50 metres or so. This is certainly good enough for my purposes, but may not match what a surveyor or navigator can do with a high-precision compass.

 

Hope this helps!

[+Ratsneve]

I see some of them have a built in compass, are there and downsides or reason to not have one built in. Is the battery life worse, are they not as accurate as a traditional brunton or sylvia magnetic compass?

 

Just trying to decide, and battery life is a concern, besides 'caching I am looking for a GPS to take on kayak trips up to the BWCA and Lake Superior. I don't want to have to lug a ton of batteries for a week long trip.

I think once you learn and understand the limitations of an electronic two axis compass in a GPS you can use it to good advantage. I know I do at least. If the GPSr compass isn't electronic then you must keep moving along at a good enough clip to get any accuracy out of the GPSs telemetry. When you stop that's it for the GPSr telling you direction.

 

Three axis electronic compasses are inherently better but Garmin doesn't use them. Two axis electronic compasses work fine once you know them:

You have to hold them level.

They have to be calibrated which is very easy to do after changing batteries and if you suspect any errors.

They can go wild on you. Just move in the direction they want to take you and let them settle down. They should point back toward where you were.

Don't expect to just walk right up to a cache--it will probably never happen. You have to live within the errors of your GPSr and compass and the GPSr of the person who created the cache. I've gotten too close to locations and have had the pointer go wild. I move away, stand still and sweep the compass around have it settle right at a suspected tree which was where I found the cache in just a few more minutes.

 

I don't think the compass will be your biggest battery grain. More likely backlighting and how much you use and how often you use it. If you are moving the electronic compass isn't used so there may be long periods when you could just leave it off.

Edited August 4, 2008 by Ratsneve

[+DonB]

So heres the deal, I am looking for a new gps.

 

I see some of them have a built in compass, are there and downsides or reason to not have one built in. Is the battery life worse, are they not as accurate as a traditional brunton or sylvia magnetic compass?

 

Just trying to decide, and battery life is a concern, besides 'caching I am looking for a GPS to take on kayak trips up to the BWCA and Lake Superior. I don't want to have to lug a ton of batteries for a week long trip.

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Shawn

I wouldn't buy another GPS without the electronic compass, I use it all of the time for caching.

[+AD0SB]

Thanks for the info so far. By no means do I intend on relying on only an electronic gps, I usually have a compass attached to the deck on the kayak, and I also have one attached to my lifevest in case I ever end up apart from the boat for any reason...

 

Plus a magnetic compass always works, and never needs batteries!

 

Nice to see so many options in a GPS, since back when I bought my old magellan 7 years ago there have been alot of changes...

[+Ratsneve]

Plus a magnetic compass always works, and never needs batteries!

But the south pole of a magnetic compass needle will only point to magnetic north.

Edited August 5, 2008 by Ratsneve

[ryleyinstl]

Built in compass or not?

 

 

Not - use a real compass. No calibration, no hoping it's right, no faith needed.

Edited August 5, 2008 by ryleyinstl

[andylphoto]

It's a personal choice. My choice was very definitely NOT to pay the extra $$ to have the gizmos. Several reasons.

 

The majority of the time, an exact altitude is not important to me, so I don't need the barometric altimeter. That way, using the GPS altitude, it's fun to track on flights, where the barometric altimeter wouldn't read accurately because of the cabin pressure. GPS altitude isn't as exact, but close enough for me.

 

I'll admit there are occasionally times where the electronic compass would be handy. But in the majority of cases, when I want the compass, I'm moving and just use the built-in GPS compass. If I need an accurate bearing, I'll pull out the magnetic compass and use that anyway. If I'm in goto mode, the pointer works just fine for me, even without the electronic compass.

[Rhialto]

I wouldn't buy another GPS without the electronic compass, I use it all of the time for caching.

Same here and I was having the samer question as OP before buying my 1st GPSr.

[highrolla7]

I use the electronic compass all the time. Its just a personal preference I guess. I leave my magnetic one at home now and can completely trust mine. Maybe some people have problems with theirs, but a simple calibration (takes literally 10 seconds and only need to do it when I change the batteries) will insure its accuracy. But, if your batteries die, then the GPS is no good and maybe a good idea to carry extra batteries. Good luck!