Survival Navigation Tools: A Compass Will Save Your Life

Click Here To Join Our Telegram Channel for FREE daily tutorials!

Survival Navigation Tools - A Compass Will Save Your Life
Survival Navigation Tools: A Compass Will Save Your Life – Graphic © myfamilysurvivalplan.com. Background photo: Pexels (PD)

Let’s imagine for a moment – that you’re out hiking or exploring. Or even a worst case scenario: you’ve been stranded due to an unfortunate accident or event into an unknown place, far from civilization. Even if you’re a bit familiar with the wilderness or have a clue where you are, it’s still bad; not knowing is even worse. The first reasonable thing to do is to try and locate where you are and start moving towards a safe zone. Many of you will consider the modern approach to navigation, based on a GPS system. But what if your electronic device (phone, tablet, GPS device) gets damaged or it simply runs out of battery?

You should be fine as long as you remembered to pack a survival navigation tools, a map, and a compass as a backup. Every serious prepper should have a compass in his private survival kit. There’s a great variety of compasses on the market, to suit the needs of even the keenest explorers. The beginners or light travelers could always get a basic compass, one that’s cheap, works great but it doesn’t have some bonus features, such as a mirror or a declination adjustment etc. For the more serious hikers and preppers, there are more advanced compasses, with many additional features (magnifier, mirror etc.) that make navigation easier and are perfect for those who wonder regularly into unknown territory. It all comes down to choosing the one that works best for you. Let’s have a look at what’s available on the market.

How A Compass Works

A compass has a tiny plastic bubble filled with liquid, a damping fluid, which is mostly oil based and treated with antifreeze so the compass can work even in low-temperature environments. Its role is not only to protect the pointer needle from outside interference but also to prevent the needle from excessive jiggling and trembling caused by the magnetic forces of the earth. If you find yourself in a cold environment or at high altitudes, the liquid will contract to create a bubble inside the plastic casing, but this won’t affect accuracy. When you return to normal conditions, the air bubble will disappear.

The magnetized needle encased in the plastic liquid-filled transparent bubble is the one that’s responsible for telling directions. It has 2 pointy sides, one of which is strongly attuned to the earth’s strongest magnetic field, generated by the magnetic North Pole. So at any point, this needle (which is normally red) will point north. However, the magnetic north is different from the geographic north. The magnetic north is situated in a chain of islands in the Canadian Arctic. So you must compensate and calculate the differences when traveling by map and compass.

There are also electronic compasses available on the market, which are easier to read thanks to their displays. But they’re less reliable than traditional ones for the same reasons every other battery operated GPS device is: they’re fragile and are dependent on an external energy source that will run out soon or later.

Compasses To Consider

The Suunto A-10 field compass is a very simple and efficient compass that works great. It’s lightweight, made from a scratch-resistant and shock-absorbing transparent material and it has an ergonomic design which makes it easy to hold and handle or to fit in a small pocket; it also comes equipped with a detachable snap lock. It supports a two-zone reading (covering the entire north hemisphere) for an extra accurate reading, which can be done in both inches and centimeters. The needled is not flooded in liquid, but this doesn’t seem to affect the overall performance of this compass in any way.

The Cammenga Phosphorescent Clam Pack Lensatic Compass is a very established name in the field. It’s a very sturdy field compass that is completely waterproof and it’s has a very tough aluminum frame. You can carry it tied to your wrist, clipped securely to your belt or just have it sit in its own carrying pouch. It weighs about 8 ounces and the dial includes both degrees and miles. It has phosphorescent paint to make for easy readings at night and for those who don’t mind spending twice the money, there is also a tritium version available. This tiny navigation gadget has been approved by the DoD, so that tells us a lot about its quality and efficiency.

The Suunto KB-14 360R Pro Compass it’s absolutely state of the art as far as accuracy goes. It’s a professional compass, which means great investments have been made and excellent materials went into the making of this particular model. It’s extremely accurate, down to a third of a degree or 0.5 degrees when it comes to graduated intervals. The shell is made of a durable anodized light alloy, it has superior damping fluid (which stay consistent even in extreme conditions) and a nylon pouch for protection. This model is highly used by professional cartographers, surveyors, and foresters. It’d be the perfect compass if it had the declination correction feature; luckily this feature is available on the improved (and more expensive) KB-14D model.

There are still plenty of models out there for you to check out and chose from. But make no mistake about it: we’re far from that technical breakthrough when electronics can replace classical gadgets in a survival scenario. I’m not saying that the GPS systems are completely useless, far from it. But when the computer systems fail, you’ll need to revert to a simpler way if you want to survive.

This Crazy Off Grid Device Literally Makes Drinkable Water From Fresh Air:

According to NASA, the U.S. is expecting a 100-YEAR LONG MEGADROUGHT.

drought-monitor

It's already begun. Ask the farmers in California. They know.

Every survivalist knows that water is of critical importance. You NEED an independent water source that you can count on!

As an interesting "survival rehearsal" - imagine that you turned the tap on right now and nothing came out. How long would you last?

But what if there was another water source literally hidden in plain sight. That's right, I'm talking about the atmosphere!

The amazing thing about getting water from the natural moisture in the air... is that it is ALWAYS available.

This gives you real water security!

Learn more about how to tap into "Nature's secret water reservoir" and stay hydrated when TSHTF!

Watch the video:

air fountain

😳 What Tinnitus Does To Your Brain Cells (And How To Stop It)

After 47 years of studies and countless brain scans done on more than 2,400 tinnitus patients, scientists at the MIT Institute found that in a shocking 96% of cases, tinnitus was actually shrinking their brain cells.

As it turns out, tinnitus and brain health are strongly linked.

Even more interesting: The reason why top army officials are not deaf after decades of hearing machine guns, bombs going off and helicopter noises…

Is because they are using something called "the wire method", a simple protocol inspired by a classified surgery on deaf people from the 1950s...

I Can't Help Showing This Off:

If you haven't heard of Claude Davis yet do yourself a huge favor and watch this video.

One of the smartest guys I ever had the pleasure of meeting, Claude set-up a unique prepping system that changed his life forever.

I already tried it myself and let me tell... you I was completely blown away... His surprising tactics could make your life easier and give you the peace of mind you deserve.

lost ways

Don't just take my word for it... watch his short video and decide for yourself.

Most People Don't Have The Guts To Try This:

Lost Ways Of Survival Video

An amazing discovery in an abandoned house in Austin, Texas: A lost book of amazing survival knowledge, believed to have been long vanished to history, has been found in a dusty drawer in the house which belonged to a guy named Claude Davis.

Remember... back in those days, there was no electricity... no refrigerators... no law enforcement... and certainly no grocery store or supermarkets... Some of these exceptional skills are hundreds of years of old and they were learned the hard way by the early pioneers.

>> Click here to find out about them now

We've lost to history so much survival knowledge that we've become clueless compared to what our great grandfathers did or built on a daily basis to sustain their families.

Neighbors said that for the last couple of years Claude has tried to unearth and learn the forgotten ways of our great-grandparents and claimed to have found a secret of gargantuan proportions. A secret that he is about to reveal together with 3 old teachings that will change everything you think you know about preparedness:

>>> Click Here To Watch His Short Video <<<

More Off-Grid And Survival Resources:

What REALLY Happens When You Bury a Shipping Container? (Hint: It's A Bit Crazy...)

Shipping containers are all the rage - but if you are thinking about buying one, you MUST watch this video first:

shipping container video

There's a general belief that if you bury a shipping container you can create an awesome root cellar / storm shelter / survival bunker.

But is a shipping container strong enough to handle the pressure?

Watch the video to see what happens:

What Really Happens When You Bury a Shipping Container? (Click To Watch Video)

3 thoughts on “Survival Navigation Tools: A Compass Will Save Your Life

  1. Question.If you dont have a compass,use your watch. point small hand at the sun.note the large hand.take note of a pointer half way between the two hands.This is true north.Is this true?

  2. This commentary is good as a quick review of a few compass models and is the typical sermonette about compasses and survival, but I’m skeptical of the real value for most people. The hiker or hunter who plans to cover a great deal of ground without marked trails will often carry a compass and map, and these people can get good use from these tools. For other “survival” situations, I’m not certain that a compass will be that useful.

    In most “stranded” situations, we’re not going to have topographic maps. Most of us going on a driving trip of any length will not carry topographic maps covering every quadrangle of our trip. One or two quads around a destination where we plan to hike, camp, or hunt makes sense. Carrying quads of every bit of land between home and a destination 500 miles away isn’t practical. Furthermore, someone having an accident in these circumstances will usually have the highest odds of survival staying with the vehicle and not trying to navigate anywhere.

    In a “bug out” survival situation, most people are going to try to find a location with some resources and explore outwards very slowly from that central location. They will build an internal “map” of the area that will be more detailed and more a part of their mental construction than the mental maps that allow us to get to work or the store every day. If they are bugging out to a pre-planned location, they will likely already have good familiarity with the location and surrounding areas. Most people with pre-planned bug-out locations have likely already purchased maps and done quite a bit of map and compass work around the location.

    If I ever found myself in a survival situation, I’d want to have a compass available. I have several budget compasses around the house and often with me in a car. I just don’t get too comfortable with the idea that I’ll get that much benefit in many situations.

  3. There are some interesting things with time in this post but I don’t know easily see all of them center to center.

    There is some quality but I will get hold belief until I
    explore it further. Great post, thanks and we wish
    more!

Comments are closed.