Your compass will "stick" as the bearing that the card sits on binds due to
the magnetic force of inclination tilting the card. That is, your readings
will become erratic.

If its a hand held compass, you can sometimes tilt it to allow the card to
float freely on its bearing, and still be able to use it.

Many compasses allow for adjustment. Check yours.

The problem is real, and varies with the earth's magnetic field, which does
not simply vary with lattitude. See, for example, the Silva or Suunto
compass sites for charts of the 5 compass zones that manufacturers make
compasses for. It sounds like your compass is zone1, and I think NZ is in
zone 4.

A while back I bought a set of Fujinon binoculars from the US. The inbuilt
compass is unusable here in Australia....it just sticks anywhere between
+-20 degrees off true bearing.


"Evan Gatehouse" wrote in message
...
Anybody have any experience using a Northern Hemisphere compass as far
south
as say New Zealand? I *know* you're supposed to have a s. hemisphere
compass in an ideal world, but I'm wondering how much the card deflects
i.e.
is it still useable, even if tilted.

Glendon wrote:

Your compass will "stick" as the bearing that the card sits on binds due to
the magnetic force of inclination tilting the card. That is, your readings
will become erratic.

If its a hand held compass, you can sometimes tilt it to allow the card to
float freely on its bearing, and still be able to use it.

Many compasses allow for adjustment. Check yours.

The problem is real, and varies with the earth's magnetic field, which does
not simply vary with lattitude. See, for example, the Silva or Suunto
compass sites for charts of the 5 compass zones that manufacturers make
compasses for. It sounds like your compass is zone1, and I think NZ is in
zone 4.

A while back I bought a set of Fujinon binoculars from the US. The inbuilt
compass is unusable here in Australia....it just sticks anywhere between
+-20 degrees off true bearing.


"Evan Gatehouse" wrote in message
...

Anybody have any experience using a Northern Hemisphere compass as far

south

as say New Zealand? I *know* you're supposed to have a s. hemisphere
compass in an ideal world, but I'm wondering how much the card deflects

i.e.

is it still useable, even if tilted.






Does this problem occur in fluxgate compasses also?
krj

On Saturday 23 October 2004 12:30 am in rec.boats.cruising krj wrote:


Does this problem occur in fluxgate compasses also?

No.
OTOH, you should not rely on a fallible electronic device
as your only compass.

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Chris Newport wrote:

On Saturday 23 October 2004 12:30 am in rec.boats.cruising krj wrote:


Does this problem occur in fluxgate compasses also?


No.
OTOH, you should not rely on a fallible electronic device
as your only compass.

Redundancy is good. Autopilot compass is flux gate (plus NMEA GPS
input), Richie bulkhead mounted standard compass, Davis hand bearing
compass, Wheams flux gate hand bearing compass, and compass in binoculars.