Compass

SpecOps87 SG

Am curious as to what type of compass is best for land navigation. Would a simple “Silvia” compass be sufficient or do I need something which includes Azimuth readins?

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

Sneak in a Garmin GPS... Cool

The standard issue compass works nicely, but it does not go well with maps.

SpecOps87 SG

Nah, not in service yet. But just curious in whats the diff. between the compasses avb. on the market.

Rockhound SG

buy ure own gps uh.....

non of my officers actually use compasses...all got gps...

SAF one okla...kinda accurate if u issued with a good one..

Rockhound SG

i would trust a compass in mils than in degrees...

justcooler SG

Electronic stuff will fail

good old compass is still the best

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

No man, if you have used a GPS you'll know just how useful it is in finding your way around. It's certainly makes you topo far, far easier. Comparing the compass to it and saying that it is the best simply because the electronic GPS can fail is like saying a club is a better weapon then a rifle because it cannot run out of ammo. Apples and oranges, they're very different.

But of course, having a GPS it does not mean you can slack off on knowing how to use traditional topo methods with a compass and map.

SpecOps87 SG

Agree, I would say that they are meant to complement each other then to completely replace each other

ferryman2393 SG

for traditional compass, go for francis barker.

DarthBart SG

For simple local navex, a normal compass or something that points north is more than enough... You can't really get lost in sg, with all the tracks and trails...

Unless you're doing a topo exercise that requires you to 'shoot mils', those 100m by 100m compass course, but then they would issue you prismatic compass

For foreign topo, GPS is super useful. At least you can leave the guess work out of your navigation.

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

Having said all that, though I like my Garmin, if I did go for proper topo I would pack a good compass along just in case.

Darkness_hacker99 SG

compass might not be accurate as GPS. compass rely on the magnetic field..

SpecOps87 SG

The bloody azimuth lesson during my course has left me man. No longer recall a thing from it. I usually do my map reading my dead-reckoning and utilizing the available terrain features.

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

Aiyoh why like that? Azimuth reading is important sia…

SpecOps87 SG

Paiseh...Super Paiseh...cuz take it for granted that you never will go lost in SG. So aft the test, in Apr, last yr, everything return back liaoz

12qwaszx SG

u can't use GPS under thick foliage
compass skill is still a must

spencer99 SG

I wonder how hard is it to "knock" out 1 or more GPS satellite and have a theatre wide GPS "black-out"?

now that China have a anti-satellite capability, it might be something to consider...

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

Actually hor... GPS is as useful to the enemy as it is to you as well... it is extremely unlikely that they want to deny it totally unless they have totally no GPS ability at all. Even insurgents use it if they can.

Knocking out 1 GPS satellite does not bring the entire network down, it only leads to a increase in the error radius of the GPS. As long as you have an LOS to 2 sats you have your location, 3, your 3D location. Having more sats just makes this a lot better. To really knock out the network you have to clear the full horizon of your sky to make sure there is at most one sat left... not really easy considering those low on the horizon are on the other side of the world. You could wait for them to move into range though.

It is unlikely for China to try for GPS satellite unless things are really desperate. A lot of their own stuff function on GPS technology as well. Spy stats are a hotter, and more logical target.

Joshua1975 SG

go get a silvia compass and check does it have the Azimuth readins???????

Mr. Green

Rolling Eyes

glock SG

Army teaches you map reading and use of compass for good reason. The GPS is complementary. GPS signals can be spoofed or jammed. You can always find your way by going back to basics by using map & compass.
Navy teaches use of sextant for same reason.
One must not depend 100 % on technology.