Bubble in your compass

I've been wearing the Suunto clip-on watchband compass for years and I've lost count of how many have developed bubbles. Eventually the bubble gets so big the compass is unusable. I just keep replacing them. Last time I bought a bunch of cheap similar compasses over the net -- cheaper by the half-dozen. I don't know how long they're going to last yet. So far I don't see any reason to expect them not to last as long as the Suuntos....
 
wildmike said:
Any liquid filled compass can develop bubbles.

That's why I stick with my Cammenga. and my Tru-Nord's.
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I reserve the use of liquid filled compasses to times I am in watercraft. The constant movement makes reading my dry compasses (TruNord,etc.) very difficult.
 
Pretty much every liquid filled compass I've ever seen had a small bubble in it eventually. I don't know how it can avoid it unless they find something to put in there that doesn't expand or contract while the temperatures change.

I've never had one with a bubble in it that affected the accuracy in any way.
 
I think some compasses are designed to have a bubble to help with precise leveling. The crystal is domed slightly so when you put the bubble in the center it's level.

The clip-on wrist compasses don't work that way. If there's a bubble you can't put it in the center because there's a bearing there. When the bubble starts getting big you can't get the card level -- whether you manipulate it so the bubble is on top of the card or under it, either way it throws the card off level -- you can't center the bubble. When it gets too big it throws the card so cockeyed it can't even rotate and then the compass is useless.

I tried drilling a tiny hole to drain all the liquid out of one and that didn't work very well either.
 
Cougar Allen said:
I tried drilling a tiny hole to drain all the liquid out of one and that didn't work very well either.
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Yes, I can relate, thats what brought on my "lets drill a hole and drain it so it will be a dry compass and work better" to "Lets break this thing open to see what went wrong because there is no way this will ever work right again" project.

So what I found out was, liquid compasses must have liquid and no bubble. A liquid filled compass doesn't work at all when its drained. And, Marbles compasses now use a cheap, plastic insert in a nice thick brass case.

I was naive then, not so much now.

Moose
 
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