Compass gone south

[mkhop]

I have a Silva brass water proof match container with a compass in the cap and it has stopped pointing north and now my marble brass comass is doing the same thing . I have a plastic compass on my watch band and no problems there. The silva was carried in my pocket and the marbles hanging on my edc bag . I am looking for ant ideas why this is occuring and if anyone has had similar isues.

 

[Cougar Allen]

I've had that happen twice, from storing or carrying a compass too close to a magnet (which can be a second compass -- if you carry two compasses be careful not to carry them next to each other).

I remagnetized one of them by stroking a powerful magnet along the length of the needle.

 

[mckrob]

This has happened to me twice in the last 20 years, both times with a Silva Ranger, I now stick strictly to the Suunto MC2 Intl, Suunto has never let me down, and I use my compass daily for work.

 

[BlueyM]

+1 on re-magnetizing your button compasses with a strong permanent magnet.

Carry compasses at least 12 inches apart, and away from large metal objects and remember that many electronic gizmos like cell phones, PDA's and iPods can emit fairly high levels of magnetism that will cause compass error.

 

[Stormdrane]

I recently noticed that a Brunton compass that was clipped to one of my backpacks no longer pointed North. The needle seems to 'stick' and only moved with a hard shaking. I emailed Brunton and asked if it could be fixed and they replied 'no'. They did send me a free replacement.

Replacement on the left, non-working one on the right: