If you have an iPhone it has a compass in the utilities app right next to the calculator. It's a good one too.

 

GPS's are relatively cheap these days and they're more useful than a compass.

 

I wished I knew how to operate the sextant.
An old man who was a Scout showed me how to use my wrist watch and position of the sun to determine the North. The Mayas of Yucatán used the shadow of a stick in the ground as a calendar. Modern technology is simpler but observation of Nature will never be replaced. I tend not to pay attention to directions when I use the GPS and this has been the start of many conflicts. I say it's because of my age

 

Welcome to the forum. JP cycles has a few that mounts in a fairing. otherwise its tough, I was looking a few years back and did'nt find much.

 

astrolabe for us older guys.





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Just ride with the better half on the back. She'll tell you where to go...

 

Which is exactly what Mrs B and I do, when 2-up! She can read the gps over my shoulder and give me directions via our bluetooth. How did we all get by before they were both invented......

 

I think you guys miss the point - some riders pick a destination and ride, others pick a direction and ride. I remember the discussion on compasses a while back and the conclusion was if you want a good one you have to stop, get off the bike and use a wrist compass or something not attached to all that metal.

 

Well...you're probably correct w/this assumption, but OP doesn't really specify w/great detail...hence, the span of responses (good/bad). If they'd explain an end goal...then we can provide more accuracy w/responses.

 

Thats probably the best, most practical solution you're gonna see if you're talking magnetic compass use. Compensating compasses for deviation and correcting for variation is practical at sea, for instance, but on a motorcycle ? ?

You can no doubt find a cheap GPS for half the price of a compass with compensation and it will give you a lot more info as to where the hell you are. It'll be a darn sight handier for giving your location to the tow service you call when you're broken down in the middle of Christ knows where.