A fair number of boats we test today don’t have compasses, a shortcoming that many boaters consider a nautical no-no. A compass ensures safe navigation, even when a boat is equipped with a GPS.

Don't rely solely on your phone. Experts explain why a paper map and compass are essential for wilderness safety.

Despite the wealth of information boaters can glean from their electronics, serious skippers still use a mounted compass in the course of navigation. When it’s installed properly, a good compass ...

iOS ships with a basic compass that you can use to find your basic heading when driving or hiking. It's not as robust as some third-party orienteering apps, but it will work in a pinch when these ...

A compass needle is essentially a thin bar magnet. If it were free to move in all three dimensions, a magnet would line up along any local magnetic field line. Field lines are graphical ...