S-53 Ritchie Navigation Explorer Compass 2 3/4-Inch Dial with Surface Mount, Black

Doing rural deliveries of agricultural goods in our van is made vastly more reliable and enjoyable by having a good compass on the dash. For one thing, cellphone and GPS service often drop out in mountainous regions such as ours, and have you ever been told "go southwest" by your navigation app when in the middle of a vast parking lot? Gee, I wonder what direction that would be? You fiddle with your phone for the compass app, you look to see where the sun is in the sky... now we can just look at the compass.

Simple installation onto existing base.

I use this in my pickup truck. It’s nice and large and easy to read at a glance while driving. It is well-enough damped for ordinary highway or city driving. It seems to be well made and durable. My example has no cosmetic flaws and is a nice-looking addition to my truck. There is no warning in the manual about freezing, so I assume it’s okay in cold temperatures.I bought this because I got irritatingly lost at night in an unfamiliar area with no GPS or phone and could not see the stars to find Polaris. A compass would have helped a ton. Not doing that again!As others have noted, the compass is detachable from its base. The compass is adjustable, which is a very necessary feature. Mine was adjusted properly when it arrived, but obviously mounting any magnetic compass inside a mostly-steel vehicle will throw it off some. I also recommend checking and adjusting the compass with your engine and whatever electrical accessories and radios you usually use running.I can’t comment on the lighting feature because I haven’t hooked it up yet, but it does seem like a pretty useful option. The bulb is incandescent not LED. An LED light would be nice, along with a longer wiring pigtail. There is also no mounting hardware included except for a square of double-sticky tape.

Been using Ritchie products for years. Good stuff!! Can’t go wrong. My son took a fancy to this compass for his car. Fits in a cup holder. Now I have to borrow it from him. Guess I will just buy another and this time it will be the permanent mount

I couldn't be more pleased with this compass. It invariably shows the correct direction my car is headed. It also rotates vertically so as to continue functioning up or downhill, no matter how steep the grade. Rotation is continuous, very smooth and quick with no jerking or hesitation, until the correct reading is found. The compass is roughly the size of a softball, or a little bigger.Before I ordered, I found a convenient spot above the dashboard where the accuracy of a small Suunto field compass was not affected. Once it arrived, I attached the "Ritchie" compass at that spot using foam-backed, double stick tape.This "Ritchie" compass works perfectly and looks great.

Ritchie tech support amounted to an incurious (when it comes to problem solving) yawny-and-snarky 20-something. From get-go he went, look-ma-no-hands-here on the wiring. The snark from customer support was basically, "We sell compasses for boats, and since you don't have a boat, call your mom."I spent a lot of time on the phone with him to learn I was on my own. If you want to usb a ritchie compass for your vehicle, which is likely 99% everybody purchasing their compass for their vehicle, you are 100% on your own. Apparently the Ritchie R&D team never thought about auto application? I don't believe that.This Ritchie needs a 12v usb pigtail, available here: (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BS6WHP3R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1).Nice to know, but do you know how much money I dumped on tries/fails and had to figure it out myself, the many purchases and guesses I had to go through, cables I ordered, more than a few, to finally get it right? Unacceptable!With no guidance from Ritchied customer support, I spent weeks on theories, hit and miss, on pigtail fails, until I finally got it right. Ritchie "customer support" from 20 something that don't have ability to think his own product issue through, from my experience, going with Ritchie is a bad plan.Recap: The issue is with auto use, powering the Ritchie off a usb port in a car. My experience reveals Ritchie support is too incompetent to point you to a pigtail that works for their very own compass for AUTO USB port.I contribute the above only because... I have a NEW issue! It LEAKS!! If it was just the power, I'd have moved on with my life. Now I have a bubble to deal with. I am so frustrated with an "American Made" product. Good gosh.Whoever the original Mr. Ritchie is, please read this

Excellent and high quality product. Stable and accurate even in rough water conditions.

I have two of these. Bought them both at the same time.One is mounted on my console, the other on my bow.I like them just fine except for ONE thing:I do NOT like is how easy the compass can be removed from it's base.Just press both the super handy little "knobs" (one on each side of thecompass) and it pops off the base. The bow mount one is especiallyvulnerable to a covetous passer-by.ALSO, in some fairly rough water, the boat bounce popped the bow compassoff the base. Thankfully it bounced into the boat instead of into the water.I'm going to be tape the compass to the base before my next fishing trip.I wish I had noticed this model had the "easy removal" feature. I would havenot bought them. It's my own fault tho, and I can deal with it.