Allen Company Liquid-Filled Ball Compass with Pin, Multi, One Size (484)

Reliable.

Junk. Didn't work straight out of the package. The floating ball sticks to the outer shell and you have to shake it to dislodge it. Points in every direction except the direction your facing. Completely useless.

Handy for many applications and accurate as long as it is not near steel.

I bought this compass about a year ago to replace the same style of compass when it broke. This compass is perfect for finding your general direction. I have used it to teach my 6 year old nephew about directions. I have used it to get my bearings when hiking in Arizona, bike-riding in Arkansas and sight-seeing in Mexico. You can take it in your carry-on on an airplane. This is cheaply made so if you throw it on the sidewalk or a rock it will break.

I bought this for mounting on my snowmobile and knowing what direction we are headed at a quick glance. It's no surprise though that while riding, it's about useless unless the trail is 100% smooth. I had to mount this as far away from the riser block as I could because of all things that influenced the reading, it was that block of aluminum. Regardless of this, I like it a lot. A friend of mine has one on his sled and it comes in handy when looking over a map of the trail (because a lot of places we ride there is no cell reception and paper maps are sometimes just easier/quicker to look at).

It is a perfectly fine compass, just no one can use a tape measure the specs say item dimension is "6.9 x 3.8 x 1.2 inches" the photo in the listing says it is 1.5 in 3.81cm the Q&A says "about 3/4” (0.75 inches in diameter" I was hoping that last number was right(That is the size I needed), but NO the one I got was 1 1/8 in 3cm. They probably count on you not taking the trouble to send it back since it is inexpensive.

I wasn’t very happy with this compass to start with. It seemed to be stuck on one heading no matter what direction I faced. Then I realized that it was being affected by my spare mag in the shirt underneath the jacket…. Duh…. Compass works great after that. Wish it was easier to see at night but for the money I’m not complaining. The one drawback is the pin that fixes it to my clothing is too easily bent going through thick brush. Brass? After almost losing it twice I wrapped it with some electrical tape I always carry and problem solved. Good piece of kit. Good to have when you need a quick reference on a track or the primary fails. One is none!

Arrived basically non-functioning. Build quality is so cheap the ball cant spin freely. Pin is thinner than the Coghlans compass and not fixed in place. Overall kind of junk. Allen compass on bottom below pointing in the oppisite direction of north.