Good, but where's the "luminous capsule?"

By EricW Ranked #236 - Life Jackets and Safety Gear October 2, 2003

I bought the Suunto Orca to use on my canoe after experiencing the excitement of trying to find the correct, non-dead-end waterway (out of a selection of like 5) to paddle down while trying to avoid powerboat wakes, avoiding snags, with darkness impending, yadda yadda yadda...all while trying to keep my handheld compass pointed the right direction and take a bearing off it.

Having a compass attached to the yoke of my canoe, suddenly seemed like a bonny idea.

The Orca is a great solution. It's very well damped - much more stable than a handheld compass. Your direction is clear and easy to read. The straps can be adjusted. I shortened mine up a bit, so I can just wrap them around the yoke and clip them to one another.

The only part where I felt slightly misled in the advertising was with regards to the "luminous capsule," which I had hoped meant "self-luminous tritium capsule." It really meant, "we molded the dial out of glow-in-the-dark plastic, so you'd better have a good headlamp, you ninny."

Still, for 40 bucks, it's a very worthy investment. If you lose your visual landmarks, or don't know which one is which, you'll be very happy you bought it.

View Details: Suunto Orca Mulitpurpose Compass

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