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[Andy C]

I know much has been written about this particular item but.....

To be honest I have never paid much attention to until when I went out on it during the week (essential journey of course).

I was pleased to see it pointing N when I knew I was heading North, nice big N displayed and arrow pointing in the direction of travel.

I then take a turn to my left (West) and it continues to display N then NE, then S and finally back to N.

I keep going untill I know I am travelling South, the display carries on reading N and then flipping between N and S.

I keep trying to picture it in my mind but clearly the compass has very little idea about my true direction - might try the magnet / figure of 8 reset tomorrow as I have another "essential" journey to do.

If that does not work I shall carry on doing what I used to do - Ignore the thing.

[Trev]

I've not managed to reset mine despite dozens of figure of eights, on the plus side, I'm pretty handy at slow speed turns now

[Andy C]

So that's the real purpose of the compass, to improve our low speed riding skills

I'll give the figure of 8 routine a go today if it does not work I'll not lose any sleep !!

[Andy C]

Magnet / figure of 8 - my how we laughed...........

Made absolutley no difference.

I recently bought a cheap old Garmin sat nav to put on the bikes, once I have made up a mount I'll stick it on the bike, not that I get lost that often just curious about some of the little back lanes that I often ride.

[Trev]

Yeah I think RE added the compass to help the Himmy in it's status as some future compass, unlike the older RE's the rest of the bike is pretty sorted so they needed to add some quirks in to make it memorable

Although I've made sure every car I've had since 2006 had sat nav built in (the life of a long distance driver ), I've never been a fan on a bike as much prefer to explore than arrive. I do have a ten year old Garmin that gets dug out for long trips and checking speedo (hilariously inaccurate on the Africa Twin!) but last got used for navving in France in 2018 and even that was to find hotels at the end of the day. I'm fortunate that the vast majority of my riding is for leisure and I rarely have to be at a specific destination for a specific time so usually no nav or phone control for me while I'm riding

[Andy C]

Not planning on using the Garmin for navigation as such, just plan to use it to gauge my relationship to places I know when I am out exploring the backroads.

It's fun getting "lost" but also interesting to know where you are.

Does that make any sense at all?

[Wheaters]

I often (in the past...and hope to again soon) ride out with the intention of finding out where little side roads go to. Then when I get home I work out where I went.

[Meteorstorm]

Compasses on a bike can only be a toy at best,anyone that has got a aircraft Pilots licence is trained in "compass variation"
there's also "deviation" .Variation is marked on aviation maps (WAC chart) ,and varies all over the globe,so a pilot may look at the compass and it may show 270 degrees,he then has to apply the variation according to the map he is overflying,and add or subtract it to the 270 to work out the true "track". Magnetic North is not the North Pole.
cheers

[hagis]

The compass on my himmi had me guessing till I read the hand book properly, then I found out the arrow always point north and the letter is the direction the bike is going , but if the bike is near any electrical sub stations this must affect the compass.

[RocketRR]

Gave up with mine but you can stop it flashing to calibrate by holding a magnetic pick up tool near it and it thinks it is working. It reads wrong but at least it doesn't flash all the time that drove me mad.