Dive Compass Cardinal Direction Markings Off?

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azstinger11

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So.... my wife just pointed out something that I never noticed for some reason. Suunto marked E at 270 degrees, W at 090, North at 180, and South at 000. See this image suunto-sk-7-dive-compass.jpg Looking online it seems a lot of dive compasses are marked this way. I know non-dive compasses are marked "correctly" such as this compass.gif. Are we missing something?


Edit: Ok we found the explanation. I still think it backwards as all heck but I understand the reasoning now at least.
 
Could you share the explanation?

Here is the thread that has the explanation. Short answer is, if you use the window (which I don't like to), when you look up from the window over the compass face you would be reading the correct cardinal direction, it is backwards however if you are looking down on it.
 
...//... Ok we found the explanation. I still think it backwards as all heck but I understand the reasoning now at least.

This is one of my major pet peeves. It is a usability (10 Heuristics for User Interface Design: Article by Jakob Nielsen) problem that the manufacturers seem completely incapable of correcting. There is absolutely no excuse for this.

If it confuses you on the surface with all the time in the world to think about it, imagine addressing the same problem under stress and under water. I remember a cave mapping error due to the same issue. I'll see if I can find it.

My take on it: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ere-better-way-use-compass-5.html#post6172728
 
The compass is correct in every regard. ...

Except for the fact that there are two ways for the novice to interpret what is being presented in the top view. One interpretation will send you 180 degrees off course.

So I hand this compass to someone who has never seen one like this before and expect that they will ignore North/South/East/West? It is needlessly confusing, see post #1.
 
I agree with points both of lowviz and divemasterdenis have made. I never used the cardinal directions, just headings so never got me lost. I do think it is confusing, but only if divers are doing two things 1) navigating the compass held under them vs in front and using the sighting window 2) relying on cardinal directions for navigation. Considering I was only trained to hold it underneath me that seems easy enough, I can also see a visitor to a new area getting directions in cardinal directions. I just now know that I need to automatically use the appropriate heading instead of cardinal direction.

It’s not a big issue and really only takes an instructor mentioning it during OW/AOW, but mine were so focused on how to do the reciprocal and swim cycles they forgot to mention it and thus this forum post.
 
Just explain to people; expert and novice alike, how the underwater compass display is different than land compass display. It ain't rocket science.

I was used to the land compass and when I got my underwater compass, I was like, "WTF, over?" Then somebody explained to me and then I'm good to go.

Once again, it ain't rocket science and it ain't a big deal. I use my lensatic compass for navigation on land just fine nowadays, and when I go underwater, the Suunto does it for me. No confusion, no fuss, no muss.
 
The compass is correct in every regard. Think degrees, don't think NSEW. Practice. In fact you can get a compass without the NSEW markings. The best ones doe not have them.
That would make it even worse, as you couldn't tell which way the compass is marked. When you're facing north with any other compass, the zero would be at the top, but on a dive compass it's at the bottom. It took me a while to clue in on that as well... without cardinal markings, you wouldn't even know!
 
I was used to the land compass and when I got my underwater compass, I was like, "WTF, over?" Then somebody explained to me and then I'm good to go.

This, very much this.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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