broncobowsher
Contributor
The small compass has no resolution. You have to have a cell turned off to use it anyway. Done there.
The bottom row compass. You get about a 45° window. You stop for a moment, look at something, check your suroundings, whatever and you get turned around really quick. Do I need to turn 90° left, right, flip a full 180°? What do I need to get my heading back? With a full compass display it's clear. It is what I have used for decades. Quick glance, rough heading, let it settle for a second, minor adjustment and on my way. That is a normal compass, and how the Teric looks as well. But the NERD/Petrel is so macro that picking up the rough heading is difficult. There is the little dot that isn't that easy to see that says "turn in this direction". How far, don't know? I could be off by 179° or off by 50°. You just know to turn some random amount in that direction. It is easy to overshoot and blow to the other side. The macro vision of such a tight window is great for getting a heading to the degree exactly what you want. If I was scootering a couple miles in open ocean it would probably be the greatest thing ever. But having to deal with normal terrain, looking around, and having to get back on coarse, it is a huge pain. You have to spend too much time thinking about the NERD compass where a regular one just takes a moment to level, let settle, adjust your aim, go. NERD is look for the dot, turn a little toward it, not enough a little more, a little more, how far off am I?, oh just overshot it. Did I get my bearing set in the right direction before I started? I want to adjust my target direction by 90° now, how do I do that? Oh, aim 90° from the mark, hold steady and reset the mark. Regular compass, turn, it points 90°, go. You don't have to think "I started with a heading of 60°, I'm turning 90° so that makes it a new heading of -30°, oh take that off 360 so 330°, I have to completely blow off the 60 heading I was on, reset for the new heading. No, that is too much thought into a simple compass.
The bottom row compass. You get about a 45° window. You stop for a moment, look at something, check your suroundings, whatever and you get turned around really quick. Do I need to turn 90° left, right, flip a full 180°? What do I need to get my heading back? With a full compass display it's clear. It is what I have used for decades. Quick glance, rough heading, let it settle for a second, minor adjustment and on my way. That is a normal compass, and how the Teric looks as well. But the NERD/Petrel is so macro that picking up the rough heading is difficult. There is the little dot that isn't that easy to see that says "turn in this direction". How far, don't know? I could be off by 179° or off by 50°. You just know to turn some random amount in that direction. It is easy to overshoot and blow to the other side. The macro vision of such a tight window is great for getting a heading to the degree exactly what you want. If I was scootering a couple miles in open ocean it would probably be the greatest thing ever. But having to deal with normal terrain, looking around, and having to get back on coarse, it is a huge pain. You have to spend too much time thinking about the NERD compass where a regular one just takes a moment to level, let settle, adjust your aim, go. NERD is look for the dot, turn a little toward it, not enough a little more, a little more, how far off am I?, oh just overshot it. Did I get my bearing set in the right direction before I started? I want to adjust my target direction by 90° now, how do I do that? Oh, aim 90° from the mark, hold steady and reset the mark. Regular compass, turn, it points 90°, go. You don't have to think "I started with a heading of 60°, I'm turning 90° so that makes it a new heading of -30°, oh take that off 360 so 330°, I have to completely blow off the 60 heading I was on, reset for the new heading. No, that is too much thought into a simple compass.
