Nautos IRIS 50 - Hand Bearing Compass (Blue)

Love this compass. Checked the accuracy against known landmarks, and results are within half a degree. Definitely not a toy. It's a real navigation tool.I was a little confused whether this compass has any optic aids by looking at the picture. There is a right angled infinity prism lens molded into the top clear plastic, with "iron sights" above it. When you look down the sights, the dial is magnified, reflected in the prism and focused to infinity, so the reading appears sharp below the sighting target. Clever system.The dial glows in the dark too, which I did not expect. One improvement I would like to see though is a more "slow burn" phosphor. The dial glows too brightly, but fades to nothing within an hour.

I have found this to be a very accurate hand bearing compass. I hold it pressed to the lower edge of the frame of my glasses and can see the bearing and lubber line clearly. Some reviewers have suggested metal framed glasses may affect the accuracy of the compass. My glasses have plastic frames and I have found no difference in bearing with my glasses on or off. It is equally clear without my glasses too (although distant objects aren’t!). I was unhappy with the narrow string lanyard attached to the compass and made a wider strap that attaches to the front of the puck and the existing lanyard allowing me to forget it’s around my neck. This thing is expensive, I agree, but you can’t buy an easier to use, more accurate one. It’s a keeper.

A great buy for a bearing finder compass. I use it all the time to determine the lay line to the windward mark when beating up wind.

Works great

My aging eyes focus well at infinity without glasses, but lack accommodation such that anything close is a hopeless blur. The prism and lens built into this make it easy to see the compass card scale and distant target in perfect focus simultaneously. The lubber line is a bit fuzzy, since it's closer than the card, but I've been experimenting with taking sights and cross checking with Google Earth. I'm finding that on dry land, taking my time to ensure the compass is truly horizontal, and being sure no ferrous metals (e.g. glasses frames) or electric devices are near, I can read this to around 1/4~1/2 degree. Don't forget to include an up to date magnetic variation (aka declination) value.I worked my way up to the non-trivial price of this product trying to save money, but none of what I tried at lower prices was remotely usable for someone with old far-sighted eyes. I can imagine that if you are near sighted, it might be hard to read wearing glasses, plus, if those glasses have ferrous metal frames, they would likely introduce unpredictable deviation errors.I'm thrilled with the precision this affords and the ease of use.

Very handy gadget and so far has held up well under frequent use while sailing.

Love the magnification provided by the prism. Ably to get accuracy to one degree.

This puck compass is easy to read and with a thick rubber container easy to hold while also providing protection.Used this in the BVI for determining headings