Rampart International Corp, the premier distributor of all things military in Canada, has partnered with NavElite to sell their line of high-performance backlit compasses and accessories.
Shown here is the NavELite WaterBlock compass. It’s capable of functioning submerged up to a depth of 1 meter for 30 minutes without damaging the compass or its electrical components. Other products by NavELite include the Trekker compass, NavELite batteries, accessory bag, and loaded case.
shop.rampartcorp.com/category_s/1983.htm
Waterproofness to IPX7 standard only? And only so with special batteries*?
Why isn’t it made properly waterproof like the typical wrist watch? Or a diving watch/computer/compass? IPX7 is insufficient already for surface swimming. And what the heck has the battery to do with the waterproofness? Liquid-filled compasses are inherently waterproof, and all decent digital watches manage waterproofness with generic batteries and backlit display.
That said, I can understand the tactical need for a backlit (backup) compass. The typical military compass has tritium illumination – like some fancy ‘tactical’ watches – and this cannot be switched off for obvious reasons. The signature of the tiny tritium ampulles is significant at night when observed with image intensifying night vision equipment.
Decent civilian compasses come with “luminous” (phosporus paint) for night-time readability. The paint has to be re-charged with bright light each hour or so, as its luminosity fades away. It can’t be switched off either. Surprisingly, the NavElite compass has luminious markings in addition to the backlight, which pretty much nullifies the signature reduction advantage the backlight offers compared to tritium.
Getting a common simple wrist-compass, such as Suunto M-9, seems like a better – and cheaper – idea imo.
*”To ensure your compass remains WaterBlocked use only NavELite Batteries.”