VICTOR PRODUCTS INC Suction Cup Mini Compass

Before I purchased this I saw many reviews saying it didn't work, and I assumed maybe these people just didn't know how this type of compass is supposed to work. I've had this type of compass in several vehicles so surely I'd be fine, right? I thought $6 was a small risk. Sure enough I got mine, and it always, ALWAYS says I'm headed west, even when I'm driving straight into the sunrise. No matter how I attach it (upside down, right side up, sideways, diagonal, edge of windshield, center of windshield, dashboard... even just walking around with it), it always shows west. It's not stuck, it floats, I can shake it around, it rotates... just always ends up saying west. Which is actually, really scientifically confusing so I'm not even sure how this is possible, but its definitely not doing its job. $6 is not such a small risk when you realize you lost, and you are definitely out $6 because there are NO RETURNS on this product. Please vote this review as helpful so it shows higher up than all the good ones from 2015. Clearly since then something happened with the manufacturer because the one I received in August of 2018 is completely and totally non-functional.

Many reviewers don't seem to understand how a compass works. The magnet in a compass aligns with the magnetic poles of the earth to indicate the direction of the poles of the earth. The magnet in the compass is also attracted to the iron in any nearby metallic object or magnet. The magnetic poles of the earth are weak, and are currently getting weaker, and even flip every once in a super rare while. Depending upon where you live, the magnetic poles can be weaker still. How well this compass works depends upon how strong the magnetic poles of the earth are in comparison to how close the compass is to a metal object. This compass would probably work great when attached to my bathroom mirror, but I attached it to my car window. My car is made out of metal. Any compass that works with magnets will have a problem with being close to a large metal object, and will be even more sensitive to a nearby magnetic object. An expensive magnetic compass contains small adjustable pieces of metal so you can attempt to balance the effect of the car and magnetism created by the motor when it is running. You might even notice your compass turn while parked when you press on the gas petal and raise the speed of the motor. If the metal in your car and motor is to strong for the compass, then no matter how much you spend. no magnetic compass will work. So I bought this compass to see if any magnetic compass would work. If I can find a location in my car where this compass will work, then I can choose to purchase an expensive compass and it will also work.My car is made out of metal, therefore any magnetic compass will have problems. I turned North and South, East and West. I moved the compass here and there on my windshield and found the spot where the compass responds to the earth most. Then, I faced South and affixed an "S" label pointing to the "S" on the compass. I did the same for North, East and West. The result is in the picture which shows the S of the compass aligned with the S label, therefore I was heading south when I took the picture. The compass works beautifully and is not affected by the speed of my engine. Now that I have found a functional mount location, I know that I could purchase an expensive adjustable compass, and adjust it to compensate the magnetic effects of my car so that the labels would not be needed. However, if this magnetic compass did not work where I wanted it to work, then it would be a big waste of money for me to purchase an expensive magnetic compass.My ratings:Suction power 5 stars: This compass is very light. The suction cup has no problem.Accuracy 5 stars: The compass works perfectly and you should not expect anything better.Easy to read 2 stars: The print on the compass is very clear, but obvious lack of adjustments mean that I need to compare the compass with the labels which is somewhat difficult. Unfortunately, east is just out of the visible range without moving my head. Your results will vary depending upon how far away from metal you could place the compass. The bottom half of my car has a lot more metal than my roof, so the compass is positioned pretty high on my windshield. Previous to roll bar requirements, a compass worked better because there was less metal ringing the windshield.

Despite what I hoped for this little gizmo fell short quite a bit.First of all, I thought it was broken when it arrived because I know which way is north in my own house, but no matter how I held it is said that NORTH was SOUTH. So after some research I thought that the compass had been reversed. But then when I actually got it into the car and onto the windshield as well as driving around the neighborhood I finally figured out that it didn't quite make sense like a normal compass, it shows which direction your car was pointing.Let me explain as best I can because it took two of us to figure out why it was reading so strangely while we were moving.When we (The Car with us in it and the compass on the windshield.) were facing SOUTH what the compass showed towards US was SOUTH but it said at the same time that WEST was actually EAST and EAST was WEST. The reason we found that concerning is that we figured that the compass should have said NORTH because that was the direction behind us. (Cuz that's what they do right? Always point North?) So the trick to understanding the compass was to only believe the direction it showed facing you was where you were pointing and not that it always pointed NORTH in the traditional sense.Honestly though, I don't deal with compasses on a regular basis so maybe this was only really confusing to me.The Second thing is that the I had doubts about the suction cup first thing, it was not smooth, I don't know if it was just not fully polished or what, it felt kind of dusty and didn't shine evenly but even after a wash was not smooth. But I did the water droplet trick and hoped it would be fine, it didn't even last a day. After a few tries and methods it was clear that it wouldn't stay. It popped off while driving and now I can't find it. I would not be surprised if it rolled out of the car somewhere.One last thing, if the driver wanted to read the letters correctly it needed to be more on the driver's left rather than in the middle. If it was in the middle the passenger saw more of the correct direction than the driver. I ended up putting it almost next to the sideview mirror to get a good reading but would have preferred it under my rearview mirror where I had it initially.