The top five models, left to right, are the ûtop-ranked Ritchie Globemaster, the smaller ûRitchie Navigator, the little Ritchie Voyager, ûthe new 4-1/2" Danforth Constellation, and ûthe Plath Venus.

Electronic instrumentation has made navigation easier, to say the least. However, the high-tech stuff will never obsolete a good, carefully adjusted magnetic compass which, when coupled with common sense, will get you safely from here to most anywhere.

The Collection

For this review, we collected, from the hundreds available, 18 steering compasses. Included are binnacle, flush, bulkhead and bracket models, plus several interesting ones shown only in photos. Except for the bronze Telltale compass shown on Page 19, all have 12V lighting and gimbal systems. Ritchie and Rule rule the roost in the United States. Rule owns both Danforth, which has some "classic" models, and Aqua Meter, which because of reasonable…