For all-around accuracy and utility, we prefer a ûhockey-puck compass like the Plastimo Iris 50.

Here's why you should add a hand-bearing compass to your arsenal of navigational equipment.

• Serves as a backup to your main compass and GPS. A GPS does not give you a magnetic heading but the course over ground. Also, a GPS only works when the boat is moving.

• Anchoring: To make sure the anchor is set and your boat is not dragging. Take bearings of three sites, ideally 120 degrees apart, to fix your position.

• Take a bearing on a moving object so you know your boat is not on a collision course with another vessel. (Especially important at night when distance and course are harder to judge.) Take…