Long term test.
The Iris 50 is a design classic. The so-called hocky-puck handbearing compass is about as perfect for its purpose as it can be; we’ve used one for more than 20 years.
It’s small, at 82mm wide by 33 deep and it sits easily and lightly in the hand. It weighs just 105g. Its rubber housing is easy to hold in wet and freezing conditions and, despite being carried around in sailing bags for 20 years, it has protected our model which is still scratch free and clear to use.
The acrylic lens with its infinity prism makes sighting objects and reading their bearings easy (even without glasses and in the cold), with the well damped compass card stabilising quickly so you can accurately guage the bearing, sometimes to within half a degree. It’s easy to find a charted feature, using the compass itself or sighting across the open top, and then angling the viewing prism – which has a 20º view finder, making it easy to zero in on the feature. The bold red lubber’s line is intuitive as you line it up across the top of the dial. Its photoluminescent card works at night – it does not have batteries or use radioactive tritium, though it does require some daylight to “charge”. You can, if necessary, use the compass as a steering compass – it won’t slip off a thwart or cockpit seat, and the rear half of the card is open, again with its lubber line making it easy to steer to a bearing.
The 50 has a lanyard and is designed to be worn round the neck where it is most useful, especially for maintaining a clearing bearing or for establishing a collision bearing with another vessel. While other compasses might develop a bubble after a few years our Iris is still perfect, due to its soft-bottom cell – which acts as an expansion diaphragm, allowing the liquid to expand and contract in the heat and the cold, preventing leaks (or bubbles).
It’s at sea where the sturdy little Iris comes into its own. Because you wear it, you use it often and appreciate its card stabilising within four of five seconds, letting you know instantly if the tide is pushing you towards danger or if you are going to pass in front or behind an oncoming vessel.
These retail from £49.95