Compasses

[Lucky Jim]

This is mine, it cost me about £10 and comes in a leather case with a plastic magnifying glass and they both swivel out, the mag glass is essential for reading fine detail on maps if you've got weak eyesight like me-

[tigs]

i use a stanley g150 nato compass , has served me well since 1985

[Attack Warning Red]

I have a proper Silva one with my OS maps and cases.

And I carry a handy little cheapo (eBay) one in my EDC - as long as it tells me where north is, that's all I need.

[Lucky Jim]

..as long as it tells me where north is, that's all I need.

Yes, a guy at another website was asking "how can I learn to use a compass?", I think what confuses him and other newcomers are all the little degree markings round the dial which make them think there's some sort of skill needed.
The markings are of course there to help anybody do precise pinpoint navigation, but for ordinary purposes I never bother with the markings because like you say, the needle points north and that's good enough.
I told him all we need to know is which direction our destination is. For example if we're thirsty and we know there's a river a few miles to the north of us, and we haven't got a map and can't see the sun or north star, we simply keep walking the way the compass needle is pointing and we'll hit the river sooner or later.
And if we know the river is to the east of us, we keep the needle pointing to our left as we walk, and if it's west of us we keep the needle pointing right. If it's south of us we keep the needle pointing behind us..

[Attack Warning Red]

Jim - yeah, some people like to over-complicate things! The one in my EDC is a tough little thing and I've had it for years now. If an event happens and the mobile networks go down, and the GPS system goes down or is switched off by the US, at least my little compass can send me in the right direction...

[Lucky Jim]

WARNING!
I forgot to mention, underground electricity cables in towns and cities might make our compass go haywire!.
I accidentally found that out some years ago when cycling across London with a small compass clipped to my handlebars for fun and the needle intermittently pointed at different spots around the dial as I rolled along.
At first I thought it was vibration from the movement of the bike that was affecting it but no, because even when I kept stopping it was randomly pointing where it shouldn't have been, as confirmed by a street map.
The moral therefore is not to trust compasses in towns and cities.
(We'd probably have a street map with us anyway, so there'd be no need to rely on a compass, I only mentioned it in case we ever find ourself in a mapless scenario)