After years of looking, I have finally found a compass very fitting for use on a snowmobile. After viewing an ad in SnowGoer magazine recently I did an internet order for the Marlin Quest compass ($89.95 with free shipping) and mounted it using only velcro to the center of the rubber handlebar cover on my 2017 SkiDoo GT 900 ACE, then connected it using a separate fused circuit directly to the battery with an on-off switch. Was finally able to check it out--southern Wisconsin trails were opened about a week ago. Works great, with lighted N-NE-E-SE-S-SW-W-NW LED's in a circular arrangement on the face. Only one compass direction is lighted at a time once the compass has acquired an initial GPS signal, which took about a minute. Current drain is only about 50 ma, and it is very readable day and night, even in direct sunlight. The compass uses GPS technology and relies on forward (or backward) movement of the snowmobile for the reading to change. Changes are immediate as the snowmobile moves. A GPS unit could be used on your snowmobile to give you access to compass readings, but the compass here seems much more usable than cycling through a GPS unit to find snowmobile maps, etc. etc. I have never been able to figure out why the manufacturers of snowmobiles have not made a simple GPS compass standard equipment the same as in our cars and trucks, although I believe that SkiDoo did have a compass option once, but they were never compatible for most sleds and did not work well according to the dealers that I talked to. The Marlin compasses are actually made more for motor cycles, with several different ways to mount them. It can reasonably be assumed that they will probably hold up quite well, given the different weather and vibration conditions that motor cycles experience.
