We sell a great deal of compasses on-line and sometimes have clients saying that the compass they received is broken and not showing a correct reading when checked against their old compass. Our first thought is usually that we need to check our compasses at the store as we calibrate every compass that we sell with several thousand pounds worth of different compasses; after checking all of our compasses, we asked our customers to check the compass they are comparing with and it has always been an inacurate old compass that has been the problem.
Over time, a compass may give differing results due to storage, metal objects near by etc so it is always a good idea to get your compass calibrated every few years at a good store that sells compasses. We have had some customers getting results as much as 70 degrees out of what their home was actually showing as on one occasion so please be sure to check compasses over time.
If you have any air bubbles in your compass, you will sadly have to throw it out as this will not be able to give accurate results due to the air bubble interfering with the needle.
For more information on our compasses, you can click the link here