how fast it reacted. I know the one on his Garman didn't react fast enough to be much good. We used it all however. The compass, the look ahead line, the track line and the way point line. Our goal was to get there before dark and we just made it by the skin of our teeth. Wandering around the ocean, even a small amount would have cost us a night at sea hove to. Picking out a tree on the beach as a reference point or the swell direction to steer by, most likely would have cost us a night. We were tired and we wanted it over. My only point is that under our specific conditions, given our parameter's, with no additional electronic equipment available and no wind vane, the mechanical compass worked best for us. And yes, I've steered for hours at a time never looking at a compass and never looking at some far away object to steer for and feeling the swell under me driving the boat. Usually those situations had some huge land mass to my port or starboard.