{"id":69416,"date":"2019-08-20T15:30:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T19:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=69416"},"modified":"2023-05-06T22:54:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T02:54:20","slug":"gear-test-velocitek-prism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/gear\/gear-test-velocitek-prism\/","title":{"rendered":"Gear Test: Velocitek Prism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Compass <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Velocitek Prism<\/span>\n Courtesy of the manufacturer<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Have you ever gone from compass<\/a> mode to starting mode and then wanted to go back to compass mode to do a final wind check but hesitated for fear of messing up the countdown timer? Do I press the left button once or twice to get there? Or is it the right button I’m supposed to press? Where’s the manual?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Sometimes I just want a basic compass and nothing else\u2014a device that won\u2019t require me to toggle through a host of options (or even provide that temptation). So when I got a chance to try Velocitek\u2019s single-purpose Prism compass for the summer, I was eager to find out whether indeed, back to basics would improve my starting routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

When Velocitek came out with its stripped-down, single-purpose Prism compass in early 2018, skeptics looked at it as an aberration. After all, when it comes to electronic devices, isn\u2019t the mantra the more features the better? Maybe not for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The first thing I noticed was how lightweight it was, weighing in at 4.8 ounces, making it the lightest digital compass on the market. I pressed the on button, and up pop the biggest digits I\u2019ve seen on this size compass\u201429.8 mm high (just over an inch high). I\u2019ve since used it on an Etchells and an RS Aero, and I suspect most of the boats around me could read it just as well as I could. Mast-mounted on a larger sportboat, the number can be easily read from the helm. It would certainly be no problem reading it from a trapeze wire.\nI also found the compass display easy to read, regardless of bright daylight or polarized sunglasses. According to Charles Swanson, from Velocitek, this visibility is a function of the materials used in the lenses. \u201cThe Prism has a pair of cut acrylic lenses, which are then over-molded into the outer white housing. Some lenses are a polycarbonate front housing, which is one of the most durable plastics out there, but can produce a kind of oily or rainbow pattern, which might be especially evident when viewed with polarized sunglasses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Been there, done that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The compass has a fast response rate to course changes, updating about four times per second, which means it\u2019s always on point. For heading reference, it uses only magnetic input.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

But why no additional features, maybe even a timer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we talked to Olympic and other high-level sailors and asked them what they were looking for, nobody really said a timer,\u201d says Swanson. \u201cTo take a sophisticated device and use it as a countdown timer didn\u2019t make sense. Etchells and 470 teams are all mounting watches below their compasses, anyway. We wanted to make the easiest electronic compass to use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The Prism isn\u2019t inexpensive, but, according to Swanson, that\u2019s because of the use of costly plastics, sensors, solar panels and batteries. Plus, he says, it has twice as many LCDs as similar-sized compasses. If you\u2019re looking for a top-level single-purpose electronic compass, with numbers that are easy to read in all conditions, and no risk of losing what\u2019s on the screen due to operator error, the Prism deserves serious consideration. It may prove well worth the $500.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Velocitek\u2019s simple device gives you exactly what you want\u2014if a digital compass is all you desire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Dave Powlison","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20190820","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"155","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"if a digital compass is all you desire, Velocitek\u2019s simple device gives you exactly what you want.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Gear Test: Velocitek Prism %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"ZQLPLDMN7HOJEQRNZ4YJTPTWEA","arc_website_url":"gear-test-velocitek-prism\/","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[931,172,224,1483],"class_list":["post-69416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear","tag-compass","tag-electronics","tag-sailing-gear","tag-velocitek"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}