I have a 06 F250 XLT that I was thinking about adding a temp/ compass/altimeter in the cabin. I haven't done much research, but the model I looked at required an external sensor for the outside temp. If I didn't want the outside temp, then I could put a wireless unit in that would give the compass heading and altitude, etc. An outside sensor of course requires a physical connection to the unit. I haven't crawled around in the truck much (as this is MN and not conducive to working on vehicles this time of year without a heated garage), but was wondering where a cable might be run to get the sensor located where it would get an accurate reading of the outside temp. I'm not really interested in dismantling anything to install this unit, but thought I'd see what others have done. I can get a nice wireless unit that will give me the things I want, except for the temp. That may be the way to go.

I recently joined this site. It is a great site and the F250 is a great truck.

 

Welcome to FTE!

None of those electronic aftermarket compass units I have found worked. I have tried several purchased at local auto parts stores.

 

Welcome, BFF250! You're gonna love this site! I'm still sorta new to it myself, but am learning tons.

I've got the same interest in a compass. So far, the only thing I've done is purchased a little $20 dash stick-on unit, but I've been hesitant to stick it on for some reason. Can't really explain. It's one of those floating ball types. I like the fact that it gives more resolution than the digital ones (like the 8 position digital in-mirror unit in my '96 Suburban). however, it doesn't really seem to have the type of "brawn" in how it's put together.

What other types of options are there? Are there any aftermarket oens that are well built and reliable?

 

Thanx for the reply. Today I did read some reviews on the Wayfinder V7000 and V7500. Neither of those were particularly glowing for user satisfaction. It seems a hit or miss on whether you would get something you would be happy with. For now, maybe I'll just save the money for something else. A Delorme Atlas still works and is reliable.

 

I've been interested in adding temp & compus for mine also. I haven't really looked much in the aftermarket yet, but I found on ebay a kit that will mount a stock f150 upper console into the f250 and looks factory. I just have a hard time commiting to modifing the headliner to attach it, plus dropping the 190 it will cost after shipping and it does not include the temp sensor.

 

Keep in mind, too, that the stock unit probably only does an 8 position compass (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, and NW). This is what I've always had in my Suburban. The 8 positions is probably good enough, and has served me well. In fact, i find myself dependant on it when I'm in unknown territory. At the same time, though, being an engineer and having spent a lot of time in Scouts with my sons, I really want the detail of a true compass with finer degree incrementation, even though it's really not necesary.

I've seen the Waypoint units, and I just have a hard time spending that kind of cash.

If we wait another year or two, we can probably spend the Waypoint level of cash and get a true GPS system, which will be much better in the end.

 

For Scouts get an Engineer's compass and a map compass. Of course they will not work in or near a vehicle.

 

There are alot of rearview mirror options out there, that have the temp and compass. Like a Lariat would have. I've been on Ebay and looked at them, but not a clue as to what model I would need? Just returned from a muzzleloader trip from the U.P. I sure did miss having a temp and compass in the truck.

 

Go to wally world (walmart) and buy the 29.95 digital compass. Follow the instructions on calibration and away you go, never had a problem with it when it was in my truck. As for running the cable out, you could run it through the firewall and up to the cowl area. I would assume that would be a fairly accurate reading.

 

Thanks for all the replies. As far as getting a compass/altimeter/temperature unit, there doesn't seem to be all that many models on the market. The ones that are there , which Wayfinder seems to have the most, don't necessarily have consistent decent reviews. However, maybe the technology will get better.
As far as pulling a cable through the firewall, I briefly looked at that option and it seems the firewall is well sealed without any way to get through that. But as I said earlier, I'm in MN and it's too cold to be crawling around in a vehicle right now. Will check that more in the spring. Thanx for all the info.

Bob

 

OK,

As a pro navigator (Charter Boat Skipper) I have "interest" in navigating vehicles as well.

I have several thoughts on this!

1. A cheap garmin hand held GPS has a electronic fluxgate compass in it that will work inside your vehicle!

2. As well as telling you direction - in a pinch it will actually tell you where you are!

3. Get one of the latest ones with built in Charts (oops - maps for you land lubbers) and it'll actually show you where you are on screen realtime - just like a chartplotter will do for me in the boat!

4. You could of course run a hand held GPS with a laptop in the truck - wth your maps on screen!

5. You could lash out and buy the new in car GPS nav systems which are getting cheaper by the day!

6. If your withing GSM telephone network tower coverage, you can now find your position using tower triangulation using your cell phone and AGIS GPRX technology for free!!

http://www.asiagis.com.sg/agis2/agis...sp?tab=navfone

That said - nuthin but nuthin beats a good ol paper map and good quality handheld compass, when the shyte hits the fan and all the electronic systems are dead!

Thats asuming you actually know how to use it!

If you do - you will know that True Virgins Make Dull Companions!

True Reading
Variation (Apply)
Magnetic Reading
Deviation (Apply)
Course to steer!

So - how many of you actually know how to use these on board compasses & a map to find your way in any meaningfully accurate way anyway?

In the hands of someone who actually knows how to use them they can be very accurate instruments.... and in the hands of someone woth little or no knowlege can actually get you lost toot sweet!

It's a fascinating subject if you get down and dirty with it!

Theres always more than one way to skin a act!

Cheers!

 

Here's another option, and I'm suprised that you didn't mention this one, Flywest.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...g-20/ref=nosim

This 2" diameter dash-mount compass has a built-in night viewing light, and can be mounted (in my case) in the dash square where the 4x4 switch goes. Good size for visibility, not too large, mounts in dash, lights up at night, full 360° navigation capability, and is less than $40. It's now on my wish list for the future.

 

I specified ahand held compass over a dash mountedone deliberately in that a dash mounted ones about as usefull as a blindfold in navigating a vehicle!

Compass "deviation" is something that navigators use to correct for the effect of metal and electrical circuits in boats, aeroplanes and cars, to correct for magnetic anomaly caused by these ferous metals and electromagnetic fields!

A "deviation chart" is something that a "certified professional compass adjuster" comes around to your boat orplane and dioes a series of tests to adjust the compass as besthe can thenm print a chart of the variations at all points of the compass to correct for the electromagnetic & ferrous metal anomalies!

He charges a lot of $ to do this every 5 years or so! (Lets put it this w3ay a LOT more than that $40 compass is worth!).

With ah hand heldcompass you have the ability to try and keep it away from the dash and electrical circuits - even to stand outside the vehicle all toegther if needs be

This can significantly decrease the deviation anomaly to insignificant amounts!

Having it in the metal dash with all those electircal currents likely means a dash mount compass couldn't find up from down or day from night!

Lets put it this way - I wouldn't be navigating across the tanamai desert on my own with it!
A hand held prismatic on the other hand could be used to take bearings to to trangulate (fix) ones position from known land marks etc!
If you wanted to get fancy you could take along a sextant even!

Then again - you could just follow the birds, or use the sun in combination with your watch, to determine due north, or use the southern cross at night even! (Extend the long axis of the southern cross two & one half times using your index and middle finger) toward it's rotation point about the pole - drop verticle to the horizon and you have due south!

For those of you in the northern hemisphere who don't now the "southern cross" is the 5 star constellation found on ours and new zealands flags, which in the southern sky is located by aligning the two "pointer stars" Rigil Kent & Alpha Centauri, which point at the cross!

Thes days one of thems been renamed but what the heck - long as you can identify them is all that matters!

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the details, Flywest. Good information to keep in mind when considering this issue in practical terms. You may have just saved me $40 (in addition to providing a somewhat salty lesson in the finer points of navigational devices).

 

It's actually a subject I enjoy, and it cost me a small fiortune to learn it, so while I mightn't be the ace mechanic around these parts, maybe I can share some other life skill to someone elses benefit in part payment for all the good free mechanical advice I get here!

Truley for navigating if you set your mind to it - the little Garmin Etrek GPS for a hundred or so bucks is a mighty capable bit of gear (available with adjustable dash mount and 12V power supply kit!).

Truley you could navgate anywhere in the world with one of these and a map (chart). Likewise, it has something called a fluxgate (electronic) compass in it if you really want to follow a needle! (I.e. for not much more than the compass costs you get many times more navigational capacity!)

Again - you could get a prismatic hand held Sunto brand compass for hand held bearings standing outside the car etc! Likewise the Garmin also snaps outta it's bracket pops in a shirt pocket and under battery power your good to go!

The GPS will compute a true speed over ground (via sattelite triangulation) even thru the roof metal of your truck - but it gets a better signal thru the windshied if it's on the dash!

The GPS can save a tracklog for you - to navigate back over the same ground! Let me give you an example....you took your 4wd over afrozen lake following someone who walked the path ahead testing the ice for thickness and it was a windy trail avoiding many potentially deadly thin ice spots!

(It could equally be quicksand in a swampy environment or soft bottomless sand on say a beach or dunes!).

Now it's night time and for emergency reason (you got bit by a rattle snake) your alone and have to retrace that same journey without your trusty guide - (who died from the snake or fell thru the ice or sunk in the quicksand - or like John Bellushi - inthe Blues bros ran into an old girlfriend with an AK47....)

So - you set the Etrek to run saved route "finnish to start" (in reverse order from your trip in) and away you go following the arrow on the GOS turning whichever way the arrow points - it will retrace your steps within feet!

I would run my 16 ft river boat 14 miles up a river in the dark - the river around 10 - 20 feet wide at best - just following the lit screen & arrow in the darkl

Another scenario...your on your way somewhere, at the right speed - have the GPS switched on saving the tracklog (route) and it;s monitoring your speed by sattelite triangulation method updated many times a second!

You get stopped by the PD who says you were doing 90 miles in a 60 mile zone - but you KNOW you werent! Who you gonna tell - how you gonna beat the ticket?

Easey...you download your tracklog onto your laptop, and take it to court!

Pop it on the plasma screen projector and say - but your honor at that time on that date I was saving a GPS tracklog of my trip which I have here withme abd at xyz hours at location (lat & long) specified in the charge you can clearly see I was only doing 58 miles an hour - not the 90 miles claimed by the Policeman here!

It is obvious he was pointing his radar readout of that time date and location at some other vehicle besides me and stopped me in error - because my whole trip is recoirded here for your honor to plainly see!

The facts don't lie - I was clearly NOT speeding in that location at that time your honor! I am very sory but the officer is clearly mistaken!

Amazing the capability these machines have in the right hands!

They can equally get you killed if you don't understand them correctly! Set the wrong map datum and buddy you in heap big toruble - pale face!

Same thing with something simple like a sattelite technician at ground control reboots a sattelite control computer...and forgets to allow for daylight saving time!! For 3 sattelites to triangulate where you are on the earths surface - they each have to know EXACTLY where they are in space!

Now a fixed point in space has 4 co-ordinates XYZ & T (length breadth Width & TIME)....Mess with a sattelites clock and guess what, where it tells your little GPS buddy you are, is all lies coz it don't know WHEN it is at a given point in space within it's geosynchronus orbit!

If it don't know where (& when) it is in space - it's got no business telling you where you are on earth - because you'll be somewhere else!

The ol garbage in garbage out syndrome we are so familiar with in this day and age!

At least in a car - you don't have to allow for "set and drift" (The effect of wind and current on the course you steer!).

I think to be honest, if you venture offroad at all or out in conditions of severe weather (heat or snow) that can strand and kill you, having a map ,hand held compass, and little pocket GPS like the garmin Etrek in your glovebox, could well help you walk out of trouble if you had too, across unfamiliar territory (snow for example)...

That said equally a personal distress beacon (EPIRB) as well in the glove box will let rescuers find YOU in the event you have to stay with the vehicle (or someone in it thats incapacitated) in the event of an emergency!

These things combined are under a grand - and yet we as a rule don't carry them when in effect, they could save ours and others lives, yet we will spend over a grand on chrome door handles and fuel cap / grill for our truck without batting an eyelid!

Add a sattelite phone handset to the list and if you get stuck in a vehcile somewhere and die waiting for rescue - then you musta messed up bigtime!

Again less than a grands worth of equipment!

Maybe if we thought about it - standard fixtures in off road trucks,ought be a 10 pound dry powder fire extinguisher , the maps, hand held compass , hand held GPS , EPIRB emergency beacon , Sat Phone & First aid kit!

So - you invest a couple 3 grand in this equipment - you'll be surprised how often you use it!

First on the scene of an accident - in remote country with no cell tower coverage - no problem....pull the sat phone dial for an ambulance (the flying doctor...or rescue helo!)...

Common sense really, we think this way in boats or it can end up a one way trip..

A few Offroad types with the big 4WD trucks could do worse than to carry such stuff!

Getting back to that little $40 compass...it's better than nothing but not a great deal better!

Anything you do to improve your chances is better than nothing!

Add to the list of safety gear - what we on the ocean call a 'ditch bucket ' - (all the safety gear we take with us when the boat sinks, including distress flares, extra water, dry biscuits and barley sugar candies, a signalling mirror - etc..).

You could just have a plastic 5 gallon bucket somewhere in the vehicle with everything in it - foil space blanket etc!

Not hard to make up a great safety kit!

Lottsa fun knowing how to use it all well - and being the only guy in the troop who came prepared!

Cheers!