Hello,

Has anyone had any experience with surveying with a Suunto Tandem in the southern hemisphere?

Will there be any issues relating to the declination and the weighting of the compass arm?

Thanks

Stephen

Has anyone had any experience with surveying with a Suunto Tandem in the southern hemisphere?

Click to expand...

I believe the Suunto _survey_ instruments are still sold in the traditional 5-zone system (the lower accuracy navigation compasses are now mostly two-zone, north and south). Certainly going from N-S hemisphere is the most extreme jump you can do. Declination is still subtracted / added as normal, it's the counterweight on the card to compensate from the off-planer drag of the pole that varies, and the alignment of the magnet (up + down) itself.
I guess you'd have problems both in the accuracy of a given reading (those last few degrees are where the force is minimal...), and likelihood of the card sticking.

As to how big these effects are, I have no idea.
Generally the correct compass regions are sold in the correct countries, so using a locally sourced set should put your mind at rest.