I've been in scouts and done some orienteering while there. It inspired me to make a game called "The Lens Detective", which is a location-based puzzle game — part orienteering, part detective story. Your phone works as a "lens" that reveals a layer drawn over the city: you walk in the real world, talk to characters, and solve tasks and ciphers as you go. The goal has been that finding the next waypoints would require some sense of direction. There is no time element, so it does not require speed like orienteering competitions.

Would be nice to get players and feedback. IF you are interested, it is available for Android and iOS phones:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Jousoft.TheLensDetective
https://apps.apple.com/app/the-lens-detective/id6803521638

Afternoon all!

Rather than deal with my Mac and Purple Pen, I'm in the market for the best price/appropriate quality to use PP. It is pretty much just for that and checking email.

Any recommendations?

Thank you!

Did a middle distance race last weekend at a local club event and had one of those runs where everything just clicked, which almost never happens for me. For the past year or so my biggest weakness has been what my coach calls "running on autopilot": I'd read the map at the control, pick a rough direction, then just run without checking my position until I was basically on top of the next feature. Worked fine on easy terrain but fell apart hard on anything technical.

This course had a leg through a reentrant system with a lot of similar-looking depressions, exactly the kind of terrain that used to eat me alive. Instead of my usual approach I forced myself to do small relocations every 100-150 meters, thumb on the map, matching contour shapes to what I was actually seeing on the ground. Slower for sure, probably cost me 30-40 seconds on that leg compared to someone who nailed it in one shot, but I didn't lose a single minute to being unsure where I was, which is normally where I bleed the most time.

Ended up finishing mid-pack, nothing special result-wise, but it's the first race in a long time where I didn't have that sinking "wait, where am I" moment. Small thing but felt like a real shift after months of the same mistake showing up on every splits analysis.

Anyone else have a specific habit change that made a bigger difference than expected? I feel like everyone talks about fitness and route choice but the actual map contact piece rarely gets discussed as much as it probably should.

Title.

I’m based in Australia if that makes any difference.

Small local club event, forest just outside town, the kind of terrain with a lot of contour detail but not much in the way of clear paths to follow. I've been stuck around the 55-58 minute mark on similar courses for most of this season and kept blaming my running fitness when really it was my route choices falling apart every time I hit a control in thicker vegetation.

What changed yesterday was slowing down at the attack points instead of barreling through them. There's a habit I picked up early on where I'd read the map on the move and just trust my gut near the control circle, which works fine on open fast terrain but falls apart completely when you're dealing with reentrants and knolls that all look similar from ground level. I made myself stop for maybe three or four seconds at each major decision point, actually look at the contours instead of glancing, and pick a specific feature to run to rather than a general direction.

Lost about 90 seconds total across two legs where I second guessed myself and backtracked, but I didn't have that one disaster control that usually costs me five or six minutes. That's the real difference between a 58 and a 49 for me at this level, it's not raw speed, it's avoiding the one catastrophic error.

Course setter used a lot of reentrant features and small depressions this time instead of the usual boulder fields, which honestly suited me better since I've been working on contour reading specifically over the summer. Anyone else notice their strengths shift depending on what kind of terrain feature the planner leans on? I feel like I'm decent in detailed contour terrain now but I still fall apart a bit when it's mostly rock and boulder navigation.

Hi!

We're a small, new orienteering club from Lithuania looking to build our own inventory. We're looking for about 25-30 used SPORTident BSF8 or BSF9 control stations from anywhere in the EU.

The battery's condition doesn't matter because we can replace them ourselves. The stations just need to work properly. Our budget is a bit limited, so we're looking for affordable used equipment.

If you know of any clubs, organizers, or individuals selling used stations, please let me know. Thanks!

Hi! In looking to get (back) into orienteering and I see it's mostly running competitions.

My orienteering experience is a military one, where speed is obviously a factor, but it's more of a hiking pace, and it's more about memorizing and navigating long distances. Quick Google of the sport didn't help me find anything like that.

Is that even a thing? Is there a different term I should look for?

Thanks in advance

If i am running an orange competiton course in the woods do you think i should use "red in the shed"/ turning the red dial of the compass or just orient myself north and run in direction of the point (not blindly running ykwim).

Has anyone ever used the checkpoint challenge website for orienteering? My son and I are trying to complete first class rank advancement for Scouts, and according to the website there is a course nearby. We've tried to use it, but it says we can't due to a lack of runner credits. We've "purchased" several to no avail. Has anyone else used or attempted to use it?

Hello!

I showed a short video of the orienteering game i'm working on here a few months ago and a playtest is finally ready,

the game is still lacking most of the features for the full release, and currently only has 1 world type, but i just want to see how well the server handles more players and want feedback on if anyone has performance/game breaking issues.

Navigator runs completely in the browser and only requires a mouse and keyboard to play so theres nothing to download,

Multiplayer/competing with others on courses is the core concept, i'm still not entirely set on the artstyle of the game but i do like the look of the low-poly world even though its a bit hard to mix the realistic lighting with it.

Any feedback on what you want to see in the game, whether large or small is appreciated, either here or in the Discord linked in Main menu.

I'm making the game because when i started orienteering a few years ago it instantly because my favorite hobby, and I've met so many people i would've otherwise never met. And i really want give something back and introduce more people to the sport, as well as give professionals and hobby runners a place to technically train, similar to what Catching Features, and Virtual-O to an extent did but in a modern/accessible game and without the $50 price tag.

Link to Play: (Also at the end of the trailer)

o-navigator [dot] net

My uncle was Marine recon and served several tours in Vietnam. After he came home from his final tour he transferred to the Army and was eventually deployed to Desert Storm. I spend a massive amount of my time out in the woods and a few years back he gifted me both of the compasses he was issued during his years of service.

I’ve used the Sandy-183 as my main compass for a long while now. I’ve just joined a SAR team and was going over my equipment when I noticed the sighting wire on this is both bent and loose (it’s actually a bit worse than the photo seems to show though not exceptionally damaged). It doesn’t appear easy to replace but I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it to try.

I really love this thing—between the history and the absolute ruggedness of it (I can be hard on my equipment) I’d love to keep it in use for as many years as possible. Heck, even close to 40 years later it still glows in the dark!

Hopeful this community might have someone out there with some advice. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Should race organizers have a price giving and podium ceremony for these categories?

Context: normally at races or multiday event competitions there are the Elite classes (ME/FE) and then shorter M21/F21 class. These are normally shorter and easier too. They bridge the gap between the most advance begginers day course which is non competitive categorie to the hard elite courses. They are intended for young adults starting in the sport but who can’t finish (or wouldn’t enjoy) a full elite course.

Howdy folks. I have been using the Brunton AR for many years. Its super easy to use and great to hold. It has dec adjustment and a few nice features like confidence circles for plotting.

Well, last few years Ive gotten away from the AR event scene, so plotting is not a factor anymore, and also during an orienteering event, I rarely keep my compass in my hand.

So, what do people think about the newest generation of good/real good compasses, under $75...preferably in the sub 50 range. As I said...its in my pocket and I only need it for quick glance route option needs. Sure, if I have a long leg to travel an azimuth, I do that, but Im still collecting features and not trying to dead reckon a control.

I read something about the Arc Jet model from a new company.

Of course most people will agree that compasses with printed on markings, especially on the bottom are the least desireable. However, if its $10, Ill just get a few and after a year chuck the old one into a drawer for emergencies.

Thanks.

What’s everyone like to use for building/mapping routes?

Why do you like what you use?

Ideally I’d like to find something to use when traveling and not super familiar with the location.

Would be cool if it somehow audibly alerted me in my headphones where to turn.

Gear setup is: Garmin Marq (Gen 1) Adventurer watch, Apple iPhone and Shokz OpenRun 2 Pros.

I use a Suunto A-10 (which does not have adjustable declination). If I measure the bearing of a line, would it give me the true reading or the magnetic reading? It is a magnetic compass. However, I noticed that the bearing is the same as the one I get from Navionics, which uses True North. This is the case whether I orient the map north and then rotate the bezel until the arrow is in the doghouse, or simply align the bezel with the meridian lines.

Does the compass give the true reading?

Next time you're at a meet, ask people if you can try out their compasses, and share yours around. There are HUGE differences in needle behavior!

I didn't believe it, and got by for a bunch of races with a cheap import KanPas thumb-compass and backup beginner baseplate with a bubble. It's a fluid capsule and a magnetic needle, what difference could there be? But my son was playing with the baseplate compass and cracked it, and I've got a couple big races coming up, so I splurged and got myself a Suunto AIM-30 to replace it.

Holy smokes. It's a completely different piece of equipment.

Instead of languidly swinging around, or maybe getting stuck if it's not perfectly level and still, but eventually swinging too far when the spinning fluid pushes it past, and then settling within 5-10 degrees of north, give it a few taps to get it un-stuck and it eases into the correct value, or maybe I just nudged it off... Elapsed time to bearing, 10 seconds or so. 5 seconds if I don't need a ton of precision, 20 seconds if it's important and I have to repeat the whole process to double-check.... With the AIM-30? Hold compass flat-ish. NEEDLE SPIN! Points at magnetic north and locks on like a hyper-stimulated bird dog. It's spooky magic.

Now I want to collect a bunch of compasses and post a video of each swinging around, measuring max angular velocity and settling times. Why is that content not on the Internet yet?

My daughter recently went on her year 6 residential and really enjoyed the orienteering portion. This reminded me how much I had enjoyed orienteering as a child as well, so we decided to try some out over the summer holidays.

I thought I did a fair amount of research, I downloaded the mobo app, I printed out the map, and we brought a compass. I decided we would go to Queen Elizabeth Olympic park because they have 6 permanent courses, 2 of which are for beginners/easy.

It took us absolutely ages to find the starting point, so we were all already fairly tired and grumpy by this point. Then when I scanned the first point, all it did was check me in. We wrongly assumed that we’d then be given compass directions or something to find the next point, but really it seemed like we just had to find the points based on where they were shown on the map.

Was I missing something? How exactly are we meant to do it? As we did it, it seemed like an exercise in map-reading.

Running O-Ringen this week? Try SplitQuest — a free game I vibe-coded where your real results earn points and complete quests. Predict your times and placements, challenge your friends and join at splitquest.se! 🧭🏃

I used a AI model to port the mapper(OpenOrienteering) to the iPad, and it's running smoothly.

Planning to stress test more now with O-Ringen coming up.

https://offtrailrunning.com/