Anybody know what happened to Compass Electronics???

[jwbuck]

I live in Portland OR, and saw Compass was made near here in Forest Grove. I can't find anything about them what happened to them??
Any contact info would be greatly appreciated.

HH

 

[duggr]

Compass Is history!! If you need your detector repaired Get ahold
of Keith WIlls at East Texas Metal Detectors.....

 

[jwbuck]

n/t

 

[jmaryt]

fond memories of compass!..my first serious coin sniffer was a JUDGE 1
high frequency tr...nasty on coins!..nice balance,and well built!..it virtually "cleaned" out a state park here!..in thse early days,didn't need to go too deep,as silver was everywhere from 4" to surface!..make it around '75 or '76...liked the color too!..lime green color!..an attractive detector!....(h.h!)

j.t.

 

[jmaryt]

i talked to him a few years ago!..i am sorry i don't remember his name,but do know he was a pleasure to talk to!.he was commenting on bouncing back from the fire that wrecked the factory in forest grove.
as i recall,he explained to me that he had a LOT of confidence in the present line up of detectors at that time,and he KNEW that those designs were the equal of anything out there!..he further explained that HE was the lead engineer,and now he owned the company...don't really know why compass failed,however i suspect it may have something to do with not enough dealers wanting to take them on,as there only was a very few dealers that sold them across the country!
during the "salad" days of the seventies,they wre slugging it out with whitey for supremacy in high frequency tr detectors!..the "judge"
series was EXTREMELY popular back then,and compass rode the crest of that surge right into the eighties with low frequency "vlf" technology
after that period,not sure what happened,however the ninetie was upon us,and then compass had that devastating fire to deal with!..i think they were off the radar for awhile untill the engineer took over the company and tried to get back in the game!he revealed to me that it was HIS dream to put them back on top,and he was trying to keep things together!i did NOT know they were gone until i read it here!
i really feel bad for the guy because i know he put his heart,money and soul into compass,and also because as i stated here i owned a JUDGE and it was a cracker jack detector,and i would have purchased a newr updated model later if could have afforded it!as is so often happens in retail,i believe the public's tastes changed,and PERHAPS compass could not make the marketing adjustments!.we'll never really know!...(h.h!)

j.t.

 

[bigolhorns]

I live 4 blocks from the old Compass building in Forest Grove. Compass has not really existed since the fire in the late 90's. Barely existed years before that. I bought an X200 Challenger from the plant in about 1994 there were only about 10 people working there. In there hay day their were probably 100 employees. I was in the plant many times.
I understand one of the ex compass employees tried to run the business from his house after the fire. I understand he acquired many parts and built and repaired some detectors. He worked on my X200 about 4 years ago. Don't think he is doing anything with detectors now.

 

[jmaryt]

i believe he was the head engineer,although i have to admit it WAS more than afew tears ago when i spoke to him on their watts line!.if i recall,he sounded very up beat and confident about the performance of the detectors,however i DO remember he seemed very sad when discussing the fire.personally the guy impressed me with his knowledge
and his positive attitude.if i was a betting man,i would bet that he knew it was over,although it was,of course difficult for him to admit it at the time!..i am really sad,as it WAS a fine detector,and was a PLAYER from the seventies right through to the nineties!..i found a ton with my JUDGE 1!..it WAS,along with the JUDGE 2 a fine coin sniffer for a high frequency tr!...(h.h!)

j.t.