The Drift Innovation Compass is essentially a wearable camera (not what you would guess from the name). It was designed with the idea that it will allow you to capture every moment without having to stop and, you know, appreciate it (welcome to modern life). The camera is reasonably compact at 43 x 43 x 13.8mm and weighs just 34g. It features 8MP and records in 1080p, has 50-6400 ISO, a CMOS sensor and comes with 2GB built-in storage, but is also compatible with Micro SD cards up to 32GB and comes with 10GB free cloud storage.

The battery life is weak at four hours’ tops - that’s two hours of 1080P 30FPS video recording or four hours for photos alone. As the camera is marketed at incredibly snap-happy types that like to document every moment, this will give you about a day’s use per charge. It comes with a wireless remote that will work up to ten meters away, and there is a built-in high sensitivity microphone that picks up sound clearly even at a bit of a distance. You can create time-lapses with videos or photos with the use of the free companion app, Drift Life. You can also livestream and control the Compass more accurately with this app, including view finding, shooting photos and capturing video.

The Compass comes with a clip or lanyard, but the magnet attachment (used in all of the promotional videos) is sold separately. This magnet can be fixed to your clothes without damaging them, and it would have been really useful to have it. As well as the magnet, it’s also possible to purchase silicone skins in a variety of colours to personalise your camera.

I’m going to be blunt here - I simply don’t understand the point of this camera at all: the camera lens is in a diamond shape, so it is difficult to line up a straight shot, and to take a shot you must double tap the camera, which is inconsistent in whether or not it reacts. It feels as though they had the technology and wanted to use it, whether or not it actually added anything to the product…which it did not.

I also felt self-conscious wearing this camera in public. It’s like walking around with a camera raised to your face - people give you shifty looks. “Why are you filming me on the underground?” After receiving a few glares my fragile confidence couldn’t hack it anymore and I put the camera in my pocket.

The big question is, do you need this when there are such high-quality cameras on your phone, and tough rugged action cameras for more exciting activities? The answer is no. The Compass is a niche product that doesn’t perform well and will quickly become a source of frustration, until it ends up in the back of your draw forever. RRP £99.99

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1 out of 5

Pros

Compact

Lightweight

Cons

Difficult to activate shutter

Doesn’t come with the only attachment that’s worth using

Short battery life

Looks strange whilst wearing it

Doesn’t offer anything that your phone or action camera doesn’t already have

Disappointing results