Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Compass Suggestions.

Got no responses over in the campfire, maybe I'll do better here..

Is today's compass of better quality than the compass of yesteryear?

I have a Silva Ranger, then two years ago bought a Brunton, the Brunton's needle settles down twice as fast as the old Silva Ranger did. Silva also leaked out all of its fluid, Silva sent be a new one, but am getting small bubbles again. I usually use mine in mild temps, I have read that extreme cold will cause most compasses to develop bubbles, But I'm never in that kind of extreme temps.

Do you all prefer the flat clear models, or the folders that have the mirror to aid and taking a bearing?

Have all of you retired your compasses that had the set declination scales for the adjustable declination models?

Can I see your favorite most reliable compass?
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Barkoff:

I bought a GPS about 12 years ago but I still use a compass and USGS maps. I use Silva compasses. I wrote that in the plural because, as you have discovered, they don't last forever. However, they are so cheap that I can buy three Silva compasses for the price of one Brunton.

I just use a simple compass laid on top of a map. No flip up lids, no mirrors, no peep sites.

KC

I didn't remember the Brunton being that expensive...I thinking about giving Suunto a try.

Its worth Googling the wiki's for the various compass makers as name wise, all is not what it seems due to buy outs and take overs.

Due to dispute over trademarks, I don't think Silva Sweden is now allowed to export any of its compasses to the US

What you guys get is "Silva North America" which is a different entity, and might now be part of Brunton??

Certainly at one stage all the top end Brunton compasses were simply re badged Silva Sweden models, but that stopped during the trademark dispute..

I use a Silva (Sweden) Type 54 Sighting compass, and they are considered to be about the top end of the standard baseplate models over here..



Notice the sighting system built into the bezel of the compass which you can take bearings as accurately as an army style lensatic/prismatic

Suunto make excellent compasses and also own Swiss compass maker Recta..

If you can get genuine Swiss made Recta's in the US, they are another excellent product. I have never owned one, but I think the Recta DB 10 would give my Silva a run for its money and might actually be better..

Wow, those type 54's still bring a premium, did they have the adjustable declination?

Mine doesn't but its several years old, maybe older..I'm not sure if they have versions with that feature today or not..

I believe that the DB 10 from Recta does though..

Is there a particular reason why you want it? I've used a map and compass for many years and never felt I needed it?

Probably because I haven't used a map and compass for years.
Just seems easier to set it and forget about it.

For me it really depends on what I'm doing. I have a Brunton navigation compass, I use in conjunction with a GPS when doing real mapping. The GPS isn't as reliable as it should be but the terrain is probably to blame. I use a Brunton or Silva flat map compass often just for quick checking on things. My GPS is a Garmin Oregon 650t iirc, it's been easy to use, battery lasts ok, but there are some canyon areas it seems to loose itself then burns batteries trying to lock onto satellites.

I keep a couple small compasses on me so no matter what I have always got at least one. I use an old brass TruNord in my pocket, and have SERE types in my survival kit, watch pocket, etc. depending on how I'm dressed, equipment carried, etc. I always have enough with me to get by.

A SERE type that actually works is worth getting at least one or two of so they can be tucked into things you'll neaver be without.

Deep, steep valleys will hurt your GPS, especially to the South. So will thick timber overhead. I prefer a smaller compass, but only used mine doing survey work to go short distances. I mostly relied on the GPS and the compass was to fill in when the signal was bad. miles

I like the surplus dry button compasses also.

They can be too small. If you drop it in the grass, yer screwed. I keep mine in an old, round lip balm tin that also carries some other stuff that is my "micro kit". This stuff rides in my jeans coin pocket.

5 or 6 years ago I bought 2 sets of cheap trekking poles from Cabelas. Each pole had a small compass in the end of the grip. If you lined up all 4 poles, each compass pointed a different direction. They were about as useful as hemorrhoids.

you get what you pay for. Most of the small compasses offered today are absolute junk.

There are only a couple that I'd trust. I forget the names now of the older ones as they are quite hard to find but Pyser makes the best readily available one. Silva 40H is a very good but very hard to get one. They are not available in the U.S. because Brunton bought Silva N. A.

The old ones are names like Stockard Yale something Signal Co.

If a compass has the usual needle, and not a pointer on a rotating card, that *should* be nearly impossible..It makes you wonder exactly how they achived that!

That said, over the years I've had two Silva Type27's where the polarity of the needle somehow became reversed! And I was reasonably carefull how I stored them too..

I had a compass like that long ago. I can't remember the brand or what I did with it. miles

I won this one at a survey meeting a few years back, and have never used it. miles

They actually had needles. Maybe they hired a wrong way physicist to engineer the things. I never figured it out either. I just know that they did it. One pointed directly south. That could have been just painting the wrong end of the needle. I'm at a loss to explain the 2 that pointed to the sides

Almost had to be something embedded in the case walls. I guess it could have been in the glass or plastic lens, but doubtful. miles

mebbe the compasses were too close to each other

I agree that most of the liquid filled button compases are junk

you can get excellent, hand picked ones from here though:
http://www.survivalresources.com/Products/Compasses.html

supposedly the best button type compasses (and expensive at ~$45 ea) are the "NATO types" or the Francis Barker Model 1605

http://www.bestglide.com/FB1605_Info.html

Just take one pole with you when you go into the bush and then you won't be confused

I'm still using a GI lensatic from waaaay back. Rugged and has never failed me.

Miles, geological compass you have there.

I have used the Suunto and Brunton compasses a lot. Suunto is easier to carry and heck of a lot cheaper.

Some compasses are universal, some area specific due to magnetic declination.

A good GPS will generally work just about anywhere, e.g. Garmin 62 CSx Used mine all over the place, from steep jungle valleys to open African country. Sat phones are another matter entirely!

Adjustable Declination;

If used in conjunction with a topo map it is quite useful, here in SW oregon magnetic north is approx. 19 degrees off of grid north.

On the other hand in Wisconsin for example magnetic and grid north are the same (i.e.. declination is 0 degrees).

If you are just shooting bearings to say find your start point or camp… you would not need it.

Jerry

I don't see any real change in quality between good compasses now and previously. You do have to be careful to get a good model.

I do think the newer adjustable declination compasses that use a tight friction fit are less prone to fail suddenly than the older system with a tightening screw.

I prefer the flat clear base models, with grid alignment lines, that allow use as an on map protractor for general use.

While I have a military lensatic and several with the mirrors, I find for almost all land navigation use that a careful center hold gives me all the accuracy I need when taking bearings.

For most purposes a non adjustable does just fine. That being said, the compasses I actually use most all have adjustable declination. The exception are a couple of small Silvas that weigh practically nothing and pack into a pocket easily.

The model I seem to use the most is a medium sized flat Brunton, adjustable declination, rounded ends that make it slide in and out of pockets and pouches easily (no sharp corner to snag or hang up) with inch and cm scale that makes it easy to use with metric or inch standard maps.

In much of the world, including much of the US, not knowing how to adjust for declination can get you very lost.

I appreciate what its for, but I have always achieved the same thing with a little mental arithmetic...

I am no expert, but from my studies of navigation and compass use, declination is the bending/deflection of the magnetic field lines extending from the poles. In the US, it apparently is minimal near the Mississippi River but varies continuously (and sometimes unpredictably) as you move across the country east(+) or west(-) It also appears to be undergoing a gradual change over time.

My understanding is that declination only applies for bearings taken from the map and applied to the field--not for field bearings taken and used in the field.

According to my favorite book on the subject, "Be Expert with Map and Compass" (by Bjorn Kjellstrom, who is widely referenced by other authors), when navigating from a map to the field as a 1 degree error can put you off by 1/60 of the distance traveled per degree of declination. In Az, at the eastern border the declination is about -11 degrees, and at the western border it is about -13 degrees.

Doing the math, assuming (that I can do the math correctly ?) and that you walked out 5280 feet from a camp at the eastern border of AZ, the -11 degrees declination would result in an error of about 968 feet (5280feet x 1/60 x 11 degrees).

I started with and prefer the old Silva's but lately have been using my Brunton Eclipse compass set up for GPS use, almost exclusively.
Using UTM's coordinates from my GPS, I can plot my position on a topo within a few feet/meters.I am old school when it comes to using the topo maps.
My old Silva's are both Ranger models. When in the field, I wear the smaller one around my neck pretty much all the time. I believe they are really good when used for field travel as you can easily sight landmarks and maintain a heading, but not as good as the Brunton for map work.

I have read the bubbles come from changes in atmospheric pressure ie--altitude, and as long as they don't interfere with the needle movement, they don't hurt anything. I believe this is true as my Silva's have bubbles at altitude but they go away when back in Phoenix.

Good luck.
Joe

"My understanding is that declination only applies for bearings taken from the map and applied to the field"

This is true or vice versa and what I was trying to say above.

"not for field bearings taken and used in the field."

This is also true, if you only use your compass to shoot a bearing as you move out into the field, you can use the reverse of the bearing(s) to make it back to your camp (basically you are making your own map)… Declination does not matter.

I won't buy a compass without adjustable declination as inevitably I will use it in conjunction with a topo map.

If you get a chance take a look at a compass that is in quads. the compass face is divided into 4 quadrants; starting at North and moving clockwise they are NE, SE, SW & NW. Hard to explain so refer to the picture, each quad starts in either the North or south at zero and goes to 90 degrees to either the east or west. What is slick about a compass in quads is that if you are traveling say N47E, then the reverse of that azimuth would be S47W. They are super easy and fast to figure your back azimuth. You of course can do the same with a 360 degree compass by subtracting 180 degrees, I just find the Quad compass faster and easier to work with.

Jerry

Well that's not a problem, it's just a minor convenience,to be able to set it for the trip.

Thr primary cause of declination is simply the physical location of the magnetic pole. Only if you are directly south of it (in simple terms) will your compass readings be declination free.

The magnetic pole is moving, and it's movement rate is accelerating. Might be Bush's fault...

Also, if you are using the compass in quite different areas, e.g. low to high latitudes, look at a universal balanced compass to avoid problems with the "dip" of the needle causing binding on the compass.

I have no idea how they make those, but for a traveller, they are well worth it..Some company's also refer to them as a "global" compass...

I used many compasses in my work, owned a Recta and it developed a bubble so I gave it away.

I bought a Leupold Sportsman in spring, 1969 and while heavy and slow, it always works, is robust and is always in my emerg. kit in my pack. I will never replace it and trust it in any conditions.