Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What compass ?

I know it is the age of the GPS. But I use a compass. My usgi compass is, for whatever reason no longer trustworthy, trashed.
What are we buying? I have a small Burton ball compass on my jacket. What would be the next step up? Silva Ranger? Suunto ?
Something compact and reasonably priced.

You say "reasonably priced".....what's the value of your life??

Suunto M2 G Global compass. I have been using mine for several years, and I even buy them as gifts for family that spend time in the outdoors.

Reasonable price is relative, and compass cost from .99 cents to $$$$. For the hunter or day hiker there is a practical limit on price.
I'll take a look at the M2

Get a goood one made in USA or Switzerland , not china . I have had problems with the cheap ones, however, later in life , I found it could have been iron in all ground in northern WIs.

I had a silva Forrester for a long time and there's none better.

I'm pretty partial to t a Rekta DP 6 or Suunto MB-6. Rekta was a Swiss instrument manufacturer that made compasses for the Swiss military. They were acquired by Suunto some time in the late 90s.

Although I actually carry a vintage Wittenauer with no bells and whistles, I think the Cammenga is the toughest. You said you had a military compass fail, I'd like to hear the details.

Now brought to you by China.

As often is the case, the first reply on a thread is often the best and only one needed.

We've been training our church's Trail Life troop to use compasses. They all had different types, and some of those were junk. It's a real pain to teach when they don't all have the same type. Someone donated 10 Suunto MC2's to the troop. It's a mirror type that costs about $45. Mirrors are easy to teach and learn. We haven't used these a lot yet but we've found them to be very accurate and reasonably durable.
We're thinking up fund raising ideas for a trip next year to the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness. If we can go, it'll be a week on the water and the boys will be expected to do all the navigation by compass. My gps will be for backup only.

What were the old official Boy Scout models

One failure does not make a trend. My son is a forester, the company issued Suunto (don't know the exact model forester but it had a declinometer) has developed a drifting north. He thinks it may have been caused by storing it on the dashboard of the pickup unthinkingly, near a large speaker magnet?

That could easily do it...

That could do it. Here are some instruction on how to repair it that might work.
COMPASS REPAIR

I've heard of compasses being screwed up by carrying them in the same pocket with a cell phone but I don't know if that's true.

I really don't have any beyond I was following a blazed property line , known direction. And north was not where we last left it,

As a former forester, Silva Ranger was our goto. Still is for me and I think there's at least four in various packs right now. Mirrored, declination adjustable, fine degree markings, slope inclinometer, durable, lightweight, and cheap enough that if it 's lost, it's not a heartache to replace.

You ain't alone Gojoe, I can't begin to tell you how many times somebody left my pickup..not where we last left it. The magic self moving pickup. Maybe my compass is ok, I just need a new pickup.

Actually, that's happening. The magnetic north pole has always been moving but in recent years it's speeded up considerably. For all the years when I was growing up, the declination here was 17 E. In recent years, it's moved to 12E. It's speeded up the last couple of decades and is now moving at about 34 miles/year. Scientists think that there are 2 huge blobs of molten iron way down deep that have been shifting and messing up the magnetic poles.

Rocky, Thanks, I thought a compass was toast when it started to drift, I have an old Leitz that needs a tuneup, I'll give it a try.

The only thing that has actually failed for me on a cammenga are the tritium vials. They do have a shelf life.

For most uses I prefer a liquid damped compass. I've got a Silva R15 I've been using for around 40 years now. It will be buried with me.

I think that the Silva compass today is made by Suunto. And maybe always was. Not sure how that all works out but both brands have reliable compasses.

Are you using the compass to navigate? Or just to find your way back to a road, or linear terrain feature? Most guys are well served with a medium sized protractor compass. Just a quick look tells me that $30 buys a decent one suitable for rough navigation and small enough to carry easily.