Who makes and honest to god good compass?

Brunton, Silva, Suunto, come to mind right away

Rickt300: My Leupold has worked wonderfully well for decades now.
I am not sure if they still make them - but if you see one on the used market buy it.
Good luck in your quest.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I use a compass at work all the time. We buy Suunto and Silva, typically the models in the $40-50 range. We occasionally get a bad one from either brand, but overall they both work fine.

I have Silva’s as well, very good units. It’s crazy but the compass on my phone mirrors them very well but without some of the specific functions of a compass.

Osky

Cammenga ...all day, everyday, bet your life on it.

And affordable, so why settle for less?

I use the G.I from them and a Silva hanging from paracord around my neck as a backup.

I think it all depends on what you plan to do with it. I have a couple of good ones that my dad had, but honestly I like the one on my iPhone even better. Over the years I've discovered that I don't fish the good ones out of my pocket nearly often enough, so the $3.00 ball pin on compass on the outside of my jacket has been way more useful.

Foresters compasses are great, no question...give me a military (Cammenga) when you take a tumble in a boulder strewn creeklanding on the compass, forget it in a pocket while drying your clothing next to a fire, and on and on of hypotheticals. Night? Most foresters compasses are not night friendly. I won't bore you with the mil spec durability tests. You can imagine.

The one on my Samsung phone will give you the general direction but it's not accurate enough for orienteering or serious use. It can get you to a road, anyway.
Any of the major brands will have some good ones in the $40 to 50 range. The easiest to learn are the mirror compasses. Military types are harder to learn. They're designed differently than what you might call a civilian type.

Those ball pin compass are probably not the best, bit it's the one I use the most. I usually keep a Sylva in my pocket for a back-up.


https://www.amazon.ca/Coghlans-0126...&hvtargid=pla-307322448188&psc=1

Like others are saying, what you plan to do with it is important. I need to have some form of sighting system on mine, and adjustable declination is absolutely essential for the work I do. A ball pin compass like the one posted above is certainly better than nothing in some situations. Military-grade compasses look pretty sweet, but I have gotten by with the same Silva compass for the last few years and have treated it very roughly. It works well enough that I can't see a reason to spend more for anything I would use a compass for.

The Southern Oregon guys can confirm this, but every big Pacific front that comes through with low snow levels, we get reminded what the mix of stupid and GPS results in. This last storm, 2 families on Bear Camp between Grants Pass and Gold Beach, and a lone guy on Grayback mountain. No deaths this time, search and rescue got them out, but bad judgement and super bad GPS info will do it every time.

Mannlicher's suggestions are all good. My GPS units will also generate bearings (the direction one should strive for) and headings (the direction one is actually going) as well.

Cammenga 3H, bet your life on it. I have used them all and I always come back to the Cammenga lensatic, cannot beat it for reliability. toughness and ease of use both daytime and in pitch darkness.

If you don't know land nav. learn it ie declination, terrain association, azimuth
/back azimuth, pace count, map orientation etc. etc.----It can be a lot of fun and an important skill to know.

Folks don't use a compass often enough perhaps thinking it is sissy, but one can get turned around and lost very quickly, stepping off the trail in thick vegetation, out grouse hunting and a fog rolls in, cloudy skies in a hard rain, out on the tundra in the far north a foggy/snowy a white out can happen in a heart beat. It is good to know your back azimuth or what some call a panic azimuth back to a known feature such as a blue line, road, RR track etc.

Do NOT rely on GPS, batteries die, if you are in the bush for more than a day you better savvy land nav w/ a compass and map.

Of course you should also learn natural direction finding, ie shadow tip method, watch method, moon and star methods etc. etc,

The Best of the Best:

Suunto Optical Compass

Price is lower than when I bought mine over 30 years ago. This is what I used to layout miles of survey line prior to setting up instruments for high precision work. Easiest and quickest to read.

Fooking A, right on!

I've seen a number of kids with these things. They're cheap and you get your money's worth. There's no straight edge for orienting a map. There's no way to sight with them other than just pointing in the general direction. I've tried to teach orienteering to kids with them and it's almost impossible.

I have a Silva that I bought in 1971. Made in Sweden. Still points north.

I carry it as a backup to a newer one made in China.

This past season I'd been using an old-model Bushnell Backtrack I bought here in the classifieds. Suits my needs perfectly.

Get one with tritium reference points so you can see it in the dark with no flashlight or precharge from external source. Cammenga makes some good ones.

Garmin

Yeah, same. Started using one in the Army, of course, and have had one ever since.

My I-phone compass is a POS . Stand dead still , activate it , get a north land mark .
Put it away , reactivate and it is way the hell off , hardly reads the same three out of three times.
Thought maybe it was something to do with location. Tried it on hunting places 40-50 miles apart , same thing .
Glad I found it out before I actually used it .
Kenneth

When I first started deer hunting back in the 1950’s with my Dad, he insisted I carry TWO compasses. If you start to doubt the accuracy of Compass #1, put it away and take out your backup. 2/3 (you get a vote too) wins the debate. We hunted in far northern NH, VT and ME and if you got seriously turned around, you could walk 50 miles without hitting a paved road.

I have only had problems with a few cheap Bruntons. However, it was very likely caused by iron ore in the ground. In some places in NW WIsconsin , there is so much of it that a compass is useless.

That doesn’t matter if you have an initial bearing and know how to turn angles. A Brunton is the best and most accurate out there out there for such an exercise. I’ve even used them underground to map out old mine workings. On surface, they all are mostly obsolete due to gps.

I would rather have a good topo map and a compass than GPS. When the grid goes down you guys will be running in circles. The problem was the cheap compass was sticking.

My grandpa drilled into my head from a young age to always carry a compass in the woods and I still do. Most of my hunting and woods walking even on larger tracts of forest land has enough two tracks that I’m familiar with and grid pattern roads in the general area that just a pin on globe compass to take a reading when I go off trail is enough. Walk off trail, or river, creek edge ect, look at compass to confirm heading East off of trail, trail runs North to South so head back West to cross trail that I started on and leave a piece of branch on the trail pointed in the direction that I came from. I use GPS to get back exactly where I came from but keep a compass for piece of mind and to get me back to the trail if something happened to my phone GPS dead battery ect.

I have several Silva topo compasses that I keep in various hunting bags and one in the truck to have handy but they’re really no better unless using them with a topo map. Familiarity with topos is fun and worthwhile but something that I don’t do a lot of anymore between GPS and hunting relatively flat land with enough trails and roads that just a general reading when leaving trail works “well enough.”

Good info here.

rickt300.......if you read the thread I started a couple weeks ago, I always carry 2 compasses, because they do get stuck.
I was looking at compasses today and all I could find was cheap Chinese crap, going to check into what some of these other guys say.

Used a silva almost daily for 10+ years. Chased by Rottweilers, dropped down storm drains, floppin up next to my sweaty manchest, leaning over fences, etc.

Put it side by side with my iphone, just as accurate

I carry a Brunton I bought just as GPS was becoming common. It was advertised as being useful in conjunction with a GPS. Great tool, it still resides in my pack along with a topo map of the area I'm hunting etc. I often use it to confirm my GPS readings. (My current GPS is an Inreach+ with tons of features)
Jeff

I carry a Cammenga Lensatic (military model) because I am familiar/comfortable with it from years of use, I trust it, and it's tough. You can also download the Army or Marine Corps manuals free on-line.
Ps I also once owned a nice Suunto M3 Finnish made compass that went bad (large bubble under glass), despite the lifetime guarantee, they informed me they no longer "supported" my model.

Looking at them I like the Silva design the best.

I guide in the Adirondacks for deer hunting, canoe trips and remote pond fishing. I’m sure the Cammengas are good compasses, but they’re bulky with sharp edges (tough on your pack/pocket), I don’t know anyone around my area that carries one. Mannlicher’s recommendations mirror what I see the most experienced woodsmen carrying. Professional foresters in my area use Silva Rangers but unless you have a specific need to run something like a boundary line, the ability to sight through your compass is unnecessary. Declination adjustable compasses are nice if you are trying to get to a specific map location, like bushwhacking to a small remote pond, but unnecessary to get back to the road that you parked your rig on. I use the compass on my hone frequently, but if I’m going back in a ways I carry a good compass. Dead phone=no compass. Be careful with the ball pin on’s, in your pack’s shoulder straps have metal bars o you’ll wonder WTF. Personal experience. Buy a mid range compass, or two, from the companies Mannlcher recommended, hold it away from your body (pocket knives, key rings, etc) when getting a bearing and you’ll be good to go. Practice going from compass to map and map to compass and learn about the declination for your area. Finally, trust your compass. It is extremely rare for a compass to be affected by an underground magnetic anomaly and most maps have these areas marked. Proximity to phones or magnets (speakers) can reverse the polarity of your compass. I had that happen this year. It’s worth googling. Take care of your compass and it will take care of you.

What I generally buy as well.

One last thing, a good headlamp is way more important than a glow in the dark compass. If you can’t see where you’re going, build a fire and hole up until morning so you don’t walk off something that will hurt you.

If my life depended on knowing which way to travel, I'd rather have 3 cheaper ones than one expensive one with me.

Some years ago I spent 80 some odd dollars on
what I thought would be the last compass I would
ever have to buy, a very popular model.
Not long after that I was hunting at a fairly large
wildlife management area in east Texas, and
long story short I got extremely lost because my
expensive compass had bound up on it's axis inside
and in the pitch dark I couldn't tell that the luminous
pointer wasn't swiveling like it should, so after some
time, I got extremely turned around during the wee hours.
I would have called it a fluke and an isolated incident,
but later that year my hunting buddy had the same
thing happen with the same kind of compass.

I currently use my old 70's Silva and a fairly new
Silva along with a couple of different Bruntons.
The old Silva has never failed in all those years

If you are referring to the green alloy sportsman's compass then they are no longer made, only issue I had with mine was that they are not water tight.

I do like the reversed forestry dial though.

I have an expensive (to me) Brunton version of that...do not like it one bit as it is heavy and a pain to carry. I generally carry a Silva issue compass and an issue button compass in my personal kit as back-up.

Agreed. If I had to pick a single compass to "be there" during thick and thin and do what a compass is designed to do, it's hard to beat the general issue military compass.

Going along with having a good compass is knowing one's pace count and using it.
#1 A pace is not a step, a pace is every other step.ie every time the left foot hits the ground, that is a pace.

#2 You could measure out 100 yards or meters but the easy way is going to a football field. Start at one goal line (on the side line so you walk a straight line) feet together, step off with the right foot and then count every time the left foot hits the ground as you walk down the sideline toward the other end of the field. The hard part here is not getting macho and exaggerating the length of your steps, just walk normally. When you get to the next goal line which is 100 yards, write down the number of times your left foot hit the ground and then continue on to the end of the end zone, which is almost exactly 100 meters, write down the total times your left foot hit the ground.
Do this several times and then average for each one, you now have your pace count not only for yards but meters as well.

#3 Some "experts" will tell you that you need to do this for all conditions, such as running, uphill, downhill, sand. shallow snow, carrying a pack etc. but that is not necessary. If conditions are such that it would take more paces to cover the distance (constant uphill) a rule of thumb is to add 20%, and if the conditions are such where it would take fewer paces such as (constant downhill), deduct 20%. If it is just ordinary hiking about, probably no need to do that as the uphill and downhills will come close to evening out. Remember this is not an exact science but you will be pretty darn close. If you will be on snowshoes then you might want do all of the above wearing snowshoes walking in snow., but I bet you will be surprised how little difference there is(depending on the texture of the snow ie sugar snow vs really wet snow).

#4 I use a Cammenga 3H, so what I do is write the pace counts on the inside of the lid in pencil(pencil because you might want to change the info. and you can easily erase pencil). Here is an example of what I write on the inside of the lid;
Y68/14 M76/15 The Y refers to yards and the M refers to meters, the next 2 numbers ie 68 and 76 would be the pace count and the
last 2 numbers would be the 20% for each one. Do not count on memory to remember these numbers as fatigue, stress, passing time etc. can make it easy to forget simple things.

Hopefully this will be of benefit to someone. In the near future I plan to go into the importance of a good lanyard, how to construct a proper lanyard, how to use one and how to make and incorporate homemade (better than store bought) pace count beads (AKA Ranger Beads).

A pace count in the mountains is pretty much useless. Your pace could be anywhere from 12" to over a yard. As you get tired, it gets shorter.

What's wrong with the one that comes free on an iPhone? Can you use the side of the iPhone as a straight edge? Just asking. Might be a problem in areas with no cell service.

I have a Silva Ranger compass that I have used for over 50 years and its still dong just fine. Its from back when the cover was still made or aluminum.

Around here, everyone they find dead or clinging to life has a cell Phone, so....no.

It's hard to beat the plastic Chinese copies of the Brunton pocket transit. Buy on Amazon or Ebay for $15-20.

That's more than half of Idaho and much of all the mountain states.
The compass on my Samsung phone isn't accurate enough for serious work but it'll get you in the general direction. the Iphones might be better, I don't know. I use Onx on it all the time. However, electronics and batteries fail. I always have a real compass in my pocket or pack.

No, no it is not pretty much useless, if you read and understand some of what I posted. I have been doing and teaching this for years. Alaska, New Mexico, Washington, Laos, Vietnam and elsewhere.

You are correct that when you get tired things can change but I covered that in my post.

If I'm in the mountains, counting paces isn't what I'm there for. I have better things to keep my attention. I'm not into running orientation courses.

Okie dokie, but neither was I, in Vietnam/Laos and elsewhere. I needed to know where we were located, and there are some pretty significant mountains there. Same same NM, Alaska , WA. etc. Sometimes a somewhat accurate pace count can get you pretty darn close.
If you want to win this argument, OK you win, I don't care, I am trying to help those that do not have the experience that I do.
I still do all this stuff ie tracking, SAR for private as well as Gov. endeavors, and teaching word of mouth students in the craft of survival, bushcraft, combat patrolling etc.

So, Rock Chuck you win, have a good day and try not to get lost, if you do someone will surely know your LPS.

I don't know anymore but if you can find a Tates brand brass compass from the early 1930's they are really a magnificent compass that was considered the gold standard.

Alas, by the late 30's the Tates company had been bought by another firm who had no experience in the fine machining required. Their quality fell and the models from the late 30's into the 40's were awful, despite still being really popular and selling well. The led to so many search and rescue expeditions back then the first responders had a saying.

"He who has a Tates is lost"

Try the veal and don't forget to tip your waiters.

Rock Chuck would have been one of those lieutenants where the platoon sergeant would have said "Lost again, LT?"

Yep

Don't count on that. I've spent 60 years in the Idaho mountains and I have a lot of compass and map time under my belt.

As I said you win, no need to comment any further. Navajo Way.

A compass isn't needed in the mountains, except by flatlanders who don't know the difference between a peak and a valley.

OK

unclealps: "A compass isn't needed in the mountains" - then YOU have NOT spent much time at all "in the mountains"!
"Being in the mountains" is NOT the same as sitting on your ass in your recliner!
Take it from someone who knows and has spent countless days in the mountains over the last 74 years.
"Being in the mountains" is being in the mountains during snow conditions, blizzards, white-outs, fog conditions and on pitch black nights!
Take a compass and know how to use it when ever you go into the mountains - don't need one in a recliner.
Sheesh.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Yeah, your the guy that walks right by me and doesn't see me. Fires three shots because the sun is going down and scares away the elk. Then I save your ass from spending the night in the mountains and you follow me back to the road, and don't even realize its all in plain sight. You likely never even go a half mile from the road. I shoulda stuck your compass up your ass.

Uncle Alps
You seem to be very angry about something.

Anyway back to compass stuff. You should not have your nose stuck in a compass all the time, it is merely a tool. A good compass and knowing how to use it coupled with terrain association and awareness, map reading, sometimes pace count if needed to get to a particular location, section, resection, triangulation are only tools. Probably the most important is situational awareness and the ability to keep a cool head and not panic if confronted with a (hopefully) temporary loss of location. Knowing a panic azimuth or a back azimuth to a known location may avoid disaster

Obviously if you are going up or down really steep slopes where you are grabbing hold of bunches of grass or limbs to go up or sliding down on your butt using your rifle butt or ice axe for a brake such a thing as pace count would have little value but again it is just part of your tool kit.

As I mentioned earlier I will make a post regarding lanyards and how I like to set them up.

Just like a good "carry gun" a great compass, that has been left at home does you no good, a couple people have mentioned those little "pin on Ball" compasses and I have one on my "bird hunting" coat, now I also have a good compass in my pocket, but in places like the U.P. or southern New York where your chances of walking in a straight line for much over 100 yards is rare, because of the terrain, being able to glance down, and get your bearings to get back to the road is a God send.

I have seen some of those cheap compasses actually point S and some I have seen point different directions each time you take it out and look at it. I have one embedded in the end of a walking stick that is pretty good but that is a rarity in my experience for button compasses. I have read of really good ones from WW11 that were part of E&E kits but have never seen or used one.

For the most part I would stay away from them but if anyone has one make sure it actually works, your life might depend on it.

I have checked all mine including the E&E, they all point to magnetic north. I don't recall seeing one that didn't, though I don't really own any particularly cheap units.

I have seen some of those cheap compasses actually point S and some I have seen point different directions each time you take it out and look at it. I have one embedded in the end of a walking stick that is pretty good but that is a rarity in my experience for button compasses. I have read of really good ones from WW11 that were part of E&E kits but have never seen or used one.

For the most part I would stay away from them but if anyone has one make sure it actually works, your life might depend on it. Dont know how this duplicate post happened. Tried to get rid of it but no joy.

Cammenga and Silva.
Keep 'em away from your comms (phone and radios).
Two is one, one is none.

I have carried an Engineer Lensatic for as long as I can remember. Can confirm that low clouds/weather can make navigating in the mountains difficult.

I have had a Silva for 30 years. Been turned around a couple of times in flooded timber where it was flat and in the Ozarks where it was steep. Got my compass out and trusted it. Brought me out within sight of my ride. I do look at my heading when I leave the boat or the truck in unfamiliar places. I bought a couple of new ones a few years ago another Silva and a Brunton.

I've used a vintage USA made Brunton Pocket Transit (quadrant) for the past 8 years or so for field work (mainly geological) and a Made in Sweden Silva Type 1S I've had since '81 or thereabouts. The Brunton is a heavy pig, and the needle is very touchy, though it does have a needle stop/lock function, so I don't use it much anymore. I used it mainly for mapping and taking the strike/dip of formations. The Silva is excellent for orienteering. I've used it successfully on many a Sourdough hike:

Being competent and practiced in navigation and 1st aid are fundamental skills for the serious outdoorsman.

A Suunto MC2/D w/ adjustable declination and inclinometer lives in my pack and a Suunto M9 wrist compass is always worn when in the wilds.


mike r

In 45 years of travel throughout the mountains and deserts of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Mexico I cannot say that I've ever needed or used a compass. Many trips per year for hundreds of miles in the wilderness many times guiding clients.

A map, yes. A compass? No.

The only time I've used or needed a compass was for work as a surveyor.

If you cannot determine or know your position or which way is North then by all means wear your compass at all times. Having a map and paying attention to where you are going is better. It's not that difficult. Or better yet get a gps / locator beacon so we can find you when your wife reports you overdue.

sheriff toe is that you?


mike r

When I went through IOBC the first thing a lot of us did was to buy a Silva compass to use instead of the issue compass for map reading and land nav.

I can't remember the exact model but it was similar to this.

https://silva-usa.com/products/compass/silva-explorer-pro-compass.html

For those interested in acquiring a Cammenga 3H.

Be careful about where you buy it, the Tritium has a life of about 12 years and you don't want to buy one that has been on the shelf for a long time and has only has a few years of glow left. Probably the the best bet is to buy directly from Cammenga (link below). They do make Phosphorus treated ones but they have to be charged with sunlight or a flashlight but they are cheaper. The Tritium ones are they way to go in my opinion, once the glow starts to lessen the compass can be sent in for refurnishing. There are 3 numbers on the inside of the lid, and as I understand it, the first is the year of manufacture, the second is the month and the third is the lot number. Ex. 21-04-15. So, with that you can get a good idea of glow life. The one I had in the Army was Phosphorus ( don't know the manufacture,but it was a traditional military lensatic), and it seemed it had to be recharged with a flashlight it at the most inopportune times, so Tritium is best--no recharge always glowing.


The 3HJP model has less Tritium due to Japanese regulations, so in the US best stick with the 3H.

https://cammenga.com/

Note: There is a choice between N. and S Hemisphere models, as well as color and packaging.

I've used the Recta DP-6 for years. Recta was a Swiss company, but they were acquired by Suunto a while back. Looks like Suunto is making them in Finland now and calling it the MB-6, with a version for use in the northern hemisphere and a global model that is also good to go in both the northern and southern hemispheres.