Compass

[tomtom]

ok so i already got me one of these

but can anyone suggest a nice slightly smaller one, maybe bress.. robust you know what i mean

 

[bigjackbrass]

Silva make a very good teeny-tiny compass, Model 27 I think (but don't quote me). its probably a couple of inches long with a folding mirror and opens out to reveal a pin for attaching to clothes, allowing you to take a basic direction reading as you walk, hands free. Very light and it certainly seems robust enough for me. It has a black baseplate and cover, but unfortunately no model number on it, so I'm trusting my decidedly dodgy memory for that.

I've been using one for a good while now and it performs far better than its diminutive dimensions would suggest, the sighting mirror allowing for a good degree of accuracy, but having said that I'm now getting more interested in navigation skills and have just placed an order for the vastly larger Silva 99 (aka Brunton 8099) which I suspect will weigh rather more heavily on the pocket (physically as well as financially).

If you fancy something at the top end, do a quick web search for a Brunton Transit. Aluminium body, level indicators, superb accuracy, price to match.

 

[leon-1]

you may also want to have a look at the Recta models, I think it is DP4. They are basically contained in a little box and are pretty robust.

 

[tomtom]

huum thakns guys!

and as i am not feeling soooo dyslexic at the moment i will translate...

BRESS = BRASS

sorry about that

 

[ANDYLASER]

Look at the models made by Tru Nord

 

[alick]

Look at the models made by Tru Nord

Cute ! :biggthump

 

[willie]

i would recomend silva to any body wanting a compass

 

[tomtom]

yeh i like my sivla, certainly does the job... i was just thinking of something more classic and simple! you know what i mean!

Cheers ANDYLASER :You_Rock_

 

[Hogan]

yeh i like my silva, certainly does the job... i was just thinking of something more classic and simple! you know what i mean!

I recently (2 weeks ago) attended a mountain micro-navigation course, where the Silva Expedition 4 was the recommended compass because it has all the features needed for navigation. A large baseplate (very useful for plotting bearings), built in romer scales and orienting lines, for assigning grid references and aligning compass/map (after being shown how to measure distance using the romers, I couldn't go back to a compass without them now). Luminous markers for night navigation etc etc etc....

I think I would rather have and carry a compass that can do it all, rather than a small, neat attractive one which when I needed it, was incapable of doing what is required of it.

This is just my opinion of course, (and comes from someone who just bought a GPS - a belt and braces sort of person)... and finally, let's not forget, sometimes BIG is beautiful too!

Regards

 

[bigjackbrass]

Most of the brass compasses on the market these days tend to be either cheap, almost novelty items, or else fiendishly expensive. There are quite a few good reproductions of antique models, and some really top end compasses beautifully made from brass, but my own compass hunting took me away from that metal and back towards the sturdy plastic protractor types.
The problem is that a cheap brass compass is very likely less robust and certainly less accurate than an equivalent of the Silva style (Suunto, Recta, Brunton and others all make Silva-type models, and all are good). Much as I love old and old-fashioned instruments I could not in the end find any reason for spending a huge amount of cash on a large and heavy chunk of brass. Most of the small brass ones are near worthless. If you are using a compass with a map, by the way, then the baseplate style, a la Silva, is considerably easier to use than even the best traditional types such as the Brunton Transit.