Markings on Silva tritium compasses?

[auscam]

I was under the impression that all such compasses (from Silva, anyway) bear the circular black/yellow 'radioactive' symbol on the front LH corner of the baseplate. I ask because I've been sold (for top dollar) a 54/360/6400 which was listed as 'tritium', but which bears no such symbol.

The seller reckons it's tritium - I reckon not.

Anyone know?

 

[torc]

The radioactive trefoil only appears on a compass with betalight illumination and has a B suffix after the model number.
http://silva.se/products/proffessional/expedition-4b-nato.
A betalight source is undergoing radioactive decay hence the trefoil.
The other compass types contains a 3H compound that must be activated by an outside light source before it can glow.
Happy trails...torc.

 

[johnboy]

Is the scale in Mils or degrees?Look at the base plate if it has a small luminous glass vial bonded in with resin it's tritium.... No vial and the slot is filled in with photolume paint.... Non tritium....If you're planning on doing lots of night nav without a torch then tritium is probably a reasonable idea if you can us a torch then the regular photolume version is fine....

 

[auscam]

Had another look; def. no vial present...I went for tritium specifically so I didn't have to use a torch. I thought the price was a little low. Not to worry, a PayPal claim is in train, and it may be an honest mistake by the seller...

edit; the scale's in both mils and degrees.

another edit; 'trefoil' eh? The best I could think of was 'roundel'

 

[Ian S]

....a 3H compound....

3H would indicate the third isotope of Hydrogen, which is tritium?

The non-radioactive lume is either luminova or super luminova.

Cheers

 

[torc]

You're correct about 3H but Silva still mention it in the non-betalight compass specs.
http://silva.se/products/proffessional/expedition-4-military
It could be just a misprint.
Happy trails...torc.

 

[Ian S]

Now those Silva webpages are confusing....

Most of their compasses will just use luminova or super luminova, but they certainly do still use tritium (I think a tritium paint) on some models - the 54B for example. The 54B also has the radiation trefoil logo.

I don't think the No 4 linked to above uses tritium, despite the description saying it does. The description also says that it needs to be exposed to daylight or artificial light to activate the lume, which tritium doesn't. The reason why the military use tritium is that it doesn't need exposure to natural or artificial light beforehand.

I'm sticking to my luminova Ranger 15.

Cheers

 

[Ex member - Bilgerat]

Yes... Isotope of Hydrogen........


The Tritium energises the Phosphor which has luminescent properties....

 

[auscam]

I've emailed Silva Sweden for clarification, so if/when they reply, I'll post it here.

Edit; their reply; All of our tritium illuminated compasses are marked with the sticker that you mention, these are the ones named 4Bxxxx and 54Bxxx. If the compass is not marked then it might be illuminated using a “normal” fluorescent paint