What to look for when choosing a compass?

[Doc]

Looks like a type 54 to me. I have one, so should know.

Well done. They are horrifyingly expensive new. Even if the tritium illumination is a bit tired you have got a fantastic deal.

I am on my second type 54 - I lost the original one somewhere around Blencathra, and after using various lesser compasses I bought a new one. It is a seriously good bit of kit.

The type 54 really comes into its own for position fixing by resection. This results in a 'triangle of error' with your position somewhere within it. With a type 54, you get a much smaller triangle.

 

[JonnyP]

Not bad at all, check it isn't running fast or slow though!

 

[Levi]

Oops; it was £15.51, not £15.01...

Anyway, many thanks to all the people who recommended it.

 

[Pete E]

There are 6400 mils to a circle, as there is 360 degrees. So it will be 1600 mils to 90 degrees.

Actually there are not 6400 mils in a circle, the Army just says there is!

Unless of course your in the Russian army...they say that there are 6000 Mils in a circle...Which again is not striclty correct!

 

[Pete E]

Along the theme that google is your friend, I just found the following:


There are 2000π milliradians in a circle. So a milliradian is just over 1⁄6283 of a circle. Each of the definitions of the angular mil are similar to that value but are easier to divide into many parts.

* 1⁄6400 of a circle in NATO countries.
* 1⁄6000 of a circle in the former Soviet Union and Finland.
* 1⁄6300 of a circle in Sweden. The Swedish term for this is streck, literally "line". Sweden has not been part of NATO nor the Warsaw Pact