What Compass do you use?

Just out of curiosity, I was curious as to what model compass other members use. Personally, my favororite is a "New Model" Silva Range CL, but I have a Brunton and a couple of more stuck away somewere that I also really like.

Anyway, no reason to elaborate, unless you just want to explain what features it is that make your specific model your favorite.

Thanks,
J.

I favor any compass with a mirror and baseplate. I currently carry an elderly Suunto MC-2, but there are lots of equivalent models.

My favorite is my silva huntsman. It has a hinged brass plate with a built in safety pin to clip to ones hirt for "hands free". It was a gift from my uncle back when i was 13 years old. There is now a big air bubble in the liquid, and the needle has begun to lose some of the paint (the liquid now has the particles floating around). It takes a moment for the needle to settle to its position, like a non-liquid does). But it has sentimental value. This goes with me when i do trips which I do not anticipate much off trail.

For any significant navigation in my neck of the woods, all I need is a map and a basic orienteering compass so the Silva Starter is perfect (and light on my wallet).

My favorite is the compass that I have used professionally for nearly 50 years, a Silva Ranger. It can be preset for declination, has a sighting mirror and a base useful for plotting and taking bearings. It has a metal case, a plexiglass base plate and is liquid-filled. It still has not acquired any bubbles. The only thing about it I don't like is that it is a little heavy plus it is graduated in quadrants rather than azimuth. But quadrants were what we used back in those days.

I carry a Silva Guide on my trips now because it is lighter, has a mirror and useful base plate. But it is nowhere near as accurate as my old Ranger and it is not even close to the quality; I'm now on my third Guide. But for what I do now it serves adequately and is two ounces lighter.

Well, I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I use cheap Wal-Mart compasses. It's pretty easy to get up on a ridge here and triangulate your position close enough to be usable on a quad map.

I have a "mythical" place called somewhere. It's where I put stuff I don't use, but don't want to toss, either..then I can't remember where that somewhere is, half the time.. Anyway, I have a Suunto stuck away there. A friend of mine bought it when he wanted me to teach him orienteering. He lost interest though, and decided that a GPS would be much better. I tried to talk him into learning how to use a 1:50,000 scale topo map first. Then if his GPS ever failed, or he couldn't get a signal for some reason, he could navigate himself out of anywhere. He wasn't having any of that, so I scored a $50 compass for free. Seemed like a very well made compass, but I don't recall ever really using it. Now if I can ever find that darned "somewhere", I'll pull it and other stuff out.

J.

Stick and sunshine during day; north star at night. I quit taking a compass about 20 years ago. I backpack in mountainous areas where a compass is really not needed, unless you venture into winter camping with white-out conditions. (I do not use a GPS either).

Silva starter, here. Inexpensive, light, but good; can align with map and adjust for declination. It stays on a cord around my neck along with a whistle and one of those itty bitty Photon lights. The little light is my backup in case my headlamp fails; there have been a number of times I've needed it when I couldn't find my headlamp groping in the dark. At least once, my dog was sleeping on top of the headlamp!

Like W_D, most of the time I can navigate just fine without one, but we do get occasional bouts of really dense fog around here. Also, I really enjoy sitting on top of a ridge and identifying nearby peaks from a topo map, far easier with a compass, and keeps my map/compass skills up to date!

Yeah.OM,.I really don't have that luxury in the mountains where I travel,mostly, even on top you'll likely have your view obstructed.
On well marked or well traveled paths, especially places I'm intimately familiar with, I may never pull mine out. But fog, dense trees, etc..I always have one. And if I'm soloing, which is most of the time, especially in unfamiliar terrain, I like to stop and take a reading every so often. It's a lot more fun to come out 10 to 20 yards from your target, than to have to walk back down a trail or road for a mile or five, because I was winging it and over shot my way point here or there.

A lot of what I travel through is so dense that you can't look at your topo, drop perpendiculars, and trace out the ridge lines, and sight in on exactly the landmark your looking for. In this type of terrain, one might be lucky to look through the rough, and see 10 or 12 feet, straight ahead.

Oh well, getting off topic, was just curious what kind of compass people here liked to carry, and who uses magnetic dampening like the military cammenga's that I learned on, or the fluid dampened, like the Silva Ranger CL, or similiar that I use now, and personally like much better.

J.

We have that kind of forest in the lowlands here, two, with trees several hundred feet high. Unfortunately, much of the underbrush and deadfall is so thick that I wouldn't even consider trying to go off-trail in it. Silde alder, devil's club--familiar words to us northwesterners! Poison oak, too! Most of my off-trail navigation has been close to or above timberline, in the Cascades and in the Rockies. Or on the east side of the Cascades where the forests are dryer and therefore more open.

I knew there was a reason I have always preferred to be at or above timberline......

I use a Commenga 27 lensatic compass. It's the same compass the military uses except I didn't pay extra for the tritium dial.

Navigating compass only is a bit of a hobby of mine, so it's more than most need.

Yes, OR, I wish I had that luxury here. The mountains that we have here, are foothills of the Apalachian. Not very tall, can be very steep and covered top to bottom with trees and brush.

When I was a young G.I., I was stationed in Colorado, And loved hiking above the tree line, and would often decend into the trees at night (where allowed and legal), and build a small toasty fire to unchill, in weather that required it and to get a little privacy from other folks.

I still always carried a topo and compass, but rarely if ever had to use it. I did get lost, once, for about 3 hours, but managed to navigate to a river stream, and just followed the stream down until I came out to civilization.

Where I travel here, I don't have that luxury, of hiking above a tree line, and getting into thick trees and vegitation, it can be a little difficult to navigate, so I always carry a topo and compass, now, to make sure that I always know where I am.

J.

I was issued a Suunto orienteering compass when I joined SAR. We use compasses to double check what the GPS gives us while navigating.

I also teach people how to use it. I've used it to navigate out of forested places before, but most of the time it's fairly easy to read a map and triangulate.

I worked in forestry for many years. I often worked in flat or rolling, heavily forested, rainy and foggy country with no visible landmarks. In country such as this, the ability to navigate with a map and compass is essential if one wishes to go home at night. Travel by dead reckoning is certainly not always necessary. But, if one does not have such navigation skills then it is much easier to get lost when landmarks disappear in the fog or the forest. To me, having a map and compass, and the knowledge of how to use them, is like having insurance; seldom needed but occasionally necessary.

Yeah, I agree with that. I grew up in Northern Illinois and there's some flat land around there. Fog, or even heavy cloud cover can confuse you pretty quick if you've just been rambling around. There wasn't really anyplace big enough to get lost there, but there are a few where you might think you are.

It's an odd feeling though when you realize you don't know what direction to go. Hit's you pretty hard.

That really is an odd feeling the first time it happens (with repetition, it starts feeling more normal.)

I always carry a deck of cards in my pack for such moments. I just stop, get out the cards, and start playing a game of solitaire - someone will soon show up to tell me the red jack goes on the black queen, and I just follow them home.

That's just classic! Had me laughing out loud.

Just a cheapie that cost maybe $10. I used to carry a ranger, but eventually I switched to a little one that I strung a cord thru and when I am really off trail tuck my map in my waistbelt and hang my compass on my neck...

When I was looking for a compass, I saw a lot of old timers extoll the amazingness of the Silva Ranger. So, I wanted that one. But with a little more research, realized that the old Silva Ranger is not the new one. The companies are different. If you want the old Ranger, then get the Brunton 15TDCL. Well, at least that was the case. It looks like things have changed again, also if you look a the Brunton site, they don't show the 15TDCL at all, so I am thinking they discontinued it. Brunton
So, now it looks like if you want that type of compass, Suunto it is.
I almost forgot......I have a Brunton 15TDCL made in Sweden.

I carry a Brunto Type 7 compass and a topo map for the area I am in. Don't feel comfortable without a topo.

Ellis

I have taught navigation for a mountaineering class for a few years and here is my opinion. Any base plate compass like a Silva Starter 1-2-3 compass will work fine as long as it has 2 degree graduation. I use the
Brunton 9020G Compass, Base Plate, with Declination Adjustment. I enjoy using my map and compass, but in hundreds of trips out I have only had to use it a few times to find my way. Mostly I use it to ID mountains or find out where I am on the trail even though I am not lost. It is mainly used, by most people, in an emergency, even though they "should" practice with it more often.

Jim
You say you teach nav - and you say that you have only pulled out your compass a few times. You also comment that most only pull it out in an emergency. Since compass navigation requires keeping track of where you are - could you tell us how to use a compass in an emergency siruation when it has only been pulled out after that emergency starts? This is not a casual question and "oh it helps you find north" is not an adequate answer. How do you use a compass to find someplace [your vehicle]when you are lost?
Jim

I love Twain...

I use a Brunton 7DNL (0.95 oz) but usually don't need it when I'm hiking. I'm mostly hiking trails in the GTW and keep a topo map handy. I'm pretty good at locating myself on the topo just by looking at the topography around me and keeping track of where I'm going and where I've been. I can triangulate
with the compass if I really need to pin point my location.

Jim,

Let's assume worst case where you don't have a map. Let's also assume you don't have a clue which direction your vehicle is in.

You are going to have to set up a search grid from a central point you can find again. Look at the terrain and rule out obvious directions.

Then decide on how far your truck could be from that location.

If you are good with a compass, you can do squares around the central point. If you aren't so good, you will probably have to do radials from the central point.

A GPS won't save you in this situation. Last week, I marked a waypoint right at the car when I left it. When I came back, the GPS showed me 600 yards from the car.

Someone who only takes their compass out a couple times a year is not an "expert." They may be good enough to be safe, but they are not an "expert."

Someone who is good with a compass ought to be able to navigate compass only with an error of 150 feet/mile. An expert should be able to navigate with an error of 50 feet/mile.

I worked in forestry for about 40 years in the pre-GPS days. Part of that work was in the Puget Sound lowlands of Washington in dense stands of second-growth Douglas-fir, hemlock and cedar. No landmarks and often foggy and/or rainy. We often needed to locate section corners or other property boundaries. For critical work we would use a staff compass and a two-chain trailer tape to measure our way. But, usually we could get close enough (100-200 feet) using dead reckoning with compass and pacing. The GPS I now have isn't too much better than that: it is faster and easier though.

I give up. What is a staff compass? What is "2 chain trailer tape?"

A stick to hold the compass still....like what you'd put a Brunton Pocket Transit on. Or a camera. Tape/chains go off the pointy bottom. Big chunk of the world was surveyed this way before optics/lasers.



http://www.benmeadows.com/warren-knight-foresters-staff-compass_36812766/

I just pictured Indiana Jones in the map room with the pendant on the top of that staff. Gave me a smile remembering that film. /thread drift

Dyer has it right. A staff compass is a precision compass of the sort that came with a transit. It has a level bubble and a needle about 4" long and sighting leaves. They come with a ball socket on the bottom that fits an ash wood (Jacob's) staff that is pushed into the ground. Carefully used, a staff compass and the "Jake stake" will give bearings to 30 minutes. A two chain trailer tape is a metal tape that is 132' (two chains) long with a trailer marked in topo units (a topo unit signifies one foot of rise per 66' chain). In use, one would run the tape out to a 2 chain distance and then measure the slope using an Abney Level scaled in topographic units. The forester would then advance the tape to the appropriate topo mark on the tape trailer. All of this was done to correct the distance on the slope to horizontal measure. All mapping and surveying is based on horizontal distances. Yeah, I know this is a bit arcane but most of the western US was surveyed this way and in forestry the old surveys rule.

Thanks for the history lesson.

Gershon,
I have to disagree.
twice now I have set a way point and headed into the mountains, once back packing and once fishing down a mountains stream and returning cross country. In both cases I simply followed the gps home and in both cases my truck was not visible until I was within 50 yards of it.

If your GPS was 600 feet off, then something was wrong, like your original fix only grabbed a couple of satelites or you didn't give it time enough before setting out. Even in the old days of the purposeful error in the GPS, being 600 feet off returning to a waypoint was really bad.

Maybe you need to practice with that gps like you practice with a compass. I can be completely totally lost in a white out snow storm and if I can get a gps signal [debateable I admit}, I can go directly to my truck. I have done this on several occasions. As in I used to go up to the Sierras for the winter storms and I relied upon my gps to find my truck and it never failed me, unless the batteries died, and if you take a waypoint at your TH and turn it off, you can still use it to point to the TH even if you don't know where the path goes, or you can leave it mostlt turned on and easily backtrack. This is the best, just carry spare batteries.

Jim

ps in deep backcountry there are not many trails and few easily identified peaks. a map is of very little use if you don't know where you are on it and quartering 20 miles isn't reasonable.

I started using GPS when working at Channel Islands and even when Selective Availability was applied, they worked quite well, almost always. There were just one or two occasions where something was amiss, ut usually things were right on.

If you ever have to find your white vehicle on a fog shrouded open plain, you want a GPS, provided you set a waypoint that morning.....

Jim,

You are right when you say I should practice with the GPS more. The error was likely created when I set the waypoint.

My interest in the compass is not so much for navigation as it is for mapping. This is a completely different activity than backpacking. If I spend the whole day moving 2 or 3 miles, that's great.

Unfortunately, nobody else seems to like hiking this way, so it's a solo activity.

new here, so hopefully I replied correctly.
Suunto MC-2G Navigator is what I use. It's probably overkill, but I like the baseplate, declination adjustment, sighting mirror. The mirror gets a lot of use for hygiene.

If I'm traveling in unknown country or didn't do a very good map study before departing (shame...) my primary navigation is GPS. I always carry my GPS anyway. I still keep my compass skills current.

Agree with Jim above; my GPS gets me spot-on. I have often hit the trail Friday night, sometimes snowshoed when trail wasn't too distinct (2-3 miles most, after work, just to get in the woods)and GPS was always easy to follow. Sometimes trails that are on a map don't exist on the ground, although I could use a compass (starting with verification of my current map location via GPS!), but usually default to GPS to plot a bushwhack to get me to my objective destination.

I enjoyed reading the comments on this post, especially those by Pika. We seem to share a similar background.

I use a compass and avoid using a GPS, just because. When I worked in the woods I used a Silva Ranger and later a professional sighting compass, not suitable for recreational use. In recent years I have been using an Eschenbach. They are very light, durable and precise enough for recreational use.

When traveling in Newfoundland, there are few if any trails. We pride ourselves in our map and compass skills and rarely pull out the GPS. But were sure glad to have it when in white out or fog. Sometimes you just need to confirm your location. BTW I use my 40 year old boy scout map compass.