Need direction with compass lol

Ross

As an old Boy Scout, I reckon Silva, any model, is the only way to go. Get a mid range one so you can sight on features easily and can align the map. Has been so for 50 years of my experience.

Its not that technology is particularly unreliable, but even aircraft have a compass and pilots keep an atlas in that black bag they carry on!

Max

Hi Ross, I too am an old fart, and remember my days in Scouts fondly. We used Silva compasses then and I still have one almost 40 years on. The ones with the sighting mirror and sights are in my opinion a waste of time, unless you have a properprosmatic compass and are willing to part with many hundreds for such an instrument then forget the others.

Go for a plastic silva or similar with a fluid enclosed pointer and an arrow to elll you which way to go. I navigated out of the Big Desert in NW Vic with one of them and a good map saved us about 60 km's of driving, even amazed myself not to mention my doubting Thomasina who thought I was guessing. hahahaha

Ross
The big popular camping stores have them , in the cabinet with the knives etc

Way back when I still had a full head of hair and there was no such thing as sat nav or computer maps and we all had to rely on a paper maps and a compass the "most dangerous thing in the Army" was a 2nd lieutenant with a map and a compass , LOL.

Some years ago when doing my scuba ticket, the instructor described the difference between Silva and Suunto as the latter came into being after a parting of the ways between the heirarchy of Silva, both are good compasses. I still have my underwatrer Suunto and is going fine both above and below the waterline.

We teach GPS and compass usage!!

Anyways... get a baseplate compass rather than a sighting one.

Make sure that it has no bubbles and that the bezel moves easily.

If you can find one with some popular scales marked down the sides that is a bonus.

I always preferred Silva when I was buyng gear for students to use (back when I taught kids rather than big kids) but Suunto have a very good reputation too.

A Silva and a good map and the knowledge to use them will do fine. But take a GPS too - just in case :)

Mike Harding

I too am in the market for a compass.

I have always used a model of Suuto's. The metal cased one that you look through. With one eye you look at the reading on the compass and look at the target with the other eye. You cannot do it one eye at a time - impossible. You have to have both eyes open.

This type is excellent but has a small life span. The window face goes green when it's on the way out and the two I have seen on ebay so far have green windows. Suunto don't make then anymore and I'm spewing.

Both my Suunto's of this type started off with a clear window, which eventually went green (after years).

Thanks everyone for the replies. Very much appreciated. I will now do some more research ie Ebay and the places Doug suggested.
Cheers

Rossco

Rossco

I've used a type 4/54 Silva for many years. Simple and uncomplicated with a number of map scales.

It could also be argued that the sun is your best compass in open country. May not be precise, but if you get up early and face the rising sun you'll have a good idea where East is and, other points of the compass in a "bushed" situation.

Putting things into persective, there are a lot of guys shooting and trapping in the Kimberley and Pilbura who would'nt give a thought to a compass or other modern day devices.

I came accross a Roo shooter last year in a totally trackless area of the Pilbura who recently moved from NSW. He did'nt know the country, but was quite comfortable in a very remote environment.

Some times I think we get over reliant on gadgets at the detriment of instinct.

Regards

Kim

Hi

Try the camping and trekking shop at Rising Sun lights they have a good range of compasses next door to Franks Italian restuarant

Greenant

In my opinion the best and easiest to use is an ex military prismatic compass in conjunction with a decent topo. map.
Using landmarks you can quickly identify your location or plot a course to another.
You can find these on eBay at reasonable prices.
furph.

Ross,

If you loose your compass & have an anologue watch you can find north by pointing the "12" to the sun & then half way between 12 & the hour hand is north. An easy method from an old Tracker.

John

I came in a bit late here but after what I have read I think I should put in my two bobs.

A sighting compass is only going to be useful if you have a protractor and intend to work up back bearings on geological features to triangulate a position. You will also need to know the magnetic variation and adjust to get true bearing cos the map is in true.

Forget all that stuff if it sounds too hard and get a cheapie so that you can line up your map with north. With the map lined up you can simply sight over the map and see which hills relate to the one on the map. The direction of the road you are on should point in the same direction as the one you think are on on the map as well. Creeks and rivers are a good refernce too. Of course a lot depends on how good the map is or how much information it will give you.

I recommend studying the subject if you want to get good at it and practice it where ever you can. Then you will know how to use a good compass.

Best advice I ever got was that a navigator will use every thing at his disposal to check his position. You have an odometer free already and very useful too, but you have remember to write it down or reset it as required. Distance and direction is called dead reckoning and thats all they used to have once when the chronometer stopped or the sky would not allow a sextant sight. to use dead reckoning you need to write down the distance everytime you change direction and log the new direction. But never expect 100% accuracy and use your common sense to the full. Allow for up and down hill.

Oh, and the lat/long grid has nothing to do with compass bearings. Only format problem you could get is a compass that reads in mils but although I own one, I doubt you will come across one. If you did use a mils compass for plotting you would need a protractor graduated in mils! (not miles)

And like th man said keep the compass away from ferrous metal when you use it. They are hopeless in the car.

A friend had a little car compass and told me it was wrong cos when he checked it against the setting sun it was registering the sun at due east. He was a bit surprised when I told him the sun rises and sets in the east and west only twice a year at the equinoxes. Every other day it will set a little bit further north or south until the solstices when it will be a lot of degrees out by the compass.

So much to tell and so little time

good luck

Owen