Compasses: Can anyone recommend one?

[jjronnie]

Hey everyone,

Just wondering if anyone in the army can recommend any good compasses for backpacking. I would love to get my hands on military issue but i'm sure they are quite expensive. I have heard names like Suunto, and Silva. Just curious if anyone would be kind enough to recommend some names for civilian use. Thanks...

 

[HollywoodHitman]

Suunto and Silva make good compasses. The military compasses are incremented in MILS and generally the civvy compasses are in degrees. Depends what you're comfortable with. For generic backpacking, either or is fine for what you're probably looking at.

Good luck and remember than North is towards the top of the map.........

 

[gun plumber]

Silva compasses retail about 60 bucks.You can get them in Mils or in degrees,what ever you choose.A good place to start is SIR outfitters in Winnipeg.You can get on thier mailing list by going to thier homepage and joining thier list.Don't scrimp on a good compass,your life could depend on it.

 

[pappy]

the US GI compass maker sells "refurnbished" military issue for like half or less with / tritium
Also note the discount for active duty.... 
CAMMENGA
http://www.cammenga.com/cart/Scripts/default.asp

They took back one I had since 1978 and sent me a refurb for something like $30 usd a few years back.  Aside from a bubble in the paint, you'd never tell, everthing else was brand new parts.    lots of cheapier ones out there but one bullt as well?

 

[chrisf]

The Suunto compasses we're currenly issued are commonly available for commercial sale. As others have pointed out though, they're generally in degrees, not mils. They're decent compasses, no complaints about them, but I haven't done a *lot* of navigation, so maybe others would have somthing to say on that topic.

 

[chrisf]

This is similar to the Canadian issue compass...

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52482&item=5146255945&rd=1

Note though that it's in degrees, not mils, as well, it includes a dip pointer in adition to the compass needle.

I'm sure I've seen them cheaper though, if I recall, the book store at my university sells them for $35-40CND, not sure how much the out door stores charge.