Last night I couldn't sleep so I pulled out one of my favorite how-to-use-a-map-and-compass books for some late night reading.

With that in mind I pulled out some of my compasses this morning only to find:

My Brunton 8099 has a large bubble in it.
My Brunton 8096 also has a large bubble in it.
My Brunton 15TDLC's needle actually points to the south instead of north, and it is tilted downward a bit.

Sigh. I haven't got a clue what happened to the 15TDCL. It worked fine just a few in July (last I used it). All my compasses are stored away from nasty fields. I even keep them separated from flashlights, batteries, and the like.

The truth is that I knew the 8099 had the bubble - I'd written Brunton about it last July and they said they'd fix it at no charge. I just hadn't gotten around to sending it in yet. Now I need to send three compasses in.

Befoe we start bashing the 8099, I actually have a second 8099 (long story) that I'd sent in for a bubble repair a few years back and it remains bubble-free to this day ... and I REALLY like the 8099. I find it sooo much easier to sight bearings than with the 15DTCL ranger-style compass.

Ken K.