For my equipped freinds in the United States, keep in mind that the compass sold in the U.S. as the Silva Ranger is NOT the real Silva ranger made by Silva of Sweden.

A number of years back Silva of Sweden bought Brunton. Up until then Johnson Outdoors (owners of fine brands like Eureka! tents and Old Town canoes) sold Silva compasses and much to Silva of Sweden's dismay, Johnson Outdoors owned the U.S. trademark for "Silva" -- and they would not give it up. So now compasses designed by Silva of Sweden are sold in the U.S. under the trademark "Brunton" or sometimes "Nexus". In the U.S., compasses sold under the trademark "Silva" are made by a mix of other companies.

The compass known around the world (except the U.S.) as the Silva Ranger is sold in the U.S. as the Brunton 15DTCL.

I have quite a few different compasses (much to my wife's dismay):
Brunton 15DTCL
Brunton Eclipse 8099
Brunton Eclipse GPS 8096
Brunton 8010G
Brunton 9020G
Suunto M-3 Leader w/ Global Needle
Suunto M-3 Leader w/ Standard Needle
"Real" Silva Starters, including my original from back in the Scouting days
Cammenga lensatic compass

All of the Brunton's and the Suunto have adjustable declination, which is VERY important to me.

My favorite baseplate compass is the Suunto M-3 Leader with the standard needle (I don't like the coloring of the global needle), followed closely by the Brunton 8010G. I really like the Brunton Eclipse GPS 8096, but it is kind of large. I suspect the Brunton Eclipse 8097 would be a very nice compass, but it is still pretty expensive ($33 on Amazon.com) compared to the Suunto M3 ($20 on forestry-suppliers.com).

My favorite mirrored sighting compass is the Brunton Eclipse 8099, but it is kind of expensive ($65). As much as others like the Brunton 15TDCL (the Ranger), I just don't like it as much as the 8099.

I bought the lensatic compass to see what the hype was about. I figured I'd buy a good one, but I really don't like it nearly as much as the others. Its really kind of a pain to use, especially compared to the 8099 (which, by the way, also is housed in its own built-in case).

If you want to spend some cash on a nice compass, I really recommend you buy the Brunton Eclipse 8099 ($65-$70) or the Brunton 15TDCL ($45-$50) instead.