Murphy's law says, and has repeatedly proven to me, that if it anything goes wrong it will go wrong at the worst possible time.

You're less likely to break a compass or GPS then you are to lose it. I've lost a number of compasses over the years and have picked up GPS's that other have lost. This is just general trail walking and not from catastropic loss (i.e. ditching the pack after ending up in the river) that would require a PSK.

As for a reliable compass; any brand name needle compass should do. I haven't tried the big military lensatic compasses, but the keychain disk compasses have questionabe reliability.

Both a compass and GPS are subject to loss and failure. In any case you should make an effort to be constantly aware of your position.

I fear many people simply wander around and then pull out the GPS when it is time to go home.

It is such an easy skill to lose if you don't keep it up. I am kind of fortunate in that I have to teach it every year as part of IBTS Training.(individual battle tasks standards) I have no other choice but get into the books so I don't look like an idiot teaching it to the new guys. Especially the young Officers. Damn these folks are thick. You have to dumb it down to a 5th grade level for them.

(Insert long winded rant about new officers here)

Teaching it to others always forces a person to be extra careful and I find it an excellent way to remain up to speed. You will find it all comes back very quick and you will be teaching those cubs and scout 1,2 and 3 point resections and intervisibility in no time flat.

My perference is the Silva Ranger with the Brunton 8010G as a back up.

Both can be adjusted for declination.

I agree with an earlier comment that navigation is a perishable skill that does require practice.

Blake

www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Wonder how the soon to be solar flare will affect GPS?

Won't affect my compass - GI issue - at all.

The ranger is a good compass.

I have a Cammenga tritium lensatic compass just like the U.S. militaries.It is heavy as all "heck".But I like that because it is "bomb proof" and can take some pretty good licks.It is a dry cell compass which means no air bubbles.The tritium vials are self luminous and can be used at night.It is the kind of thing that could be passed down a generation or two.I think Thseng likes them also.....

BOATMAN
John

He's working on it, Snake. He's still at a rudimentary level of general direction finding and tracking, but he's starting to get the hang of it. We've done a little orienteering and I expect to do a lot more. I need to brush up soon! I'm keeping a close eye on this thread to kick start that. Thanks for starting it!

I prefer the see-through plastic baseplate orienteering kind of compass ... with liquid filled capsule and adjustable declination.

Brunton (which includes the real Silva) and Suunto make nice ones.

I have the Cammenga lensatic and find it super solid, but clunky.

I don't have much use for small button compasses. They tell direction, but not much help with map use.

I used the Cammenga compass with tritium in the military. (issued). I was not overly impressed with it. Back then I could read the bezel by the tritium, that was the feature I liked best. The trit dies after 10 years or so, something to consider. In the military, 30 or so years ago the tritium feature was nice to have. Nowadays with NVG's all over the world, the trit can compromise you in a hurry. from quite a distance in fact.

For civilian use I much prefer the clear baseplate/protractor type compasses. My Suunto is the metric version which means it has UTM scales for 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 maps, I have a separate one for 1:24,000 USGS maps. I try to buy maps from mytopo.com and they let me choose 1:50,000 which I prefer. Military training still kicks in here and there :-) If I have to navigate at night I need a light anyway, old eyes, glasses and no one to hide from!

I still see some folks prefer Silva Ranger compasses, the present USA ones are made in Asia and are not really Silva brand at all, just in the USA. I don't recall what year Silva USA dropped the genuine product and went to the Asian made products. In all other countries of the world a Silva is a Swedish Silva. You can find more detailed info around the Internet, if interested.

FWIW I also noted today that Brunton no longer sells the Silva (marked Brunton) compasses. There are still some available from various vendors but Brunton no longer has them on their site and most popular online outdoor vendors have run out of the Silva marked Bruntons.