Just to be clear, compasses sold with the Silva label in Europe are sold in the U.S. under the Brunton label (or sometimes the Nexus label).

Compasses sold in the U.S. with the Silva label are NOT made by Silva of Sweden.

Yeah, I've heard all the folks who say they don't like Brunton's Eclipse 8099 (sold in Europe under the Silva label), but I've had both the Brunton 15TDCL (the original Silva Ranger) and the Brunton Eclipse 8099 for quite a while, and I really REALLY like the 8099. I find it much easier to do sighting with, though I find it hard to explain exactly why. I also like the magnified area for reading bearings.

I keep trying to like the 15TDCL better - I really do. I've even been carrying it with me a bunch for the last two years. It is simpler and doesnt' have cards that get in the way, but I just like the 8099 better.

The 8099's mirror clicks into just the right spot. The magnetic decliantion is fool-proof - not screwdriver to deal with. The dial is easy enough to turn I can do it one-handed. The mirror, though smaller, provides a much better view of the needle area (don't know why - I wonder if the mirror is higher quality?). The eclipse circles feel good to me - better than trying to make the 15TDCL's needle & box edges parallel. I've read someone say that the 45 degree angle of the sighting mirror the eclipsing doesn't work right - that's not the case on my compasses. The rubber boot means I don't have to worry about scratching the bottom of the compass.

I actually have two 8099's. The first one was purchased a long time ago - maybe 10+ years ago??, and as others have said, it developed a bubble. I was about to head out on a trip, so in a bit of a panic I bought a second one. I got the first one repaired, and since then neither have developed bubbles. I had talked with a Brunton service person when I had the repair done, and she told me that they did have a bubble problem early on, but that they had done design changes to minimize those problems.

Whether the bubble problem is truly a thing of the past is true or not, well, I only have a sample size of 2, but so far so good.

I also have a Cammenga compass. I bought it to learn what the fuss over lensatic compasses was about. It is one really tough compass and does everything its built to do. I really like the fluid-less dampening system - cool!. Still, I simply don't buy that it is any more accurate than the 8099. Heck, the degree scale on the Cammenga is in 5 degree units. The scale in the 8099 is in 1 degree units. I would guess that the 8099 is probably more accurate since I can better aim it since both the compass and the target are in focus.

One of the big advantages of the Cammenga is supposedly that you can read a bearing without having to bring the compass down. That might be important in the military, but I'm just fine reading the dial on the plastic baseplate compasses.

Also, while sighting with the Cammenga I struggle to figure out what the thin sighting wire/thread is for. That sight slot is so close to my eye that it is completely blurred to me. Maybe its my old near-sighted eyes, but I asked my 13 year old son w/ no vision issues if he can see the thread and he says its blurry too.

My other beef with the Cammenga is that it has no declination adjustment. For some that's no big deal, but that's one of my major preferences for a compass. I simply dont' want to do math everytime I read/set the bearing.