Quote:
Bearings can be taken by using the sight. Hold the compass at eye level and
adjust cover so top of the dial is seen in mirror. Face toward your object and
sight object across compass sight. Look in the mirror and adjust position of
compass so that the sighting line intersects one of the luminous points. While
you simultaneously see your object across the sight, and the sighting line across
one of the luminous points, turn the dial so that the orienting arrow is lined up
with the needle, red end between the orienting points. The “bearing” to your
object is now the degree reading indicated at the index pointer.


Sorry I'm a little confused.

The line down the middle of the mirror isn't used to sight the target you want to shoot a bearing/azimuth to, you use the V type sight at the top of the mirror. The centre line of the mirror is used to ensure that the mirror centre line effectively passes through the exact centre of the rotating bezel when lining up the target using the V sight. At the end of the day the centre line in the mirror is compensating for the mechanical tolerances of the hinge and ensuring that both edges of the baseplate are lined up at the target when using the V sight at the top of the mirror. What is more important for accuracy is the angle the mirror makes to the baseplate when taking a bearing i.e. ideally around 50-60 degrees to reduce parallax errors. The baseplate should be held at eye level and completely level when taking an azimuth reading.

The Suunto MC-2G model shown on your link appears to have a thick white line below the V sight. Perhaps the bottom of the white line is used to marry up with the luminous? line on the baseplate infront of the bezel as you take a bearing, just below the 180 degree mark.

At the end of the day the difference in accuracy from a purely baseplate compass compared to a sighting mirror type is'nt really that great for land navigational purposes. It might get you an extra 0.5 to 1.0 degrees better accuracy.



Edited by Am_Fear_Liath_Mor (07/19/11 10:17 PM)