Dependable, light base-plate compass

[Gregory Stein]

Hi,

I'm searching for some good baseplate (with transparent plastic) compass. Should be dependable, mirror is not needed, Weight is important. For now found this one:

Brunton Micro Mini Base Plate Compass F-28NL

0.4 oz

Suunto Arrow-6

0.9 oz

What do you think? Are there any other options? Thank you!

[Christopher Kuzak]

There are smaller ones without the base plate and modestly heavier ones with a base plate plus scale and other stuff. My basic base plate compass is a Suunto A-10. It weighs almost an ounce and has a scale. That said, for basic navigation in familiar terrain, the ones you've pointed to will work just fine. It might be anathema around here, but I usually just swallow the extra ounces and take my Ranger. It's just a great compass, especially for cross country stuff, and doubles as a mirror.

[M B]

sun micro II
has rotating bezel

0.4 oz

[Roger Caffin]

In my experience …
Those miniature compasses look right but the needles are too short so they don't always spin freely. Which is a right pain.

Cheers

[michael levi]

Re: Roger Caffin, I agree with what you are saying about short needles. Sometimes they are just not as smooth and end up not being as accurate.

Personally I use this .9oz Silva starter 123 as sometimes carry it in my shoulder strap pocket.

[James Reilly]

I too am looking for the right compass. Something to get me through the CDT safely and lightly.

[Gregory Stein]

Greetings!

I've bought the brunton (first pic). $12. If it will not be sufficient, will try that Silva which is still light enough but far more readable. It's same price (would buy it, but ordered the brunton before seeing this reply…)

After test in the field I will review it here.

My usage of compass is mostly for:
0) triangulation
1) measure angle between north and that mountain peak, and finding myself on the trail
2) if I need to move 2 miles to NE, just keep that direction.

Thank you for helping!

[Roger Caffin]

Sue and I both carry compasses very similar to that one. Nothing bigger ever needed.

Cheers

[Mike M]

they used to make a 0.8 oz Silva Ranger- looks just like the bigger one they currently make- only smaller :)

the sighting mirror was needed for me as I had to map out camp sights when I was working as a backcountry ranger, made triangulation easier and more accurate

as mentioned above the mirror comes in handy for other things

someone said that the "Guide" is what replaced it, but the quality isn't near as good as it was 25 years ago :(

luckily I've held onto mine :)

[Christopher Kuzak]

Commented above already, but for what it's worth, Silva has a new base plate compass with adjustable declination for $30:

http://store.silvacompass.com/products/623010/Explorer_Pro_%28Hi-Vis%29

It's 1 oz. If you're looking for reasonable easy accuracy, the adjustable declination is a nice selling point. Better than using tape, that's for sure.

[Mike M]

^ nice that's the lightest adj declination compass I've seen on the market :)

[Hamish McHamish]

That Silva is a good improvement on their basic baseplate design. However, seeing as that it is the Johnson Outdoors 'Silva' and not the Silva from Sweden, it is probably made for cheap in China or some such place. Those things booger up all the time. Well, not ALL the time but the quality has definitely dropped over the last few years.

For the same money and just 0.55oz more, you can get a Suunto made in Finland that has similar features but better workmanship:

standard needle
http://www.thecompassstore.com/51m3dl.html

global needle
http://www.thecompassstore.com/51m3gl.html

For a real Silva non-mirrored unit with declination adjustment, check this one:
http://silva.se/node/38

[Michael Cockrell]

I own both the full-size and mini Ranger. Sweeden version.

Taken every trip.

The mini is in my emgergency kit in my pants cargo pocket, along with the other 10-essentials

[Christopher Kuzak]

What's a Mini Ranger? It sounds great. Did a quick internet search and the most analogous thing I could find is the Suunto MCB/Silva Huntsman type compass. Had the Huntsman and did not like it at all. Could not get a decent reading for the life of me, though maybe it was something I was doing.

[John G]

The suunto arrow thumb compass in the 1st post has a full sized capsule / needle.

It also has an extra fast settling needle. Its popular at orienteering races.

The thumb compass downside is that there is no rotating bezel with numbers, so setting a numeric heading requires a map and protractor. For navigating with a map, it works great.

[Ken Thompson]

Brunton compasses are now made in the USA. Brunton distributed Silva in the USA. Those sold up until last year or so were made in China. I wonder if they switched Silva production stateside also?

[Mike M]

that's what I was describing above, long since discontinued I've been told :(

[Christopher Kuzak]

Mike M.,

Any reason why they discontinued it? I really like my Ranger. It's easy to use and accurate. Best compass I've owned, hands down. A lighter and smaller one would be perfect, especially for familiar terrain situations and light cross country.

[Mike M]

no idea at all, it's great little compass- the only thing it's (was) missing is declination adjustment

[Hamish McHamish]

I have had good luck getting genuine Silva compasses on Ebay from some British vendors. The shipping was a little extra but not that bad considering the long trip.

[Gregory Stein]

Received the compass today.
The good:
0) very readable.
1) size is OK for my use
2) completely transparent – amazing for maps.
3) weight of course
4) made in Sweden, packed in USA

the bad:
0) I got it with 1 small bubble. Shit.
1) bubble!
2) Oh no, bubble!
3) …
…
100) BUBBLE!!!

I'm going to return it. Bad. Really bad.

[michael levi]

Where did you buy it from?

[Gregory Stein]

From EBay. Shipped from USA. Now when I looked at the bubble again… It's really small 2mm in diameter… What do you guys say?

[Dale Wambaugh]

Given the critical need for accurate navigation, no baseplate compass is very heavy. The Suunto M-3 Global Pro is a whopping 1.6oz and the MC-2G sighting version with a very useful mirror is all of 2.6oz.

IMHO, the tiny keychain compasses will get you pointed in the right general direction, but are worthless for true navigation. The cheap ones are toys and prone to needle bearing issues and accuracy. I bought a small batch one time and they had massive variations. I threw them away.

[Gregory Stein]

My personal experience showed me that I don't need that precise compass. For the uses I've mentioned above almost any baseplate compass is good. What is important that it should point to the right direction. That's it.

2.5 oz for compass? No thanks…

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