Best baseplate compass?

I have always used my stardard Military Lensatic Compass there cheap, durable and very accurate. I know there not a Baseplate but Ive had mine over 10 years now. just a suggestion.

Here's my favorite:

http://silva.se/products/proffessional/expedition-54

It has an awesome sighting system for great accuracy, and for night navigation, it has luminous paint on it. The only thing it's lacking is declination adjustment, but I can deal with that for the advantage of a great sighting system.

Now the bad news – this used to be available in the USA as a Brunton product, but it's been discontinued. I bought mine from the UK and had it shipped to the USA.

Regards,
Scott

Another option is the Suunto M2.
It has a declination adjustment.
The usual glow in the dark needle.
See through plastic base for using over your map.
I wore mine around my neck for 4 months straight on the CDT and the shape of the
compass was plenty confortable during the day and at night.
I got mine at REI.

IMO, Silva makes the best out there. But the answer depends on what you need to do with it. For my purposes (backpacking/canoeing, always with a topo map), the ones I've owned and used are the Polaris 177 ($15) and Starter 1-2-3 ($12). They both work just fine. I have never wanted a sighting aperture or any other features not found in these compasses.

Their durability factor is great. My first one was the Polaris 177. I dropped, stepped on, had it banged into trees, and otherwise abused it for years with no performance loss. The only thing that finally killed it was my little sister who somehow managed to create large bubbles in the housing :D

I replaced it with a Starter 1-2-3, because I couldn't find the model I wanted again locally. The only difference that matters between the two is that the 1-2-3 has a shorter base plate, which turns out to be inconsequential to performance and slightly weight saving.

Accuracy on these compasses is within 2*. They do not adjust for declination, but that doesn't matter because I know how to quickly do it manually in the field. I think the lack of features is actually what makes these great compasses. Those who truly know orienteering basics will have no trouble navigating with a basic unit.

my 3 cents :)

I like a Silva Ranger for winter B/C I need its inclination/slope angle measurement feature in avalanche country. For summer I use a simple Suunto baseplate W/declination setting feature.

Also the Ranger has a declination setting feature that keeps mental calculations to a minimum – and for my senior brain that's a plus.

And the Ranger has a sighting mirror which I find useful as a mirror if I get something in my eye (or just my beauty check in the morning. :o)

Brunton also makes a similar compass that is good.

P.S. I'm getting a "world" compass that I can use in any latitude before I go to the Philippines next year. Most compases sold in the U.S. are made for north latidude areas.