A Decent Cheap Pocket Compass!

[+ADK 46-R]

Can anyone give any recomendations or point me in the right direction? i want to spend as little as possible but i want a trustworthy pocket compass. I have trouble with reception alot due to the thick wilderness and i need a trusty compass for when the gps isn't working. thanks everyone!

[+qattales]

i bought a nice one on ebay for about 10.00. i would check there.

[+eaglespirit0]

The Boy Scouts of America sells a relatively easy to use and functionable compass for around 7.50 - 15.00 (They are all the same -- it depends where you stop/where you live) You can probably pick one up at any Council Center's Shop or any other scout shop. They're great!

[+ranger-rob]

Can anyone give any recomendations or point me in the right direction? i want to spend as little as possible but i want a trustworthy pocket compass. I have trouble with reception alot due to the thick wilderness and i need a trusty compass for when the gps isn't working. thanks everyone!

 

Suunto (sp?) brand, available at Wal-mart (imagine that) as well as most other sporting goods/outdoor retailers is good provided you don't cache in extremely cold weather (it's liquid filled). If I remeber correctly they're between $10 and $20. I can't brag about how rugged they are though, as a co-worker of mine breaks at least one a year on some project site or another.

 

If you want/need a a higher "rugged" factor and don't mind paying a little (ok a lot) more, an Army lensatic compass will serve you well for years. The one I have has been going since '83 and short of the plastic parts yellowing with age, it's rocking along. I believe they're available in the $75 -100 range. Unless you're a night cacher, the self-luminous Trituim version ($100) wouldn't be a major bonus.

[+Jhwk]

evil wal-mart. but they do have "decent" compasses.

[+martinell]

Has anybody tried the compasses sold on the geocaching web site? They are only a couple of dollars and would be useful in an emergency.

 

Army lensatic are the best though - in my opinion.

[+CharlieP]

The Boy Scouts of America sells a relatively easy to use and functionable compass for around 7.50 - 15.00 (They are all the same -- it depends where you stop/where you live) You can probably pick one up at any Council Center's Shop or any other scout shop. They're great!

 

I agree, these are good compasses, I have been using one for 15 years. The standard Boy Scout baseplate compass is basically a Silva Starter, so if you are not near a Scout supply store, you can buy these at most sporting goods stores for $8 or so. This is a much better quality compass than the $4 discount store jobs. Silva also makes some larger models for a few more $.

[+ranger-rob]

The only bad thing about the Army lensatic compass is that unless you live near a military installation or a good surplus store, they can be hard to find. Of course, I don't blame the small retailers for not keeping a high-dollar item like that in stock. That's a lot of money to just be sitting around on a shelf. You can buy a lot of Silva's or Suunto's for that kinda money.

[+hikergps]

You can't go wrong with a Brunton or Silva base plate compass. Liquid filled is better. Both are sold everywhere and are very good, less than $20 for most models.

[+Prime Suspect]

Here's mine, the Silva Guide 426 sighting compass. They can be had for around $20-$25.

 

Edited June 10, 2006 by Prime Suspect