Purchasing a compass
Randy Franklin
Recently people have been asking me which compasses to purchase for
adventure racing and orienteering purposes.
There are a few different things that are required when buying a compass
dedicated for adventure racing:
- Magnetic needle with the north end coated red
- Rotating housing showing 360 degree markings
- Orienting lines on the bottom of the rotating housing
- A transparent baseplate
- A direction of travel line on the baseplate.
- Declination adjustment
There are several things that are nice to have but are relatively
unnecesary unless you are an advanced navigator:
- Sighting mirror/needle
- Enclosure case
- Magnifying glass
- Multiple scales
- Glow in the dark needles / numbers
- Clinometer
Things that should be avoided:
- Curved baseplates
- Colorized baseplates
- Overly large compasses
- Lensatic compasses
- Digital compasses
These are the basic characteristics to keep note when purchasing a
compass. I'd be happy to discuss each of these items further if you catch
me in person at a training session sometime.
In that respect here are a couple great compasses that would be useful for
adventure racing. The best companies are Suunto and Silva, both european
companies. There are also a couple nice compasses from Brunton, an
american compass company. I have had mixed results from Brunton but they
are huge supporters of adventure racing so they should be included in the
conversation.
- Suunto M-2D Locator (probably the best entry level/$)
http://www.rei.com/product/408011
- Suunto M-3D
http://www.rei.com/product/408150
- Silva Ranger CL
http://www.rei.com/product/408031
- Burton 15TDCL
http://www.rei.com/product/737543
Also, if you plan to only race with orienteering specific maps you can
avoid having a declination adjustment on your compass and there are
several "non-declinated" compasses that you can find much cheaper.
Example:
- Silva Polaris
http://www.rei.com/product/738795
For my purposes, I always carry two compasses...one declinated and one
non-declinated. Sometimes race directors will give maps with magnetic
north already defined on the map so then I will use the non-declinated
compass. If magnetic north is not noted then I will use the declinated
adjustment for navigation.
Anyway, probably a lot of terms to throw at you in one email but catch me
at a future training session and I'll explain all the good stuff.
-Randy