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Waterproof compasses
- Thread starter lc609
- Start date
Both Silva compasses are waterproof. The silva ranger is the gold standard that almost all forestry engineers use in the Pacific Northewest. I have used various Silva rangers, and the Suunto versions over the years with *no* problems.
What are your intentions for use? Unless you are trying to traverse, or lay out very accurate baselines, then you may not need the added expense and bother of the ranger mirror. For general navigation, a good baseplate compass works fine. Though, it is useful to have the declination adjustment....
Might I suggest one of the versions of the Brunton Nexus (not the one with the mirror? :barf: ) Instead of using a "needle in a box" it uses two concentric circles for alignment. It is very easy to use and impossible to inadvertently walk a back bearing. The nexus series are made by Silva (Note that if you are in Canada, the Silva compasses are not made by Silva of Sweden...).
Clinton
Compass-aholic
What are your intentions for use? Unless you are trying to traverse, or lay out very accurate baselines, then you may not need the added expense and bother of the ranger mirror. For general navigation, a good baseplate compass works fine. Though, it is useful to have the declination adjustment....
Might I suggest one of the versions of the Brunton Nexus (not the one with the mirror? :barf: ) Instead of using a "needle in a box" it uses two concentric circles for alignment. It is very easy to use and impossible to inadvertently walk a back bearing. The nexus series are made by Silva (Note that if you are in Canada, the Silva compasses are not made by Silva of Sweden...).
Clinton
Compass-aholic
I am joining either the ARNG or the USMCR this next year, at 32 years old. I know that in both those organiztions, from those currently serving, that compasses are for Sgts and above. Also, after reading "Jungle Snafus and Remedies" by Cresson Kearny I learned that the issue compass is not waterproof. Funny, the land nav manual says nothing about it.
Any way the brits rely on the Baseplate compass for their SAS and other units (all Brit map and compass references refer the baseplate) and it makes sense to be able to use the baseplate as a protractor, rather than carry another tool around.
Anyway, my dad was a SOG vet, and loves the wrist compass, the Ranger is considered by many former mil folks to be able to do every thing the issue compass can do and then some, and the baseplate compass is for an experiment that I am dying to try with my AR-15 rife. I have seen references to SAS types taping a baseplate compass to the stock of thier rifle to maintain a bearing during a march. They use another compass to shoot the bearing from the map, and then just use the one that will have ferrous interference to just stay on the bearing. I have heard from some that it will work, and others that it won't. I want to try and see for myself.
Also, the wrist compass I was looking at was also by Silvia.
Anyway, thanks for the advice
pat
Any way the brits rely on the Baseplate compass for their SAS and other units (all Brit map and compass references refer the baseplate) and it makes sense to be able to use the baseplate as a protractor, rather than carry another tool around.
Anyway, my dad was a SOG vet, and loves the wrist compass, the Ranger is considered by many former mil folks to be able to do every thing the issue compass can do and then some, and the baseplate compass is for an experiment that I am dying to try with my AR-15 rife. I have seen references to SAS types taping a baseplate compass to the stock of thier rifle to maintain a bearing during a march. They use another compass to shoot the bearing from the map, and then just use the one that will have ferrous interference to just stay on the bearing. I have heard from some that it will work, and others that it won't. I want to try and see for myself.
Also, the wrist compass I was looking at was also by Silvia.
Anyway, thanks for the advice
pat
Pat,
I have played with various lensatic compasses and, IMHO, compared to a Silva ranger style, they are not very good, especially when comparing the cost to the performance. Though, I do like my British prismatic compass...
Keep in mind that you will probably want one that is graduated in Mils instead of degrees (?). The ranger does require a bit of practice to get the best out of it, it can be a bit tricky to get the needle aligned properly in the box.
Your experiment sounds interesting. Hopefully it will work.
As far as the accuracy goes, with the ranger, it is graduated into 2 degree increments, which allows you to interpolate to 1 degree very easily. When traversing cut block boundaries, we customarily had closing errors in the range of 0.1%, sometimes less. Running from feature to feature off an air photo, I found it pretty easy to hit the target within 10 m at 2 km. The first time I did that, I was amazed, thought it was a fluke. After I had done it a few times, I realized that it was more or less standard.
You may want to disable the snap closure on the lid of the ranger. I don't care, but you might, on excercises....
In poor lighting conditions, you can hold a piece of white paper (like an open notebook) under the compass to reflect light up. Doesn't work at complete dark, but is fine up to then.
You can also get Silva/Nexus Rangers with a level bubble to ensure that the base plate is level (one of the sources of error). Or, you can just practice. They also have a version that has a small light to illuminate the dial. I wouldn't worry about that too much. A covert photonlight works well at night for this kind of stuff.
YOu may want to check out a forestry supply store for these. It could be a bit tought tracking down a mil version, but they are available. If you know any forest engineers, you might try to get one to take you out for a day and show you the ins and outs.
Good luck!
Clinton
I have played with various lensatic compasses and, IMHO, compared to a Silva ranger style, they are not very good, especially when comparing the cost to the performance. Though, I do like my British prismatic compass...
Keep in mind that you will probably want one that is graduated in Mils instead of degrees (?). The ranger does require a bit of practice to get the best out of it, it can be a bit tricky to get the needle aligned properly in the box.
Your experiment sounds interesting. Hopefully it will work.
As far as the accuracy goes, with the ranger, it is graduated into 2 degree increments, which allows you to interpolate to 1 degree very easily. When traversing cut block boundaries, we customarily had closing errors in the range of 0.1%, sometimes less. Running from feature to feature off an air photo, I found it pretty easy to hit the target within 10 m at 2 km. The first time I did that, I was amazed, thought it was a fluke. After I had done it a few times, I realized that it was more or less standard.
You may want to disable the snap closure on the lid of the ranger. I don't care, but you might, on excercises....
In poor lighting conditions, you can hold a piece of white paper (like an open notebook) under the compass to reflect light up. Doesn't work at complete dark, but is fine up to then.
You can also get Silva/Nexus Rangers with a level bubble to ensure that the base plate is level (one of the sources of error). Or, you can just practice. They also have a version that has a small light to illuminate the dial. I wouldn't worry about that too much. A covert photonlight works well at night for this kind of stuff.
YOu may want to check out a forestry supply store for these. It could be a bit tought tracking down a mil version, but they are available. If you know any forest engineers, you might try to get one to take you out for a day and show you the ins and outs.
Good luck!
Clinton