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  1. #21

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    I like to have the mirror on it. Beyond the additional accuracy, the mirror can be useful as a signaling device and for personal hygiene. I've used mine to shave many times. It can be used for tick checks, wound inspection, etc.
    "Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
    Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
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  2. #22

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    While we are at it-don't forget the obvious-compasses are sensitive to iron and metals so be sure you are not getting "interference" when you make readings and calculations.

  3. #23
    Registered User Venchka's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Five Tango View Post
    While we are at it-don't forget the obvious-compasses are sensitive to iron and metals so be sure you are not getting "interference" when you make readings and calculations.
    Somehow I can't picture anyone backpacking with enough steel to throw a compass off. But stranger things have happened.
    I'm excited to learn that my antique compass weighs less than an ounce.

    Wayne
    Eddie Valiant: "That lame-brain freeway idea could only be cooked up by a toon."
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  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by Venchka View Post
    Somehow I can't picture anyone backpacking with enough steel to throw a compass off. But stranger things have happened.
    I'm excited to learn that my antique compass weighs less than an ounce.

    Wayne
    I know someone in my family tried to use theirs in on a wooden bridge.Bridge had iron rails.Picnic tables have nails.Airplane compasses must be adjusted with brass tools.Just for kicks,get you cell phone too close to your compass and see what happens........

  5. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by RockDoc View Post
    As a geologist, I'm partial to Bruntons, specifically with a sighting mirror, bubble level, and declination adjustment.
    You sight it like a gun sight, but read the bearing in the mirror when the bubble shows level. Your reading should be within 1/2 degree accuracy.

    This is important because the next thing you will do is transfer your bearing to a paper map using a protractor and pencil. This is why you still need to have a paper map. Do this twice, at features near 90 degrees from each other, and you have determined your position.

    There are a lot of other things you can do too, depending on your needs.
    But you need a quality compass, it's the last thing you should make an effort to make ultralight because it can save your life.
    I remember when the only compass-like device Brunton made was the pocket transit in Riverton, WY and your choices were international suspension or not and whether you wanted 0 - 360 or the quadrants on the outer ring. (I went for 0-360, international...)

  6. #26
    Registered User Venchka's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Five Tango View Post
    I know someone in my family tried to use theirs in on a wooden bridge.Bridge had iron rails.Picnic tables have nails.Airplane compasses must be adjusted with brass tools.Just for kicks,get you cell phone too close to your compass and see what happens........
    One of those in every crowd.
    Wayne


    Old. Slow. "Smarter than the average bear."
    Eddie Valiant: "That lame-brain freeway idea could only be cooked up by a toon."
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  7. #27

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    [QUOTE=Venchka;2086416]One of those in every crowd.
    Wayne


    Old. Slow. "Smarter than the average bear."[/QUOTE
    Yeah,that's what I thot when you wanted to get snarky over my original comment to the OP about magnetic interference.

  8. #28
    Registered User Venchka's Avatar
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    Fair enough. My bad.

    Wayne
    Eddie Valiant: "That lame-brain freeway idea could only be cooked up by a toon."
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  9. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by Just Bill View Post
    Yar- the book now comes in kindle so you can take it with you cheap and easy.

    https://www.amazon.com/Silva-2801290...+starter+1-2-3

    The compass Mags posted.

    Spend the $30 (or less) on the book and this compass and you'll cover 99% of what you need.

    Not a lot of times there is a "best" but this combo is pretty durn close.

    And at the cost and an ounce or so (with kindle version) for the set- it's Cheap, light, and well made which is the triple crown of outdoor marketing right thar I tell you whayt.
    All the reviewers discourage buying it on kindle as it doesn't include the practice map.

  10. #30
    Registered User Engine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Venchka View Post
    Somehow I can't picture anyone backpacking with enough steel to throw a compass off. But stranger things have happened.
    I'm excited to learn that my antique compass weighs less than an ounce.

    Wayne
    Deer hunting as a teenager in Northern Michigan I came dragging into camp well after dark one evening, having walked MANY extra miles due to a compass error. I had a clipon compass of the front pocket of my jacket and had forgotten there was a small knife in the pocket. My dad laughed for an hour about that one...
    “He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.” –Socrates

  11. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alligator View Post
    I like to have the mirror on it. Beyond the additional accuracy, the mirror can be useful as a signaling device and for personal hygiene. I've used mine to shave many times. It can be used for tick checks, wound inspection, etc.
    ...and if you don't know how to properly use a compass, you can look in the mirror and see who is lost!

    "To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." - T.S. Eliot

  12. #32

    Default Iron in the wild

    Particularly in the East Coast states, where I cut my geologist teeth in college and working on the exploration side of the mining business afterwards, it's quite common to find all sorts of iron where you would not expect it. Everything from fragments of old cars and farm implements, segments of old barbed wire fence fully enveloped by a tree's growth, shrapnel from blown up stills, buried household garbage dumps, pieces of old mining and logging equipment, sections of logging railway rails, and spikes and similar railroad hardware from logging and mining railways. Such items could be found just beneath leaf litter or buried by recent sediment and would cause our Bruntons and other instruments to go haywire.

    There are also plenty of localities with mapped and unmapped "local magnetic disturbances" created by iron-bearing minerals (such as magnetite) disseminated within bedrock and the soils derived from its weathering.

    I'll always believe there is no complete substitute for a map, a compass, and the ability to use them, but we must always remember that a single compass bearing may be affected by iron objects and iron bearing substances we can't readily see.

    AO

  13. #33

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    For true beginners (that haven't bought "Be Expert...") Skurka's got a quick little youtube series through Sierra Designs:

    https://youtu.be/NWaR_hWqm4E

  14. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alleghanian Orogeny View Post
    There are also plenty of localities with mapped and unmapped "local magnetic disturbances" created by iron-bearing minerals (such as magnetite) disseminated within bedrock and the soils derived from its weathering.
    For what it's worth, both Harriman and the Taconic ridge have significant "local magnetic disturbances." They were both iron mining areas and have both human wreckage and native magnetite.
    I always know where I am. I'm right here.

  15. #35
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    Hi amigos,
    I am new here, but I have a few helpful things to offer regarding back country navigation. I am a former USFS Wilderness Ranger (Sierra NF in California) have a Masters degree in cartography, and I am active in the competitive sport of orienteering. Besides this, I teach wilderness navigation to around 100 people every year, so I've got a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't.
    And since the OP asked about compass recommendations, here's mine. Go with Suunto. I always recommend that people buy a compass with adjustable declination. It's makes using a compass vastly simpler, with no "East is least, West is best" silly rhymes to help you try to remember declination arithmetic, which I will guarantee five years from now when you try to do this you will not remember.
    For most all recreational users, I recommend the Suunto M-3. It's got all the features you need and none of the fluff (mirror and inclinometer) that you don't. It's available on Amazon for about $30. Percent reason REI charges about $45, so I recommend you purchase it on Amazon. Please note that many of the Amazon descriptions are incorrect. For example, this one says it's a "G" for Global compass, when in fact it's not. The M3 model around $30 will be a compass designed for use in North America. If you see an M3 that's more like $70 or $80, that is a global compass that's designed to work anywhere in the world.

    link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XANJRHG/

    If you want something a little more high-end and want to spend around $40, go for the Suunto MC-2. It has a mirror and an inclinometer, which I consider optional features for most recreational users, and features that also add weight, cost, and one more thing that can break. (Yes, a mirror can be helpful for backcountry grooming and contact lens insertion, but it's really difficult to signal with a mirror in an emergency situation unless you have had some specific training in doing so.) So, unless you are a outdoors professional such as a forester, ranger, firefighter, geologist, search and rescue team member, etc., I think the extra weight and expense of a mirrored compass is not worth it.

    https://www.amazon.com/Suunto-SS0042...01UE6MLG/?th=1

    I have had hundreds of students over the years purchase the Suunto M3 and have yet to hear a single complaint, so I think it would serve you well. And, if the cost is on your mind, think of how much money you spend on outdoor equipment and clothing already. Getting a cheap compass for $10 or a really good one for $30 is kind of small potatoes.

    My 2 bits,
    JohnGo

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