Which compass do you prefer.

This may not be the proper venue for this question so please forgive my queerie:

Back in 1972 I bought my first "sighting" compass. I felt that the company that made this compass, un-identified at this time, was unsurpassed in quality until I went to replace it last year and am/was totally unhappy with the quality of the new generation of compass, even after I sent it back to be checked out.

So my question is, to those of you who still rely on a map and compass, which manufacturer and model of compass do you prefer and why? I am interested to hear your pro's and con's towards the various compasses out there as I am in the market to buy another one. In advance, thanks for your input!

A quality compass is the most valuable piece of equipment you can own if you venture off the beaten path. I still have an old Silva but they have now lost their reputation as the gold standard I am told by some in the know. I hear Suunto now are a great product.

I have an old Southern Hemisphere compass made by the Tate's Company. They had a real memorable ad campaign. " He who has a Tate's is......" Sorry.

Same as Terry, I have a 35+ yr old Silva (military issue)...still works great....but...I have to say, I've been taking my low budget Garmin GPS out more often the past few years because it has a clock built in ( I don't wear a watch). I got it at Can Tire for $35 on a Fri Manger Special. It just doesn't work well for orienteering with a map..LOL.

Silva Polaris.

+1 for Terry and MikePal, the older Silva's and the new Suunto. Used both in the military and they always brought me back.

The old Silva Rangers we used in the army were great, but the Silva name was bought by someone (Johnson Outdoors rings a bell) and their compasses are now made offshore. Indonesia or someplace.

Suunto is the compass of choice now.

Suunto MCB

http://www.suunto.com/Global/Product....png?width=570

Note the first line of my signature bar

I have gone through many a compass in the last few years. Used to have an old GI model but it ended up under foot of a skidder. My last one was great I don't recall the name but it had the switch for true vs magnetic north which came in handy, when it broke I bought a Silva..... day one it stayed in the forest about as far from me as I could throw it. I now have a suunto and it seems to be quite good other than I find it very touchy with being level.

The Silva I have now isn't the same quality as the old Finland made ones. In fact it's stamped Indonesia rather than Finland by Suunto.

Old Silva compasses are great, but have been produced overseas in recent years. I find the new models have a poor and difficult to read bezel. I use a Suunto compass and it works great, easy to read. Adjustable declination with easy to read scale is really nice to have if you travel out of area.

Old Military Silva, with the lanyard and declination screw attached. Plus the older flip sighting black compass as a backup. I have recently bought the Garmin Etrex 20, but have yet to take it out of the box. My buddy has one for Geo caching and says the topo is very good. Will be trying navigate/learn this summer with it, before I head into the woods this fall.

For those in Ottawa area (Rideau Trail Area) here is link for very topo maps in .pdf format, 8X11 paper format http://rideautrail.org/maps/. Very useful, but I still get my maps from Mapping and Charting Establishment (MCE) and still have Military contacts for now.