[RR] Silva style compasses

[dperich]

Has anyone noticed that ALL hunting, hiking, camping, backpacking stores everywhere have been selling “Silva” style compasses that are completely worthless for map use?  They aren’t the real Silva brand.  They’re knock-offs and they are sold under several names including Coleman.  Some of these knockoffs don’t even have a direction of travel arrow.  Of course, they all have a magnetic needle.  All the ones I’ve seen have the orienteering arrow on the base of the rotating housing.  But, there’s no point in rotating the housing on these compasses because there’s no way to tell what bearing it is rotated to, relative to the clear plastic base. The old Boy Scout compass I used to have had the degree marks both inside the fluid filled housing and also scribed around the perimeter of the rotating housing so you could set the housing relative to the direction of travel arrow.  I wish I hadn’t lost it on a Sectional Pow-wow several years ago.   We’re starting out this Fall working on Orienteering in Adventure Rangers and our Discovery Ranger outpost is working on the Compass Merit.  It’ frustrating that in the mix of five or six compasses we have come up with, there’s not one good Silva.   DPerich Oh OP 64.       http://www.spacetownusa.com/hmmm.html