Boys (AND girls!) My new toy arrived, that is Mini Avio 2000 Compass that I could not help but order on the night I was replying to compass related postings. It is absolutely lovely and very easy to use. It is marine compass filled with liquid and they do not mention anything about its resistance to low pressure so I will not take it to the mountains. On the other hand they probably ship those by air and cargo compartments probably are not pressurized so who knows.
As a marine compass it has rotating compass rose rather than magnetic needle. Its optical system is a prism-lense single piece of glass focused at infinity. So during bearings you keep the thing to your cheek and look at the object while seeing the appropriate part of the rose in the prism and take very accurate reading. So if you have about $100 to spend do not hesitate. Celestaire sells French made ones but I think other companies sell similar pieces as well. If you cannot spend $100 at this time then the best solution is $10 Scandinavian make. Do not take the ones with mirrors but the simpliest ones and learn how to use them efficiently. Slawek Slawek Grzechnik 32 57.4'N 117 08.8'W http://home.san.rr.com/slawek
