I prefer the lensatic compass. It's just as precise as my mirror compass but (for me) it is easier to use in the field and I can see (and focus on) the landmark, index line and the numbers on the dial all at the same time. Land Nav is just plain fun no matter what your choice of compass.
"For me" is always the key. A lot of people have no experience, so we try to guide them to good choices, instead of the cheapest WalMart thing. Want to keep them from getting lost, so they can see how being in the woods is fun still!
Thank you very much for taking the time to teach us how to use a compass, before your video all that I knew was true north and magnetic north. Every else is brand new to me.
You prolly dont care but does someone know a way to get back into an Instagram account..? I was dumb lost the login password. I appreciate any tricks you can give me
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great video ,,, very rare ive been out on a job and not had a simple base plate compass in my pocket , when everything else goes wrong , it is something you can bet your life on.
9:13: they call them "Ranger" compasses because the Silva Type 15 was marketed in the US as the "Silva Ranger". It was/is one of (if not the) the most popular mirrored baseplate compasses on the market since the 70's. Some of the nicest Silva Type 15 Rangers were branded by the Boy Scouts for sale in Scout Shops and included aluminum bezels with engraved degrees and really beautiful leather carry pouches with Boy Scout stampings. Anyway, because the Type 15 was so popular/beloved, so it came to pass that mirrored baseplate compasses are typically referred to as "Ranger" or "Ranger-Style" compasses mostly in the US and especially anywhere with a heavy Scouting influence.
I don't mention this because I cannot prove it's true, and have some evidence it's not. It seems a series of compasses were (and certainly ARE) branded Ranger, even for non-mirror baseplate layouts. It seems this was true all along, and Ranger just meant some level of "better, professional, more marks" or something they wouldn't tell us otherwise. Now, it's possible the models most sold under the name, at least in this market, were the Type 15 and then we all think mirror=ranger, but it's hard to prove and sometimes when I bring it up someone denies it so I just let it slide.
Steven, I'm pleased to see I'm not the only one with boxes full of different types of compasses made by different companies. My motive is I just find it fun to play around with different designs, to explore how different designers go about building in useful functions that take a different approach from other company's ideas. And it's just fun to learn how a compass with a rotating compass card has to be used differently from a compass where only the magnetic needle rotates. In many ways you have to think in the opposite way. However, on both a lensatic, and a base plate / protractor compass, if mag declination is west, adjust for it by turning the bezel ccw, and if mag declination is east, you turn the bezel cw. So there are also similarities. Also I have learned a lot about how to correctly use the lensatic compass in your other videos. Thank you. You stated the lensatic compass has a global needle. I don't think that is correct. If you go to the Cammenga website and look at the 3H and type 27 models. You are directed to choose various options. One of the options is to select Hemisphere. With the choices being: Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere (add $1). That option is not present for the DT-3 protractor model, I don't know why as it appears to use the same compass housing. I will also mention that in Oct. 2017 Silva Sweden announced they have acquired the rights to the Silva trade name for N. America from Johnson Outdoors. The new arrangement went into effect Jan 4, 2018. Johnson Outdoors has owned the Silva name in N.America since 1998, and since then the Silva compasses sold here were made by Johnson Outdoors, not by Silva Sweden, the company that invented the Silva compass. So that has now changed. And Silva Sweden compasses after almost a twenty year absence are again being imported into Canada and the USA. The Silva compass models available here will be changing. You may want to update your blog to say the Silva Sweden compasses are now being imported here again. However, many of the compass models, maybe all of them, will say Designed by Silva Sweden, made in China. (look at the zoomed images on thecompassstore website). I also know this because I just purchased a Ranger 2.0 Quad compass. The 2.0 addition to a compass model name seems to indicate it is a US version of that model, having scales that match the standard scales used on USGS topographic maps. Anyway, I have been ordering Silva Sweden compasses from Europe the last few years, I won't have to do that anymore. I am not concerned the made in China compasses will be poor quality compasses. Compasses are a core business product for Silva Sweden, I am confident Silva Sweden will insure a high standard of QC at the Chinese factories. Or risk going out of business. I think it is only companies that just want some product that fits a certain product category they want to sell, something that isn't a core product for them, that will sell shoddy low QC items from China. I know Daiwa has some excellent fishing rods made in China. I think companies that focus on a few core products have their own people in the factories insuring high standards of production.
Weird on Cammenga offering hemispheres. Never, never seen that before. I know from USGI manuals the issue one at least is a single compass for worldwide use. Huh. Good to hear Silva got their brand back. Will see what gets offered, look at them and chat about the new items. I have poor hopes for China manufacture. Sure, you can make good things overseas - I have been involved in a few - but compasses, even euro market Silvas in the past 10 years, have all too often been quite low quality items. And not just poor QA, but design choices like moving to one-piece plastic hinges are worrisome. I do hope for better, but only cautiously.
Ah, well sounds like the military issue Cammenga compasses are global, and version sold to civilians are hemisphere specific. Cammenga doesn't really say the compasses are the same as military issue models, only that they manufacturer the military compasses. They might be just letting people assume they are the same models. The Silva Sweden website is kind of strange. They make compasses that are hidden from their navigation menus. But if you know the model name and do an internet search for that model links to them will show up on their website. (or links to that model at online shops will show up in the search results). One example is the Silva Expedition 54 360/360/360. (or the Expedition 54 6400/360 that mostly shows up in shops in Australia, s. hemisphere I assume) Find the link to it, and on that webpage you will find the product family related model the Expedition 55 6400/360. Which seems to be the same compass only supplied with the new lanyard with different scales printed on the lanyard, something they started shipping a year or two ago. Pricey , but nice compasses, with prism sighting to 0.5˚ / 8.9 mils. silva.se/product/compasses/expedition-54/ silva.se/product/uncategorized/compass-55-6400360/ You can even find the page for the 54b model, though I think they may no longer be made, I've not found them in online shops. Though they may still be available somewhere. silva.se/product/compasses/compass-54b-6400-6400360/ I have ordered some Silva compasses from Ireland or from exxposed in Germany (from some reason amazon UK wouldn't ship them to the USA) In the past shipping was quick and only about $10, for some reason shipping charges have doubled. They list the north hemisphere model of the Expedition 55 . Apparently so new they don't yet have a picture or full description. www.jackson-sports.com/en/Silva-Silva-55-6400360/m-11231.aspx Another weirdness on the Silva website , when I first discovered the change in ownership of the trade name, the website had a link to all the US Compass version in one group, but five days later it was removed. I have two Expedition models, the ones with the orange colored bezel, I ordered 3 years ago from exxpozed in Germany. I've had no problems with the one I've used. The packaging doesn't say where it was made. So it could have been made in Sweden or China and they just didn't make it known. Anyway, I hope the quality or robustness will be to the high standard expected. I only became aware that there were two different companies making Silva compass after I had problems with the newer ones I had purchased. And I wondered why Silva compasses I purchased after about 2000 soon developed bubbles, but ones I had purchased in late 70s or early 80s had not , and still worked perfectly. I have only one Silva compass purchased after the two companies split that never developed bubbles, but it is stamped made in Finland. I have read Johnson Outdoors had some compasses made by Suunto, and that compass looks a lot like the Suunto A-10.
I have an email out to Cammenga to ask about their regionality. Not sure they will ever respond, but I have to ask. I also want to know which we have; is there a secret mark on the case that says that? Is there a difference between USGI and Commercial models? Etc. And I am totally gonna try to find a shop while in Europe or the UK next month to get some compasses. I'd love a type 54 if I could find one for a good price.
It would be interesting to hear if Cammenga makes a global version only for the military. I could see it being a huge advantage, no worries about dropping onto a battlefield with a compass that doesn't work. I've emailed Cammenga twice about their wrist compass, never received a reply. I ordered a Silva type 54 from Jackson-sports, $117 shipped. (Now they have the type 55, but a little higher priced). A couple of years later on eBay a guy in Va. had one for $60. It was brand new, but appears to be old production, came in a box, about 2 inches thick, that also is labeled combi ( + tm). Has a john Muir quote, 'Between any two pine trees is the doorway to a new life' on the end of the box. The barcode is printed on the labels it - compass 54 360-360/360 Art. 35852-1011. So that was a lucky find. Good luck finding one during your trip.
Use of mils is mostly for Artillery because when you use mills in direction and the distance is known then you can adjust fire but In the Army we still use degrees for navigation. If you use mils and you want to know distance if you have the optics for it then the formula is Size of target (object) in yards/meters/feet (whatever you want to use the formula is the same.) times 1000/mils. You sight on something that is 4 meters long and say it is 5 mils in your sight then its 4x1,000/5 = 800 meters away and Artillery adjustment is done in a similar way but they are not seeing the target they just take the information and use it to calculate where to put their rounds. But for the most part we used degrees for navigating. lensatic compass has both degrees and mils.
Teriyakicat mills is more accurate it’s wha the US military use also the simple fact is that all 6hrse idiots going on about compass, degrees, deglaze toon etc are talking shit
Jerry Gautier sorry boys but Jerry is right. The arty in the US Army uses mils and the infantry as most of the rest of the Army use degrees and still do to this day. If the NATO forces use mils and most if not all do that is them .
John Ross sorry the Us Army Infantry and most of the rest of the ground forces except the artillery use degrees. This is still standard doctrine and can be found in the Soldiers Manual. Mils is used to adjust artillery fire. Land Navigation is still In degrees. 071-COM-1003 Determine a Magnetic Azimuth Using a Lensatic Compass Conditions: You are a member of a squad or team in a field environment and have been directed to determine a magnetic azimuth. You have a compass and a designated point on the ground. Some iterations of this task should be performed in MOPP 4. Standards: Inspect the compuss. Determine the correct magnetic azimuth to the designated point within 3 degrees using the compass-to-cheek method, and within 10 degrees using the center-hold method.
Hey! I have used the Suunto MB-6 global matchbox compass for years. It works great and is super easy to sight and shoot an azimuth. I do like my lensatic compass alot, too.
Cool to hear. I am sure they work well but I haven't gotten used to them yet. Need someone to essentially show me I think. Related-ish: I did use the wrist compass on a hiking trip in December. It also took some getting used to (there's no direction of travel line! so, easy to confuse yourself) but once I did, it was super convenient for a rough bearing when in wooded valleys, etc where you have no long distance target.
And it survived if it followed my suggestions to buy a quality compass. All these compasses have been in the field. So they've been (variously) frozen, heated, rained and snowed on, dropped, fallen on, stepped on, covered in sand and mud, hosed off, and much more. This is "tossing about" on a rubberized surface no less. Most of them weigh nothing so have no inertia, and/or are rubber buffered like the Cammenga, so don't even notice this.
All these compasses have been in the field. So they've been (variously) frozen, heated, rained and snowed on, dropped, fallen on, stepped on, covered in sand and mud, hosed off, and much more. This is "tossing about" on a rubberized surface no less. Most of them weigh nothing so have no inertia, and/or are rubber buffered like the Cammenga, so don't even notice this.
My favourite is the Silva/Brunton 4/54 baseplate compass with a sighting prism to take bearings good to one-half degree and has long-life glow in the dark paint illumination. Another type not shown is a hand-bearing sighting compass like the Plastimo, they float and are yellow (easy to find if dropped) and are encased in thick rubber so fairly rugged.
Type 54 is an excellent compass... I can't find cheap enough to bring myself to buy. Played with some, then the friend who had THREE of them, sold on eBay instead of selling me one. Ugh. But, do tell if you ever find one in the US that's cheap. I have some other types (prisms, matchbox...) but they are fairly rare in the US so didn't review them here.
The Expedition 54 is an excellent compass and... I don't have one. Never have found one that was remotely affordable, and a friend who had two - when he went crazy and purged all his outdoors stuff - sold both on eBay before I knew it. They are unique enough if I ever got one of my own I'd probably have to make a whole video about weird compasses (matchbox, etc. etc) as I have a few others that are not talked about enough, at least procedurally. NOTE: If anyone has a 54 they don't want, or sees a deal, tell me about it! I do still want one!
Surprised how many think I am abusing the compasses in this video. They are field compasses, that get stuffed in pockets, hang from lanyards and bang into stuff, are rained on, frozen, and much more. If they can't handle this level of "abuse" then they aren't good enough for actual use. Note that fragile bits are inside so folding ones, like the Pocket Transit, are handled with some care when deployed. But when closed, that's a built in transit case. You can do anything short of hammering nails with it in that mode.
A lot of those Silva backup compasses when they start to leak I keep the needle for survival kits, much better than having to magnetize a sewing needle if push comes to shove
The Silva type 4 nato compass is not coated with radiactive paint, they have tritium capsule if they're over ten years old the tritium is more than likely dead
I have a bunch of them. There are a few tritium tubes in the baseplate, but the rest is... not. It is some sort of paint like stuff. Others have taken it apart and scraped at it etc. and it's paint. Tritium has a half life of 12.3 years. Half as bright. Not dead. I like tritium compasses at 2-3 half lives for most use. In deep dark, new tritium is too new. The paint stuff goes bad for some other reason. Have similar range date codes on these where some is yellow and glows, some is brown and does not. Not sure what causes it to go bad.
@@StevenHoober a lot of those older military compasses have radium in them, no one will touch em to service them, I am mostly talking about pre M73 British prismatic compasses I don't come across older US military compasses over here
Military type, or any type with night capability, do not deprive yourself the ability to operate in darkness.
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The best compass to bet your life on is a Military Lensatic Compass. Not a fake look alike. A REAL military model. They aren't the most expensive nor cheap. They're built like tanks and will work long after the others fall apart. Base plate compasses are for plotting on a map. Lensatic styles are navigational types. They can do map plotting but are not specifically designed for it.
I did the video, and others, to indicate there is no one best compass. The USGI lensatic is metal and heavy, but not especially strong. Seen many broken ones. At least the rate of breakage of baseplate or ranger compasses I have seen. They are better for night nav, but not clearly superior in any other way. If you prefer it, good. But all of them have their upsides.
1:22 "This big iron one"? ...Huh? Last I checked the specs on military issue compass was aluminum and prior to that copper. I did notice the needle of the one on the table move when you brought it near it though. Confused.
This is what happens when I go off script. No one thinks I am as funny as I do :) It is indeed something non-magnetic. I think an odd alloy of some sort, not just aluminum. But, it's much, much heavier than any of the competition. Even heavier than the larger Brunton Pocket Transit. All compasses interfere with each other. Just the magnetism of the needle/card interacting.
@@StevenHoober Some cheap imitations actually have a steel loop! I think every compass should have a mirror, like the Ranger, very useful for shaving or signalling in an emergency. Also, the lid protects them and some have a screw to make the variation adjustment. Otherwise a baseplate compass which takes up little room or preferably on a cord around your neck with a plastic whistle. The Brunton pocket transit is a monster, usually given to geologists as a retirement gift!
@@StevenHoober Hi Steven, here;s a story (tried to keep it short) which caused me to always carry some kind of compass, even a button one in my city clothes! I was doing mineral exploration geophysical surveys in a remote part of Sweden with a colleague and we had almost finished our grid of 50m spaced readings on lines 100m apart with yellow flagging tape to mark positions. It was November and thin snow covered the ground, the temp was -5C. Back at the cars at 4pm, Lars noticed he had left some equipment at the far end of the line about 1500 metres away. I knew he wanted to visit friends he hadn't seen for years about 50 km away so I told him to go and I would retrieve the kit. By this time I had taken off my outer jacket and backpack containing my GPS, compass, torch, survival kit, food and knife, which I left in my car. I walked quickly along the tracks in the snow and got to the end of the line about 20 minutes later. The light was fading and after a while I found the instrument and headed back. But - I couldn't see my tracks as the snow was patchy on swampy, ice-encrusted ground. Nor could I find one of the flags as with the trees I couldn't see 50m. Snow began to fall and I was getting cold. No stars to be seen either, and although I knew the car was only 1500m away to the south, but which way was south? Worse still, I could walk 20+ km in any direction and not cross a road or track, and the track where the car was parked was north-south, like the lines we were working on. The only thing I had with me was a notebook. So I tore pages out and placed them as far apart as I could see in a line and moved along about 70 metres, but no flag was found. I backtracked, picking up the pages and tried another line in another direction, about 45 degrees off the first one. Again, no luck. On the third line I found a flag! It was now very cold and the snow was falling thicker, so another experiment was needed to find a second flag, which I did fairly quickly. I now had the line direction so it was some hard slogging until I reached the car shivering uncontrollably, the beginnings of hypothermia. I had a flask of hot coffee and other provisions so I was OK, but it had nearly become a survival situation. Now I have a backup compass in my backpack, always carry the main one around my neck and have a few button compasses in various items of clothing just in case. A compass would have been sufficient to locate my line and the car, had I not been so stupid as to remove all my kit before walking back what I thought was only a short distance.
@@karhukivi Good story. And one we all know we shouldn't do but sometimes fall for. Mine is much less harrowing, but maybe more embarrassing. After we're all packed from a field exercise were I did training, we realize the tripflares are still out there. I volunteer to run back and get them. Find and remove then, despite being no more than 400 m from the parking, I am hopelessly twisted. And, it's last minute so all my gear is in the car. 20 minutes before I give up box searching, go downhill to water, follow to a bridge, walk back up the road to everyone waiting, wondering where I've been the last hour. Do not forget it now. Glad you didn't freeze to death!
This was a brilliant video. Could you recommend a good cheapish compass? It will be my first just would like to have one if I'm camping or looking for the ISS flying over my house. Thanks
I have a text version of it here, which has some brand advice. There's SO much variability in features and options, but already since I wrote that Silva, Brunton and Suunot have started importing or making more mostly-better compasses, so most anything of those brands will do. You can spend a lot, but they make pretty good compasses under $20. Just as an example, here's a cheap but well featured compass: www.amazon.com/dp/B000FEXZH6/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvpv2_3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER Read more: centralwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/08/buying-compass.html centralwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/08/backup-compasses.html
How do you use the zeroing mark on the Silva baseplate compass? Silva calls that a stencil window but either way i dont understand the function. I bought a cheap clone of that same Silva in mils and degrees and it seems pretty good for learning so thats why im asking.
Not 100% sure what you are asking. Happy to help if I do understand though. Taking a stab: the stencil bits on some baseplates are just so you can transfer the data to maps, by putting a pencil through them to draw marks, which allows you to plot the course on the map without using the edges instead. Some have just holes, some have shapes like arrows to make it even more like a real stencil. I never do that as they vary too much as it's easy to get the pencil not vertical, and I am used to straight edges for drawing, so just line up along the edge, and if I need to rotate, use a stylus or pencil tip on the start point to let the compass hinge off it to align to an azimuth, etc.
@@StevenHoober Thank you and yes thats what I was asking. I also have an unusual sighting compass which has triangles and various cutouts and I never knew what they were for either. I thought, if a person needs to draw such shapes, why not simply draw them freehand? I thought they were a gimmick or I didnt know what I thought, frankly. But they were on the compass so there must be some sort of serious intention right? So, alright.
@@cvcoco Oh, MANY people are told by bad schooling they cannot draw, so won't even try to draw a square, so really rely on templates and stencils. Many compasses with extra shapes are specific to their target audience. Military compasses may have rectangles (friendly), triangles (OP/LP), and diamonds (enemy), shapes, for example. But there are also special symbols for forestry work, etc. so it's not always easy to tell what they are if you just picked up a random compass and didn't get the "proper" one for your work.
I found 2 different ones of that same style of the green military compass. One cost $11.99 the other cost $114.10... the only difference i saw was the cheaper option was silver. What is the difference between the two for that price difference?
Impossible to say for sure without seeing them, getting an idea who made them, and where. But likely, what I think I talked about in the video, or in other comments: The cheap one just LOOKS like the good one. It will be made of inferior materials, so likely break faster. Less a deal for simple compasses, but if it is that cheap and has hinges and other dodads, no way. Nothing will be lined up, or consistently so; if you take a bearing off the wire with the lid up, it won't be the same next time, as the hinge is likely bad. The needle may or may not point north; yes, some really seriously aren't magnetized right! The bearings WILL be bad. This is an easy place to cheap out, so they do. And bad bearings means that the needle may hang up not pointing quite to the north when it settles. They will leave out dampening systems (seen it!) or do it badly, so the needle wanders and never settles to get a reading. OR, they may over-dampen and much like bad bearings, you don't get an accurate reading. The card may be poorly etched, so the readings are distorted and even if the rest works, you can't rely on the bearing you took to be accurate. And... so on. The expensive one (and that's overpriced, Cammenga ones are available for like $80, so ignore those selling for over $100) will do none of that. It will point north, reliably, be easy to read, be repeatable, and work forever. I mean, forever. I have seen compasses broken in half, but the capsule still works fine. People I know have completed their missions or qualifications with stuff like this.
The 3H means three hydrogen atoms, so: Tritium. The same label is on all their tritium compasses (they do make others), and therefore isn't shared with the otherwise identical GITD version. Other makers also label their tritium compasses and other devices like that as well. On their own product webpage it's "Tritium Compass 3H" which is... kinda nuts. Especially as others have apparently model numbers. "Tritium Wrist Compass J582T" means that I'd call the model "J582" and they make a base (GITD) and "T" suffix (tritium) model. The GITD lensatic is /sometimes/ called the model 27, so I just wish they called the tritium one the "27T" or something simple like that.
Yes... I have corrected subsequent training. Too lazy to fix this. Despite doing this training for forever, to soldiers, and Marines, no one mentioned this until recently. I'd encountered some folks who use mils for nav, just stuck with it! Why didn't you come by 10 years ago and tell me! ! :)
If I even owned a dime store compass that worked, I wouldn't throw it as it would break. All these compasses have been in the field. So they've been (variously) frozen, heated, rained and snowed on, dropped, fallen on, stepped on, covered in sand and mud, hosed off, and much more. This is "tossing about" on a rubberized surface no less. Most of them weigh nothing so have no inertia, and/or are rubber buffered like the Cammenga, so don't even notice this.
@@StevenHoober I usually get an item or two when I go out but Saturday I got really lucky! A woman who used to backpack in the trinity alps and Lassen national park was selling all her stuff. I bundled $433 worth of stuff for $60. $40 of that was a katadyn hiker pro water filter and a steripen that has never been used. I’m thinking of doing a video series of survival gear that I pick up at garage sales.
I meant to say it. Talk about it when doing classes. Mostly: cheap is to worry about more than expensive. Be suspicious of overly cheap ones, and people will tend to self regulate on the top end :) If some other specific concern I missed, do tell though.
[evil laugh]. MC-1. Indeed, not much. Seen one more with my own eyes, and it was sadly broken. I think in the US at least they only sold to the military. Lovely compass, my favorite. Will be sad when it gets too old.
@@JohnDoe-ee6qs Keep stopping in outdoors stores in UK, Europe, and never find snazzier compasses. Keep hoping that I am just missing the good stores but I increasingly gather: not.
@@4ourthmobile433 : Have you tried this place? They have some good-quality stuff (including compasses) and they're very quick.....usually next-day delivery. www.heinnie.com/survival/navigation?p=1
Well, it always shifts. I haven't dug super, super into the pop media articles lately, but I am pretty sure this is the same thing we've known for a few years. Basically though: compasses point to magnetic north. Which has never been True North, or Grid North. Sometimes it barely matters, like where I live, we have around 3° of declination. But in the far North Eastern US, it's like 25°. So you really better know. I have a video about declination generally here: ua-cam.com/video/nycp7SjZ8HA/v-deo.html This one talks a bit about the grid system overall, so may help as well if you are not bored by me saying the word "grid" yet: ua-cam.com/video/Mw8_vuqXWpA/v-deo.html
@@StevenHoober So it was and is a good thing that all the air ports are adjusting so planes can still find them lol. so not much movement lol. fortune.com/2019/01/11/earth-magnetic-north-pole-shifts-forcing-update/
@@Reshtarc Yes, this is included in the "it's been happening for a while" thing. This article from NOAA discusses it with an example in some detail www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/airport-runway-names-shift-magnetic-field
Most maps indicate how much the declination is increasing or decreasing per year. That, plus the date on your map will enable you to calculate the change.
@@JayM409 And if they do not know to look for that. using old maps and all. Hmmm? info to add to any Compass vid. After all this vid is directed at novices.
I don't recall in which video I talk about it, but compasses are annoyingly sensitive, so get messed with by guns, radio antennas and... other compasses! Does make setting a couple next to each other pretty dumb looking though, I know.
It's really not that simple. The USGI lensatic is a minor upgrade, over 60 years ago, to an even older design. It's heavy, bulky, not simple or obvious to use properly without training, is not waterproof, and cannot be used to plot easily. There are tradeoffs in all equipment, and there is no one compass that is clearly the best and only choice for all situations.
Steven Hoober: Fare enough. You know your stuff. The modern gadget I have been looking for in UA-cam is a handheld GPS that records bearings. My Garmin 60CS gives great positioning and has a compass. Tons of features, but no bearing recording. I would welcome your thoughts about this? I do mountaineering.
Maybe not sure what you mean by "records bearings." When I don't just use my phone (yeah, even me!) I use a GPS-60 also, non-color, and it has a screen that shows heading, bearing, etc. It may need to be set up to do that; a friend had a newer Garmin that took me an hour to figure out how get useful again; it defaulted to very consumer happy friendly app-style stuff but was useless to navigate seriously therefore. But, it was buried in there. Anyway, mine records track data if you tell it you are navigating, and I use those to do things like halfassedly map out trails to make better maps, but... maybe as I say I don't know what you mean by records bearings specifically?
Steven Hoober: "Record bearings" (like for intersecting) means, for example, storing the directions of several mountains in the distance I am currently pointing the GPS compass at when I hit Mark button to record a waypoint. Imagine hiking trip where you can quickly just record you position + directions from that position to the various mountains in the distance. One could later download the GPX file from the GPS to determine which mountain was which on a map. I have never seen bearing data in a GPX file, but the format allows for text to be embedded. At least for how I manage my days on hiking trips this would seem practical. One could imagine getting an automatic distance and elevation to mountains calculated with 2 or more reads by parallax.
Sorry, busy weekend and I was trying to find something that did this "track while scan" behavior. I cannot think of or find anything that does this. They tend to all focus on one thing at a time, so it's hard to get info on something else while navigating. I have seen maritime units (even small ones) that are designed for this sort of navigation, so your track is doing it's thing, but you can also click on any other point, get the distance and bearing to it, and other data as relevant (e.g. altitude, light pattern...) so you can tell if that's what you are looking at to confirm your position is accurate. So it may exist, but I have never seen one for something portable, land-nav oriented.
Why are you yelling? You CAN buy one, sure. But they are so bright they actually blind you in very dark conditions, so you can't see. The key is Tritium has no life, but a HALF life. Every ~12.3 years half of the remaining atoms decay into He3 and a spare particle that flies off into space. The other half is still there to throw those particles into the phosphor (which basically never decays). So, every 12.3 years, it is half as bright as the previous time. I think 1-2 cycles (12-25 years) old works great for sneaking around in the dark, three cycles (27) is too much. So, you go to surplus stores, go to the "old, doesn't work" pile and look for 16, 18 year old dates, hold them close to your eye with your hands cupped around to make sure the tritium didn't actually break, check the rest of the functionality, and buy one that is both properly dim, AND 1/4 the retail price. Yes, I have gotten USGI Tritium for $20. I do ALSO have new ones (well, I did, but now they are like 6 years old I guess!) and when I remember, pick them when it'll be more moonlit or I need to instruct so show off the glow at a distance, with less light acclimation, etc.
@@StevenHoober I got you!! I am not yelling. I used capital letters to make you see my message. Thank you for the information. Very useful. I am trying to learn how to use a compass and a map to navigate. I watch your videos and hopefully, I will learn something.
@@StevenHoober And like I posted from the Soldier Manual Combat Tasks. Degrees are used for Land Navigation by ground combat teams. Mils are used in the Artillery and in Bradley units from the turret ring. Not meaning to bust you chops in any way but for 12 years we taught and used the degrees and the red ring on the compass for land navigation day and night phase. A check of US manuals confirms that for land navigation degrees are still taught and used. The only mils a Infantry Soldier uses is the wurm relation method for ranging targets or the 11 Charlies (Mortars), 11 Hotels(TOWS) and 11 Mikes Bradley Gunners and commanders for the turret ring. 11 Bravo and 11 Mike dismounts use degrees on the compass.This is confirmed by the Infantry School among others.
@@raymondhollingsworth3643 Yes, should be. More an excuse if I say "military compasses use degrees" it is both too general AND I was misinformed for years, and a few units were weird maybe? Could never trace it down precisely.
@@StevenHoober Some units have the use of mils like tanks, artillery, mortars and Bradely Gunnery. FIST or fire support troops use mils, degrees among others. Check out FM 3-25.26 Chapter 6 on Direction. There is certinaly no reason why the mil method could be taught but Big Green feels degrees is good enough and the way we use it for Land Nav is okay. On another note one of the best book I have read outside of the Military is Be Expert with Map & Compass by Bjorn Kjellstrom. A great book from a great man in Orienteering. I did like you video on the compasses, great overview. I did sub your channel.
@@raymondhollingsworth3643 I didn't want to speculate to much, but indeed suspected it was someone who did a lot of fire direction (organic or otherwise) and they just sorta used it for everything unofficially. If I was King of the DOD a favorite way to anger everyone would be trying to make as many branches and roles as possible use the same measures and coordinate systems :)
Noted! I have been told by Soldiers and Marines that /do/ get trained they use lots of mils. Not exclusively, but a whole, whole lot. Supposedly, all artillery does so it is important when adjusting fire, etc. etc. So I say that, but I'll stand by my core thing, know what your team will use and why so you learn/buy the right product.
If they train in call for fire as you stated then yes they will get additional training in the use of mils, but for most Soldiers degrees is all the training we get / need.
Suddenly degrees coming out of the woodwork. Worked with a bunch of folks, trained a couple hundred in my time, never heard this. First you guys, and last weekend when we did another class, one of my (former AFSOC) instructors also lived by degrees, except for fire support. And... now I know I guess. Huh.
Caffeine doesn't really impact me, and I hate coffee anyway. But still, this scene is the perfect version of that: ua-cam.com/video/_k9gI58sHa0/v-deo.html
The metal compass canNOT be an "Iron" compass as you said. (That won't work!) It will be at worse be Para-Magnetic and made out of Aluminum or out of Brass. But generally a good explanation.
Common misconception. Do bear with me if you know much of this background. Tritium provides glow because of the radioactive decay. The tritium gas doesn't glow itself, but it emits beta particles (hence why in the UK they are often called "betalights") which whack into a phosphorescent powder coating the inside of the glass tubes containing the gass, which converts the energy into visible light. As long as the beta particles are emitted, the tube glows. More beta particles, more glow. Okay, so radioactive things decay logarithmically. The term half-life is not the LIFE of the item, but what it says: the half life. After the 12.3 year half life, half the tritium in a sample will have decayed into He-3. So it's not dead after 12 years, it is just half as bright. And 12 years later, half as bright again. And so on, and on. So, we think that most tritium compasses (or watches) are too bright for use in total darkness when new. They blind you, ruining your night vision. I prefer a one to two half life old one instead, for that reason. Of course, some may be better designed, your use may be more at dusk where the brighter light is needed, etc. And worst case: you just wait and use the new compass in a couple years when it has decayed.
ahhhhhhh. Good explanation. The tritium night sights in my pistol seem almost gone at a little more than 16 years, so i will presume there was just a tiny bit of it in there to start and the about 40% that is not decayed is just soldiering on as best it can.
my brain rejects the whole how to use a compass info ... as soon as i hear it doesnt actually point north im like .... well fuck, great, now im too annoyed to learn anything.
The needle points north... for certain values of north :) You can also just make sure you live in a part of the world, like me, with so little declination that you can just ignore it most of the time.
Sabine Katsavrias: All compass needles point to magnetic North which is usually (depending on where you live) not the same direction as "Grid / Map North". The location of Magnetic North moves slightly over time and is currently in the far North of Canada. See link below for more Info. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Magnetic_Pole
Sorry a pet peave.... Damping is the suppression of movement. Dampening is to bring moisture into a item. We damp the needles movement with oil or magnets.
Welcome, pedants. I do love getting terminology right, and this is a totally new one to me. Definitely heard it wrong from people in related industries, "dampen the movement..." etc. Will try to remember, but that's deep set, will take some effort to try to get it right.
@@StevenHoober Language is a critical tool and must be used skillfully to be effective - just like a compass. Seems wrong to call Victor Coots a "pedant" just because he offers a helpful correction.
@@petehealy9819 In the subset of tech/nerd culture I am in at least, it's not negative. Used to indicate serious (but like much nerd stuff, verging on too much) attention to detail, esp for language. Somewhat replaced things like "grammar nazi" because now there are real nazi about again, that's no fun anymore. If that's not universally acknowledged, or it's regionally different: sorry everyone.
This came across my news feed, using it the way I described. Thought of the conversation: www.theguardian.com/education/shortcuts/2019/dec/02/the-pedants-pedant-why-the-apostrophe-protection-society-has-closed-in-disgust?CMP=fb_gu&Social&Facebook#Echobox=1575301532 FWIW.
Mils? Not necessarily. There are more, but you can do fractional or decimal degrees. I've seen angular measuring devices with those graduated even. Surveying uses degrees IME, just to very small decimal values. The flip side is: they can be too much so people get caught up in needless precision, or can't decide which number to choose, etc. Seen people argue that degrees are better for land nav. But generally, at least in the US military: mils are preferred for things like artillery to have a non-decimal additional level of precision (not accuracy... look it up) and degrees are for all general uses.
@@StevenHoober If you're not landing artillery shells then there's no need to be "super precise". Aircraft and ships navigate perfectly well over huge distances without using mils. They work but are just pointless in any normal situation especially when communicating information to 95% of people who will work in degrees.
Right off the bat throwing delicate equipment, carelessly slamming it on your table raises a great big question about your credibility. Maybe that is all some people can afford. Why do you need to become a clown rather than being serious about your subject? I will watch the rest of the video if it continues in a more serious vein. At this point it is highly questionable.
Asked and answered. They are all field compasses, which arrive not in storage cases, and are stuck in pockets, hung from lanyards, rained on. And it's not a sidewalk or ship's deck. The big black grid is a rubber mat, as well. This is not abuse and any compass that can't deal with the handling shown is not suitable for their intended use.
Per dictionary definition just to start, graduation #2) the action of dividing into degrees or other proportionate divisions on a graduated scale. Gradation is "a stage or change in a series of successive levels" or so on. I meant was is indeed called the "graduation ring" or similar items, where the tick marks indicating angular or distance measure are located.
Often: no. Entirely aside from getting the one that works the way you do, cheap compasses often do not point north reliably. Seen it, several times, lately. Get good compasses.
A magnetic pointer resting on a needle, there is not much to mess up on a compass. Unless the package around interacts with the magnetic field but I don't expect much impact from a simple plastic enclosure. I was more thinking of the USGI compass that clearly stands out as a historical before closed plastic housings and stainless steel mirrors model. Even that kludge can do its work and it's maybe better for an artillery observer.
The needles can be improperly magnetized, and not point north. Alignment of the field matters. The bearings can be bad, so cause the needle to hang up, and appear to point north but not do so, and do it inconsistently. The capsule can drag on the needle, especially if in the wrong region, but just because of bad design. Dampening methods, magnetic or fluid, can be poorly matched to the capsule or needle and cause it to overdampen (stopping the needle incorrectly much like bearing drag) or underdampen and the needle never settles. And more. Many, many ways to mess up precision instruments. You don't have to spend a lot of money, but you must get a good compass or you will get lost. We see bad compasses in our classes, enough we look at everyone's compass before going out to exercises, and loan out better ones so they don't get lost.
uuugg.. the paper stuff was just too annoying to watch. Distracting and so unnecessary. All it did was cause breaks in continuity. Were not stupid. Just say it.
The speaker or the video maker has no manner. We should keep and use every instruments ina good condition. But the video maker does not follow this rule. He looks like irritated to make this video.
I prefer the lensatic compass. It's just as precise as my mirror compass but (for me) it is easier to use in the field and I can see (and focus on) the landmark, index line and the numbers on the dial all at the same time. Land Nav is just plain fun no matter what your choice of compass.
"For me" is always the key. A lot of people have no experience, so we try to guide them to good choices, instead of the cheapest WalMart thing. Want to keep them from getting lost, so they can see how being in the woods is fun still!
Thank you very much for taking the time to teach us how to use a compass, before your video all that I knew was true north and magnetic north. Every else is brand new to me.
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@Huxley Jamison Instablaster ;)
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@Huxley Jamison Glad I could help =)
great video ,,, very rare ive been out on a job and not had a simple base plate compass in my pocket , when everything else goes wrong , it is something you can bet your life on.
I worked for years with my Silva ranger. Still love it.
Me too, until it developed a bubble.
9:13: they call them "Ranger" compasses because the Silva Type 15 was marketed in the US as the "Silva Ranger". It was/is one of (if not the) the most popular mirrored baseplate compasses on the market since the 70's. Some of the nicest Silva Type 15 Rangers were branded by the Boy Scouts for sale in Scout Shops and included aluminum bezels with engraved degrees and really beautiful leather carry pouches with Boy Scout stampings.
Anyway, because the Type 15 was so popular/beloved, so it came to pass that mirrored baseplate compasses are typically referred to as "Ranger" or "Ranger-Style" compasses mostly in the US and especially anywhere with a heavy Scouting influence.
I don't mention this because I cannot prove it's true, and have some evidence it's not. It seems a series of compasses were (and certainly ARE) branded Ranger, even for non-mirror baseplate layouts.
It seems this was true all along, and Ranger just meant some level of "better, professional, more marks" or something they wouldn't tell us otherwise.
Now, it's possible the models most sold under the name, at least in this market, were the Type 15 and then we all think mirror=ranger, but it's hard to prove and sometimes when I bring it up someone denies it so I just let it slide.
Steven, I'm pleased to see I'm not the only one with boxes full of different types of compasses made by different companies. My motive is I just find it fun to play around with different designs, to explore how different designers go about building in useful functions that take a different approach from other company's ideas. And it's just fun to learn how a compass with a rotating compass card has to be used differently from a compass where only the magnetic needle rotates. In many ways you have to think in the opposite way. However, on both a lensatic, and a base plate / protractor compass, if mag declination is west, adjust for it by turning the bezel ccw, and if mag declination is east, you turn the bezel cw. So there are also similarities.
Also I have learned a lot about how to correctly use the lensatic compass in your other videos. Thank you.
You stated the lensatic compass has a global needle. I don't think that is correct. If you go to the Cammenga website and look at the 3H and type 27 models. You are directed to choose various options. One of the options is to select Hemisphere. With the choices being: Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere (add $1). That option is not present for the DT-3 protractor model, I don't know why as it appears to use the same compass housing.
I will also mention that in Oct. 2017 Silva Sweden announced they have acquired the rights to the Silva trade name for N. America from Johnson Outdoors. The new arrangement went into effect Jan 4, 2018.
Johnson Outdoors has owned the Silva name in N.America since 1998, and since then the Silva compasses sold here were made by Johnson Outdoors, not by Silva Sweden, the company that invented the Silva compass. So that has now changed. And Silva Sweden compasses after almost a twenty year absence are again being imported into Canada and the USA. The Silva compass models available here will be changing. You may want to update your blog to say the Silva Sweden compasses are now being imported here again.
However, many of the compass models, maybe all of them, will say Designed by Silva Sweden, made in China. (look at the zoomed images on thecompassstore website). I also know this because I just purchased a Ranger 2.0 Quad compass. The 2.0 addition to a compass model name seems to indicate it is a US version of that model, having scales that match the standard scales used on USGS topographic maps. Anyway, I have been ordering Silva Sweden compasses from Europe the last few years, I won't have to do that anymore.
I am not concerned the made in China compasses will be poor quality compasses. Compasses are a core business product for Silva Sweden, I am confident Silva Sweden will insure a high standard of QC at the Chinese factories. Or risk going out of business.
I think it is only companies that just want some product that fits a certain product category they want to sell, something that isn't a core product for them, that will sell shoddy low QC items from China. I know Daiwa has some excellent fishing rods made in China. I think companies that focus on a few core products have their own people in the factories insuring high standards of production.
Weird on Cammenga offering hemispheres. Never, never seen that before. I know from USGI manuals the issue one at least is a single compass for worldwide use. Huh.
Good to hear Silva got their brand back. Will see what gets offered, look at them and chat about the new items.
I have poor hopes for China manufacture. Sure, you can make good things overseas - I have been involved in a few - but compasses, even euro market Silvas in the past 10 years, have all too often been quite low quality items. And not just poor QA, but design choices like moving to one-piece plastic hinges are worrisome. I do hope for better, but only cautiously.
Ah, well sounds like the military issue Cammenga compasses are global, and version sold to civilians are hemisphere specific. Cammenga doesn't really say the compasses are the same as military issue models, only that they manufacturer the military compasses. They might be just letting people assume they are the same models.
The Silva Sweden website is kind of strange.
They make compasses that are hidden from their navigation menus. But if you know the model name and do an internet search for that model links to them will show up on their website. (or links to that model at online shops will show up in the search results).
One example is the Silva Expedition 54 360/360/360. (or the Expedition 54 6400/360 that mostly shows up in shops in Australia, s. hemisphere I assume) Find the link to it, and on that webpage you will find the product family related model the Expedition 55 6400/360. Which seems to be the same compass only supplied with the new lanyard with different scales printed on the lanyard, something they started shipping a year or two ago. Pricey , but nice compasses, with prism sighting to 0.5˚ / 8.9 mils.
silva.se/product/compasses/expedition-54/
silva.se/product/uncategorized/compass-55-6400360/
You can even find the page for the 54b model, though I think they may no longer be made, I've not found them in online shops. Though they may still be available somewhere.
silva.se/product/compasses/compass-54b-6400-6400360/
I have ordered some Silva compasses from Ireland or from
exxposed in Germany (from some reason amazon UK wouldn't ship them to the USA) In the past shipping was quick and only about $10, for some reason shipping charges have doubled. They list the north hemisphere model of the Expedition 55 . Apparently so new they don't yet have a picture or full description.
www.jackson-sports.com/en/Silva-Silva-55-6400360/m-11231.aspx
Another weirdness on the Silva website , when I first discovered the change in ownership of the trade name, the website had a link to all the US Compass version in one group, but five days later it was removed.
I have two Expedition models, the ones with the orange colored bezel, I ordered 3 years ago from exxpozed in Germany. I've had no problems with the one I've used. The packaging doesn't say where it was made. So it could have been made in Sweden or China and they just didn't make it known.
Anyway, I hope the quality or robustness will be to the high standard expected. I only became aware that there were two different companies making Silva compass after I had problems with the newer ones I had purchased. And I wondered why Silva compasses I purchased after about 2000 soon developed bubbles, but ones I had purchased in late 70s or early 80s had not , and still worked perfectly. I have only one Silva compass purchased after the two companies split that never developed bubbles, but it is stamped made in Finland. I have read Johnson Outdoors had some compasses made by Suunto, and that compass looks a lot like the Suunto A-10.
I have an email out to Cammenga to ask about their regionality. Not sure they will ever respond, but I have to ask. I also want to know which we have; is there a secret mark on the case that says that? Is there a difference between USGI and Commercial models? Etc.
And I am totally gonna try to find a shop while in Europe or the UK next month to get some compasses. I'd love a type 54 if I could find one for a good price.
It would be interesting to hear if Cammenga makes a global version only for the military. I could see it being a huge advantage, no worries about dropping onto a battlefield with a compass that doesn't work. I've emailed Cammenga twice about their wrist compass, never received a reply.
I ordered a Silva type 54 from Jackson-sports, $117 shipped. (Now they have the type 55, but a little higher priced). A couple of years later on eBay a guy in Va. had one for $60. It was brand new, but appears to be old production, came in a box, about 2 inches thick, that also is labeled combi ( + tm). Has a john Muir quote, 'Between any two pine trees is the doorway to a new life' on the end of the box. The barcode is printed on the labels it - compass 54 360-360/360 Art. 35852-1011. So that was a lucky find. Good luck finding one during your trip.
Use of mils is mostly for Artillery because when you use mills in direction and the distance is known then you can adjust fire but In the Army we still use degrees for navigation. If you use mils and you want to know distance if you have the optics for it then the formula is Size of target (object) in yards/meters/feet (whatever you want to use the formula is the same.) times 1000/mils. You sight on something that is 4 meters long and say it is 5 mils in your sight then its 4x1,000/5 = 800 meters away and Artillery adjustment is done in a similar way but they are not seeing the target they just take the information and use it to calculate where to put their rounds. But for the most part we used degrees for navigating. lensatic compass has both degrees and mils.
Jerry Gautier the whole of the British military use mills because it’s more accurate for bearing etc it’s not only an arty thing
John Ross same in Canadian Army. I’ve never even used a compass with degrees and never intend to.
Teriyakicat mills is more accurate it’s wha the US military use also the simple fact is that all 6hrse idiots going on about compass, degrees, deglaze toon etc are talking shit
Jerry Gautier sorry boys but Jerry is right. The arty in the US Army uses mils and the infantry as most of the rest of the Army use degrees and still do to this day. If the NATO forces use mils and most if not all do that is them .
John Ross sorry the Us Army Infantry and most of the rest of the ground forces except the artillery use degrees. This is still standard doctrine and can be found in the Soldiers Manual. Mils is used to adjust artillery fire. Land Navigation is still In degrees. 071-COM-1003
Determine a Magnetic Azimuth Using a Lensatic Compass
Conditions: You are a member of a squad or team in a field environment and have been directed to determine a magnetic azimuth. You have a compass and a designated point on the ground. Some iterations of this task should be performed in MOPP 4.
Standards: Inspect the compuss. Determine the correct magnetic azimuth to the designated point within 3 degrees using the compass-to-cheek method, and within 10 degrees using the center-hold method.
Thank you Sir, very well instructed, to the point, clear and within 10 minutes, WOW!
Hey! I have used the Suunto MB-6 global matchbox compass for years. It works great and is super easy to sight and shoot an azimuth. I do like my lensatic compass alot, too.
Cool to hear. I am sure they work well but I haven't gotten used to them yet. Need someone to essentially show me I think.
Related-ish: I did use the wrist compass on a hiking trip in December. It also took some getting used to (there's no direction of travel line! so, easy to confuse yourself) but once I did, it was super convenient for a rough bearing when in wooded valleys, etc where you have no long distance target.
I have one as well. It's the smallest compass I own that still has adjustable magnetic declination.
After I watched this video I tossed it across the room.
And it survived if it followed my suggestions to buy a quality compass.
All these compasses have been in the field. So they've been (variously) frozen, heated, rained and snowed on, dropped, fallen on, stepped on, covered in sand and mud, hosed off, and much more. This is "tossing about" on a rubberized surface no less. Most of them weigh nothing so have no inertia, and/or are rubber buffered like the Cammenga, so don't even notice this.
Love the way you throw compasses around.
All these compasses have been in the field. So they've been (variously) frozen, heated, rained and snowed on, dropped, fallen on, stepped on, covered in sand and mud, hosed off, and much more. This is "tossing about" on a rubberized surface no less. Most of them weigh nothing so have no inertia, and/or are rubber buffered like the Cammenga, so don't even notice this.
My favourite is the Silva/Brunton 4/54 baseplate compass with a sighting prism to take bearings good to one-half degree and has long-life glow in the dark paint illumination. Another type not shown is a hand-bearing sighting compass like the Plastimo, they float and are yellow (easy to find if dropped) and are encased in thick rubber so fairly rugged.
Type 54 is an excellent compass... I can't find cheap enough to bring myself to buy. Played with some, then the friend who had THREE of them, sold on eBay instead of selling me one. Ugh. But, do tell if you ever find one in the US that's cheap.
I have some other types (prisms, matchbox...) but they are fairly rare in the US so didn't review them here.
Do not buy an American made Silva, they're shit. Get a Scandinavian one
Thanks for the great Enlightenment on compasses and I did subscribe so I will be able to read maps and conquer positions if needed to be.....
A great tutorial for a person (me) who dosen't have a clue.👍🏽
I like the Silva Type 54. You can shot bearings and its so easy to plot bearings without a protractor.
The Expedition 54 is an excellent compass and... I don't have one. Never have found one that was remotely affordable, and a friend who had two - when he went crazy and purged all his outdoors stuff - sold both on eBay before I knew it.
They are unique enough if I ever got one of my own I'd probably have to make a whole video about weird compasses (matchbox, etc. etc) as I have a few others that are not talked about enough, at least procedurally.
NOTE: If anyone has a 54 they don't want, or sees a deal, tell me about it! I do still want one!
The best thing to learn from this video is make damned certain to toss your compass around and destroy it . SMH & LOL !
Surprised how many think I am abusing the compasses in this video. They are field compasses, that get stuffed in pockets, hang from lanyards and bang into stuff, are rained on, frozen, and much more. If they can't handle this level of "abuse" then they aren't good enough for actual use.
Note that fragile bits are inside so folding ones, like the Pocket Transit, are handled with some care when deployed. But when closed, that's a built in transit case. You can do anything short of hammering nails with it in that mode.
@Johan Cain 87751
A lot of those Silva backup compasses when they start to leak I keep the needle for survival kits, much better than having to magnetize a sewing needle if push comes to shove
Others fill them with more oil. Even a few I know. I am too lazy, sell them off to people like them... or you, to fuss with.
Never letting this guy babysit the kids haha. Good little vid
The Silva type 4 nato compass is not coated with radiactive paint, they have tritium capsule if they're over ten years old the tritium is more than likely dead
I have a bunch of them. There are a few tritium tubes in the baseplate, but the rest is... not. It is some sort of paint like stuff. Others have taken it apart and scraped at it etc. and it's paint.
Tritium has a half life of 12.3 years. Half as bright. Not dead. I like tritium compasses at 2-3 half lives for most use. In deep dark, new tritium is too new.
The paint stuff goes bad for some other reason. Have similar range date codes on these where some is yellow and glows, some is brown and does not. Not sure what causes it to go bad.
@@StevenHoober a lot of those older military compasses have radium in them, no one will touch em to service them, I am mostly talking about pre M73 British prismatic compasses I don't come across older US military compasses over here
thank you sir. good video explained things well.
Excellent review, Steven!
Im doing some hiking on the AT. What compass do you recommend? They say i wont need it but fuckkk that. Lol what do you think?
This was what i needed!
Military type, or any type with night capability, do not deprive yourself the ability to operate in darkness.
The best compass to bet your life on is a Military Lensatic Compass. Not a fake look alike. A REAL military model. They aren't the most expensive nor cheap. They're built like tanks and will work long after the others fall apart. Base plate compasses are for plotting on a map. Lensatic styles are navigational types. They can do map plotting but are not specifically designed for it.
I did the video, and others, to indicate there is no one best compass. The USGI lensatic is metal and heavy, but not especially strong. Seen many broken ones. At least the rate of breakage of baseplate or ranger compasses I have seen.
They are better for night nav, but not clearly superior in any other way. If you prefer it, good. But all of them have their upsides.
If you cant toss your compass around then that compass deserved it. Good video !
1:22 "This big iron one"? ...Huh? Last I checked the specs on military issue compass was aluminum and prior to that copper. I did notice the needle of the one on the table move when you brought it near it though. Confused.
This is what happens when I go off script. No one thinks I am as funny as I do :)
It is indeed something non-magnetic. I think an odd alloy of some sort, not just aluminum. But, it's much, much heavier than any of the competition. Even heavier than the larger Brunton Pocket Transit.
All compasses interfere with each other. Just the magnetism of the needle/card interacting.
@@StevenHoober Some cheap imitations actually have a steel loop! I think every compass should have a mirror, like the Ranger, very useful for shaving or signalling in an emergency. Also, the lid protects them and some have a screw to make the variation adjustment. Otherwise a baseplate compass which takes up little room or preferably on a cord around your neck with a plastic whistle. The Brunton pocket transit is a monster, usually given to geologists as a retirement gift!
@@karhukivi I have a plastic USGI Pocket Transit. Useful for some very precise sighting stuff. But big!
Steel on a compass. Awesome!
@@StevenHoober Hi Steven, here;s a story (tried to keep it short) which caused me to always carry some kind of compass, even a button one in my city clothes! I was doing mineral exploration geophysical surveys in a remote part of Sweden with a colleague and we had almost finished our grid of 50m spaced readings on lines 100m apart with yellow flagging tape to mark positions. It was November and thin snow covered the ground, the temp was -5C. Back at the cars at 4pm, Lars noticed he had left some equipment at the far end of the line about 1500 metres away. I knew he wanted to visit friends he hadn't seen for years about 50 km away so I told him to go and I would retrieve the kit. By this time I had taken off my outer jacket and backpack containing my GPS, compass, torch, survival kit, food and knife, which I left in my car. I walked quickly along the tracks in the snow and got to the end of the line about 20 minutes later. The light was fading and after a while I found the instrument and headed back. But - I couldn't see my tracks as the snow was patchy on swampy, ice-encrusted ground. Nor could I find one of the flags as with the trees I couldn't see 50m. Snow began to fall and I was getting cold. No stars to be seen either, and although I knew the car was only 1500m away to the south, but which way was south? Worse still, I could walk 20+ km in any direction and not cross a road or track, and the track where the car was parked was north-south, like the lines we were working on.
The only thing I had with me was a notebook. So I tore pages out and placed them as far apart as I could see in a line and moved along about 70 metres, but no flag was found. I backtracked, picking up the pages and tried another line in another direction, about 45 degrees off the first one. Again, no luck. On the third line I found a flag! It was now very cold and the snow was falling thicker, so another experiment was needed to find a second flag, which I did fairly quickly. I now had the line direction so it was some hard slogging until I reached the car shivering uncontrollably, the beginnings of hypothermia. I had a flask of hot coffee and other provisions so I was OK, but it had nearly become a survival situation.
Now I have a backup compass in my backpack, always carry the main one around my neck and have a few button compasses in various items of clothing just in case. A compass would have been sufficient to locate my line and the car, had I not been so stupid as to remove all my kit before walking back what I thought was only a short distance.
@@karhukivi Good story. And one we all know we shouldn't do but sometimes fall for.
Mine is much less harrowing, but maybe more embarrassing. After we're all packed from a field exercise were I did training, we realize the tripflares are still out there. I volunteer to run back and get them. Find and remove then, despite being no more than 400 m from the parking, I am hopelessly twisted. And, it's last minute so all my gear is in the car.
20 minutes before I give up box searching, go downhill to water, follow to a bridge, walk back up the road to everyone waiting, wondering where I've been the last hour. Do not forget it now.
Glad you didn't freeze to death!
This was a brilliant video. Could you recommend a good cheapish compass? It will be my first just would like to have one if I'm camping or looking for the ISS flying over my house. Thanks
I have a text version of it here, which has some brand advice. There's SO much variability in features and options, but already since I wrote that Silva, Brunton and Suunot have started importing or making more mostly-better compasses, so most anything of those brands will do.
You can spend a lot, but they make pretty good compasses under $20. Just as an example, here's a cheap but well featured compass: www.amazon.com/dp/B000FEXZH6/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvpv2_3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Read more:
centralwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/08/buying-compass.html
centralwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/08/backup-compasses.html
How do you use the zeroing mark on the Silva baseplate compass? Silva calls that a stencil window but either way i dont understand the function. I bought a cheap clone of that same Silva in mils and degrees and it seems pretty good for learning so thats why im asking.
Not 100% sure what you are asking. Happy to help if I do understand though.
Taking a stab: the stencil bits on some baseplates are just so you can transfer the data to maps, by putting a pencil through them to draw marks, which allows you to plot the course on the map without using the edges instead. Some have just holes, some have shapes like arrows to make it even more like a real stencil.
I never do that as they vary too much as it's easy to get the pencil not vertical, and I am used to straight edges for drawing, so just line up along the edge, and if I need to rotate, use a stylus or pencil tip on the start point to let the compass hinge off it to align to an azimuth, etc.
@@StevenHoober Thank you and yes thats what I was asking. I also have an unusual sighting compass which has triangles and various cutouts and I never knew what they were for either. I thought, if a person needs to draw such shapes, why not simply draw them freehand? I thought they were a gimmick or I didnt know what I thought, frankly. But they were on the compass so there must be some sort of serious intention right? So, alright.
@@cvcoco Oh, MANY people are told by bad schooling they cannot draw, so won't even try to draw a square, so really rely on templates and stencils.
Many compasses with extra shapes are specific to their target audience. Military compasses may have rectangles (friendly), triangles (OP/LP), and diamonds (enemy), shapes, for example. But there are also special symbols for forestry work, etc. so it's not always easy to tell what they are if you just picked up a random compass and didn't get the "proper" one for your work.
good video, I like them all, my opinion of best night compass may vary.
I found 2 different ones of that same style of the green military compass. One cost $11.99 the other cost $114.10... the only difference i saw was the cheaper option was silver. What is the difference between the two for that price difference?
Impossible to say for sure without seeing them, getting an idea who made them, and where.
But likely, what I think I talked about in the video, or in other comments:
The cheap one just LOOKS like the good one. It will be made of inferior materials, so likely break faster. Less a deal for simple compasses, but if it is that cheap and has hinges and other dodads, no way. Nothing will be lined up, or consistently so; if you take a bearing off the wire with the lid up, it won't be the same next time, as the hinge is likely bad. The needle may or may not point north; yes, some really seriously aren't magnetized right! The bearings WILL be bad. This is an easy place to cheap out, so they do. And bad bearings means that the needle may hang up not pointing quite to the north when it settles. They will leave out dampening systems (seen it!) or do it badly, so the needle wanders and never settles to get a reading. OR, they may over-dampen and much like bad bearings, you don't get an accurate reading. The card may be poorly etched, so the readings are distorted and even if the rest works, you can't rely on the bearing you took to be accurate. And... so on.
The expensive one (and that's overpriced, Cammenga ones are available for like $80, so ignore those selling for over $100) will do none of that. It will point north, reliably, be easy to read, be repeatable, and work forever. I mean, forever. I have seen compasses broken in half, but the capsule still works fine. People I know have completed their missions or qualifications with stuff like this.
On the back of the Lensatic Compass it says it's Model No. is 3H with Cammenga following it.
The 3H means three hydrogen atoms, so: Tritium. The same label is on all their tritium compasses (they do make others), and therefore isn't shared with the otherwise identical GITD version. Other makers also label their tritium compasses and other devices like that as well.
On their own product webpage it's "Tritium Compass 3H" which is... kinda nuts. Especially as others have apparently model numbers. "Tritium Wrist Compass J582T" means that I'd call the model "J582" and they make a base (GITD) and "T" suffix (tritium) model.
The GITD lensatic is /sometimes/ called the model 27, so I just wish they called the tritium one the "27T" or something simple like that.
The Army dont only use mills, thats mostly for Artillery. We used degrees for land nav.
Yes... I have corrected subsequent training. Too lazy to fix this.
Despite doing this training for forever, to soldiers, and Marines, no one mentioned this until recently. I'd encountered some folks who use mils for nav, just stuck with it!
Why didn't you come by 10 years ago and tell me! ! :)
@@StevenHoober but very informative video!! Keep them coming!
Did I just see you throw a tritium compass like it was from the dime store?..... did you win the lottery?
If I even owned a dime store compass that worked, I wouldn't throw it as it would break.
All these compasses have been in the field. So they've been (variously) frozen, heated, rained and snowed on, dropped, fallen on, stepped on, covered in sand and mud, hosed off, and much more. This is "tossing about" on a rubberized surface no less. Most of them weigh nothing so have no inertia, and/or are rubber buffered like the Cammenga, so don't even notice this.
Mills. Is the standard the level of inaccuracy is smaller which can be compensated.
10* Good topic and presentation.
Hey!.....Stop throwin' s*** around huh!?....
They are sturdy, they can handle it! :)
Kitchen klutz
But I did this in the basement :)
I just bought a suunto global compass on Amazon prime day $45. On Saturday I got the US military compass at a garage sale for $2.
I have assumed for a long time the cheap garage sale era was over, but well done. This is the way.
@@StevenHoober
I usually get an item or two when I go out but Saturday I got really lucky! A woman who used to backpack in the trinity alps and Lassen national park was selling all her stuff. I bundled $433 worth of stuff for $60. $40 of that was a katadyn hiker pro water filter and a steripen that has never been used. I’m thinking of doing a video series of survival gear that I pick up at garage sales.
@@FanceeName You know you are just making everyone here hate you more :)
@@StevenHoober bring ‘em on! 😜
A big thing to talk about is the cost of some of these compasses.
I meant to say it. Talk about it when doing classes. Mostly: cheap is to worry about more than expensive. Be suspicious of overly cheap ones, and people will tend to self regulate on the top end :)
If some other specific concern I missed, do tell though.
Bonjour So which one is the best ?
Depends on your needs. Like most products, there is no best. That's why so many styles, etc.
Ok Merci
the silva mini / ranger sl / ranger 27 is not weird
"Rare" then? It is very, very unique to most people, and annoyingly hard to find at least in the US.
What model is that Suunto?, you don't see those with tritium too often
[evil laugh]. MC-1. Indeed, not much. Seen one more with my own eyes, and it was sadly broken. I think in the US at least they only sold to the military. Lovely compass, my favorite. Will be sad when it gets too old.
@@StevenHoober hard to get your hands on in the UK too
@@JohnDoe-ee6qs Keep stopping in outdoors stores in UK, Europe, and never find snazzier compasses. Keep hoping that I am just missing the good stores but I increasingly gather: not.
@@4ourthmobile433 : Have you tried this place? They have some good-quality stuff (including compasses) and they're very quick.....usually next-day delivery.
www.heinnie.com/survival/navigation?p=1
So how is the magnetic pole shift affecting your ability to get where you think you are heading?
Well, it always shifts. I haven't dug super, super into the pop media articles lately, but I am pretty sure this is the same thing we've known for a few years.
Basically though: compasses point to magnetic north. Which has never been True North, or Grid North. Sometimes it barely matters, like where I live, we have around 3° of declination. But in the far North Eastern US, it's like 25°. So you really better know.
I have a video about declination generally here: ua-cam.com/video/nycp7SjZ8HA/v-deo.html
This one talks a bit about the grid system overall, so may help as well if you are not bored by me saying the word "grid" yet: ua-cam.com/video/Mw8_vuqXWpA/v-deo.html
@@StevenHoober So it was and is a good thing that all the air ports are adjusting so planes can still find them lol. so not much movement lol. fortune.com/2019/01/11/earth-magnetic-north-pole-shifts-forcing-update/
@@Reshtarc Yes, this is included in the "it's been happening for a while" thing. This article from NOAA discusses it with an example in some detail www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/airport-runway-names-shift-magnetic-field
Most maps indicate how much the declination is increasing or decreasing per year. That, plus the date on your map will enable you to calculate the change.
@@JayM409 And if they do not know to look for that. using old maps and all. Hmmm? info to add to any Compass vid. After all this vid is directed at novices.
I think the poles may have shifted as u made this video lmao
I don't recall in which video I talk about it, but compasses are annoyingly sensitive, so get messed with by guns, radio antennas and... other compasses! Does make setting a couple next to each other pretty dumb looking though, I know.
Which? Pick the US military one. It was made to actually be used.
It's really not that simple. The USGI lensatic is a minor upgrade, over 60 years ago, to an even older design. It's heavy, bulky, not simple or obvious to use properly without training, is not waterproof, and cannot be used to plot easily.
There are tradeoffs in all equipment, and there is no one compass that is clearly the best and only choice for all situations.
Steven Hoober: Fare enough. You know your stuff. The modern gadget I have been looking for in UA-cam is a handheld GPS that records bearings. My Garmin 60CS gives great positioning and has a compass. Tons of features, but no bearing recording. I would welcome your thoughts about this? I do mountaineering.
Maybe not sure what you mean by "records bearings." When I don't just use my phone (yeah, even me!) I use a GPS-60 also, non-color, and it has a screen that shows heading, bearing, etc. It may need to be set up to do that; a friend had a newer Garmin that took me an hour to figure out how get useful again; it defaulted to very consumer happy friendly app-style stuff but was useless to navigate seriously therefore. But, it was buried in there.
Anyway, mine records track data if you tell it you are navigating, and I use those to do things like halfassedly map out trails to make better maps, but... maybe as I say I don't know what you mean by records bearings specifically?
Steven Hoober: "Record bearings" (like for intersecting) means, for example, storing the directions of several mountains in the distance I am currently pointing the GPS compass at when I hit Mark button to record a waypoint. Imagine hiking trip where you can quickly just record you position + directions from that position to the various mountains in the distance. One could later download the GPX file from the GPS to determine which mountain was which on a map. I have never seen bearing data in a GPX file, but the format allows for text to be embedded. At least for how I manage my days on hiking trips this would seem practical. One could imagine getting an automatic distance and elevation to mountains calculated with 2 or more reads by parallax.
Sorry, busy weekend and I was trying to find something that did this "track while scan" behavior. I cannot think of or find anything that does this. They tend to all focus on one thing at a time, so it's hard to get info on something else while navigating.
I have seen maritime units (even small ones) that are designed for this sort of navigation, so your track is doing it's thing, but you can also click on any other point, get the distance and bearing to it, and other data as relevant (e.g. altitude, light pattern...) so you can tell if that's what you are looking at to confirm your position is accurate.
So it may exist, but I have never seen one for something portable, land-nav oriented.
I don't think throwing a compass around is a good idea, like you did with several at the beginning. It's an instrument like any other.
Damn your voice is soo soothing... no homo
Hard to respect someone who treats precision equipment like that!
Thanks, this is good.
WHY WE DON'T NEED TO BUY A NEW TRITIUM COMPASS?
Why are you yelling?
You CAN buy one, sure. But they are so bright they actually blind you in very dark conditions, so you can't see.
The key is Tritium has no life, but a HALF life. Every ~12.3 years half of the remaining atoms decay into He3 and a spare particle that flies off into space.
The other half is still there to throw those particles into the phosphor (which basically never decays). So, every 12.3 years, it is half as bright as the previous time. I think 1-2 cycles (12-25 years) old works great for sneaking around in the dark, three cycles (27) is too much. So, you go to surplus stores, go to the "old, doesn't work" pile and look for 16, 18 year old dates, hold them close to your eye with your hands cupped around to make sure the tritium didn't actually break, check the rest of the functionality, and buy one that is both properly dim, AND 1/4 the retail price. Yes, I have gotten USGI Tritium for $20.
I do ALSO have new ones (well, I did, but now they are like 6 years old I guess!) and when I remember, pick them when it'll be more moonlit or I need to instruct so show off the glow at a distance, with less light acclimation, etc.
@@StevenHoober I got you!! I am not yelling. I used capital letters to make you see my message.
Thank you for the information. Very useful. I am trying to learn how to use a compass and a map to navigate. I watch your videos and hopefully, I will learn something.
If you’re in the army artillery uses mills infantry users degrees
Mooooostly. I have totally spent a bunch of time learning/teaching land nav in mils for US Army types. Good guideline, but always check! :)
@@StevenHoober And like I posted from the Soldier Manual Combat Tasks. Degrees are used for Land Navigation by ground combat teams. Mils are used in the Artillery and in Bradley units from the turret ring. Not meaning to bust you chops in any way but for 12 years we taught and used the degrees and the red ring on the compass for land navigation day and night phase. A check of US manuals confirms that for land navigation degrees are still taught and used. The only mils a Infantry Soldier uses is the wurm relation method for ranging targets or the 11 Charlies (Mortars), 11 Hotels(TOWS) and 11 Mikes Bradley Gunners and commanders for the turret ring. 11 Bravo and 11 Mike dismounts use degrees on the compass.This is confirmed by the Infantry School among others.
@@raymondhollingsworth3643 Yes, should be. More an excuse if I say "military compasses use degrees" it is both too general AND I was misinformed for years, and a few units were weird maybe? Could never trace it down precisely.
@@StevenHoober Some units have the use of mils like tanks, artillery, mortars and Bradely Gunnery. FIST or fire support troops use mils, degrees among others. Check out FM 3-25.26 Chapter 6 on Direction. There is certinaly no reason why the mil method could be taught but Big Green feels degrees is good enough and the way we use it for Land Nav is okay.
On another note one of the best book I have read outside of the Military is Be Expert with Map & Compass by Bjorn Kjellstrom. A great book from a great man in Orienteering. I did like you video on the compasses, great overview. I did sub your channel.
@@raymondhollingsworth3643 I didn't want to speculate to much, but indeed suspected it was someone who did a lot of fire direction (organic or otherwise) and they just sorta used it for everything unofficially.
If I was King of the DOD a favorite way to anger everyone would be trying to make as many branches and roles as possible use the same measures and coordinate systems :)
Most infantry guys use degrees. I use mils but I usually convert from degees so it's not much more accurate.
Noted! I have been told by Soldiers and Marines that /do/ get trained they use lots of mils. Not exclusively, but a whole, whole lot. Supposedly, all artillery does so it is important when adjusting fire, etc. etc. So I say that, but I'll stand by my core thing, know what your team will use and why so you learn/buy the right product.
If they train in call for fire as you stated then yes they will get additional training in the use of mils, but for most Soldiers degrees is all the training we get / need.
Suddenly degrees coming out of the woodwork. Worked with a bunch of folks, trained a couple hundred in my time, never heard this. First you guys, and last weekend when we did another class, one of my (former AFSOC) instructors also lived by degrees, except for fire support.
And... now I know I guess. Huh.
Im looking for a (im lost as shit compass) lol
I have a Compass so help me to sall
Thanks
Nice one.
Time for some decaf!
Caffeine doesn't really impact me, and I hate coffee anyway.
But still, this scene is the perfect version of that: ua-cam.com/video/_k9gI58sHa0/v-deo.html
I need DAT a long time ago
The metal compass canNOT be an "Iron" compass as you said. (That won't work!)
It will be at worse be Para-Magnetic and made out of Aluminum or out of Brass.
But generally a good explanation.
Don't recall saying that, probably off the cuff about them being so heavy compared to every other one.
1 degree is approx 17.75 mils.
If that's from memory it pretty impressive. It's actually 17.78 mill to one degree. It's printed right on my mil surplus Silva Ranger.
@@JayM409 Nah, not from memory -- just from dividing 6400 mils by 360 degrees.
Ok, I'll bite. Why don't you need a new compass for the tritium to work. From what I know, after about 12 years tritium will stop glowing.
Common misconception. Do bear with me if you know much of this background. Tritium provides glow because of the radioactive decay. The tritium gas doesn't glow itself, but it emits beta particles (hence why in the UK they are often called "betalights") which whack into a phosphorescent powder coating the inside of the glass tubes containing the gass, which converts the energy into visible light. As long as the beta particles are emitted, the tube glows. More beta particles, more glow.
Okay, so radioactive things decay logarithmically. The term half-life is not the LIFE of the item, but what it says: the half life. After the 12.3 year half life, half the tritium in a sample will have decayed into He-3.
So it's not dead after 12 years, it is just half as bright. And 12 years later, half as bright again. And so on, and on. So, we think that most tritium compasses (or watches) are too bright for use in total darkness when new. They blind you, ruining your night vision. I prefer a one to two half life old one instead, for that reason.
Of course, some may be better designed, your use may be more at dusk where the brighter light is needed, etc. And worst case: you just wait and use the new compass in a couple years when it has decayed.
ahhhhhhh. Good explanation. The tritium night sights in my pistol seem almost gone at a little more than 16 years, so i will presume there was just a tiny bit of it in there to start and the about 40% that is not decayed is just soldiering on as best it can.
If you're lost,don't ever travel at nightime,who needs the Tritium.
my brain rejects the whole how to use a compass info ... as soon as i hear it doesnt actually point north im like .... well fuck, great, now im too annoyed to learn anything.
The needle points north... for certain values of north :)
You can also just make sure you live in a part of the world, like me, with so little declination that you can just ignore it most of the time.
Sabine Katsavrias: All compass needles point to magnetic North which is usually (depending on where you live) not the same direction as "Grid / Map North". The location of Magnetic North moves slightly over time and is currently in the far North of Canada. See link below for more Info.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Magnetic_Pole
Decent information but tossing tools around loses me entirely. Respect the tools.
Wait!!>?? WHAT??? The 405 goes EVERYWHERE! This is so dumb
???
Ma head is busting.
Time to let 2nd Lt. out
??? I bet there's a good joke in there but I'm not catching it :(
Sorry a pet peave.... Damping is the suppression of movement. Dampening is to bring moisture into a item. We damp the needles movement with oil or magnets.
Welcome, pedants. I do love getting terminology right, and this is a totally new one to me. Definitely heard it wrong from people in related industries, "dampen the movement..." etc.
Will try to remember, but that's deep set, will take some effort to try to get it right.
@@StevenHoober Language is a critical tool and must be used skillfully to be effective - just like a compass. Seems wrong to call Victor Coots a "pedant" just because he offers a helpful correction.
@@petehealy9819 In the subset of tech/nerd culture I am in at least, it's not negative. Used to indicate serious (but like much nerd stuff, verging on too much) attention to detail, esp for language. Somewhat replaced things like "grammar nazi" because now there are real nazi about again, that's no fun anymore.
If that's not universally acknowledged, or it's regionally different: sorry everyone.
This came across my news feed, using it the way I described. Thought of the conversation: www.theguardian.com/education/shortcuts/2019/dec/02/the-pedants-pedant-why-the-apostrophe-protection-society-has-closed-in-disgust?CMP=fb_gu&Social&Facebook#Echobox=1575301532 FWIW.
When you have toooooooo much money 🤑💰
self-analysis
a little goofy with the written info, but good info and helpful
Miles’s more accurate
Mils?
Not necessarily. There are more, but you can do fractional or decimal degrees. I've seen angular measuring devices with those graduated even. Surveying uses degrees IME, just to very small decimal values.
The flip side is: they can be too much so people get caught up in needless precision, or can't decide which number to choose, etc. Seen people argue that degrees are better for land nav.
But generally, at least in the US military: mils are preferred for things like artillery to have a non-decimal additional level of precision (not accuracy... look it up) and degrees are for all general uses.
Yes Mil’s
espanol en la pajina general ok gracias
You shortlist a compass in mils? Hahahahahahaha.
I like mils. Makes no less sense than degrees, and you don't have to use decimals when getting super precise.
@@StevenHoober If you're not landing artillery shells then there's no need to be "super precise". Aircraft and ships navigate perfectly well over huge distances without using mils. They work but are just pointless in any normal situation especially when communicating information to 95% of people who will work in degrees.
Right off the bat throwing delicate equipment, carelessly slamming it on your table raises a great big question about your credibility. Maybe that is all some people can afford. Why do you need to become a clown rather than being serious about your subject? I will watch the rest of the video if it continues in a more serious vein. At this point it is highly questionable.
Asked and answered. They are all field compasses, which arrive not in storage cases, and are stuck in pockets, hung from lanyards, rained on. And it's not a sidewalk or ship's deck. The big black grid is a rubber mat, as well.
This is not abuse and any compass that can't deal with the handling shown is not suitable for their intended use.
When you say graduations, I think you mean to say gradations.
Per dictionary definition just to start, graduation #2) the action of dividing into degrees or other proportionate divisions on a graduated scale.
Gradation is "a stage or change in a series of successive levels" or so on.
I meant was is indeed called the "graduation ring" or similar items, where the tick marks indicating angular or distance measure are located.
trust the military to complicate it ....
It’s a compass, any average compass will do
Often: no. Entirely aside from getting the one that works the way you do, cheap compasses often do not point north reliably. Seen it, several times, lately. Get good compasses.
A magnetic pointer resting on a needle, there is not much to mess up on a compass. Unless the package around interacts with the magnetic field but I don't expect much impact from a simple plastic enclosure.
I was more thinking of the USGI compass that clearly stands out as a historical before closed plastic housings and stainless steel mirrors model. Even that kludge can do its work and it's maybe better for an artillery observer.
The needles can be improperly magnetized, and not point north. Alignment of the field matters. The bearings can be bad, so cause the needle to hang up, and appear to point north but not do so, and do it inconsistently. The capsule can drag on the needle, especially if in the wrong region, but just because of bad design. Dampening methods, magnetic or fluid, can be poorly matched to the capsule or needle and cause it to overdampen (stopping the needle incorrectly much like bearing drag) or underdampen and the needle never settles.
And more. Many, many ways to mess up precision instruments. You don't have to spend a lot of money, but you must get a good compass or you will get lost. We see bad compasses in our classes, enough we look at everyone's compass before going out to exercises, and loan out better ones so they don't get lost.
BOARD
Wow you fidget too much. Very distracting!
uuugg.. the paper stuff was just too annoying to watch. Distracting and so unnecessary. All it did was cause breaks in continuity.
Were not stupid. Just say it.
I enjoyed the paper, I am a very visual learner and this helped me.
@@kylescott3508 same here.
Yeah i liked the paper dealies also!
The speaker or the video maker has no manner. We should keep and use every instruments ina good condition. But the video maker does not follow this rule. He looks like irritated to make this video.
Not at all sure I follow the problem. All my stuff works, and I'm always happy to talk, share, etc.
Useless information!
Not really. I'm new to compass everything and this really was a great video for newbies.
CELEBRITIES CAN STOP MAKING THEIR BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS AND JUST F@CKING LEAVE!!!