UKC

I'm after the following features:

- magnetic declination being able to be set
- no damned bubble forming when its cold and high (suunto seem to have this problem in some of theirs)
- inclinometer

And I'd like:

- an accßurate means to take bearings (a mirror and sight perhaps?)
- glow in the dark markings
- global usefulness (apparently some suunto can do this)
- scale on plate for measuring maps @ 1:50k and 25k


Undecided on whether to rule out electronic or not.

Any suggestions?

Silva expedition s looks good but not many reviews, and the suunto mc2 seems to form bubbles...

(Is bubbles a general suunto problem? I was extremely disappointed in my suunto recently while under time pressure to navigate in a white out.)

In reply to needvert:

i used to have a recta compass that was v similar to a silva 4, which had a clinometer. That's one out of three...

Never had one with adjustible declination. Like wild haggis I kind of know they exist, but I have never seen one in the wild.

In reply to davidbeynon:

Recta looks good, http://www.recta.ch/en/ds-50g would suit. But their manuals explicitly mention small bubbles being fine which doesn't bode well, I was using one of their matchbox compasses last week which had a bubble too. I wonder if its unrealistic to want no bubbles

Magnetic declination is just over one degree in the UK so likely most people would ignore it. Unfortunately other regions of the world have to deal with a value around 20 degrees.

In reply to needvert:

I think that in order to prevent bubbles they would need a flexible part that allows part of the chamber to implode slightly when the oil contracts in the cold. To me that seems like an obvious point of failure, so maybe it is just unfeasible.

In reply to needvert:

I got this one... its great and the big bezel means i can use it with big gloves on.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silva-30-0000035691-Compass-Expedition-compass/dp/B...

In reply to needvert:

The Silva expedition 4 is pretty much the standard choice. Comes with a normal or sighting bezel. I've always used the normal version and never had a bit of bother with it.

In reply to mp3ferret:

I have a Silva compass of undetermined model which looks pretty much like their Expedition 4 and I am unimpressed, frankly. I carried it about in my pack for a few years, without using it much, and hauled it out in the fog on Dartmoor a few months ago to find that the needle wandered about horribly - floating within a 40-degree arc as I walked along and pointing in the direction of gravity unless the compass was perfectly level.

At first, I thought this was due to iron-ore deposits on the surface but someone told me that those aren't really a problem on Dartmoor - certainly not significant enough to pull the needle all over the dial within a hundred metres or so.

My second theory was that it has lost its magnetism. Perhaps it has but I haven't exactly abused it or stored it in a box full of hard-drives or anything. What good is a hiking compass that is demagnetised by pots and karabiners?