I grew up flying, boating, snowmachining and hunting. All using dead reckoning with a compass. We use GPS now but you’d better believe we have our “analog” instruments ready for when the batteries die. I guess growing up in rural AK will do that for you.

Re: looking for a compass – a decent outdoor sports store, particularly one oriented toward backpacking, should have a good selection, and a clerk who knows what s/he is talking about. If you can find a “Recreational Equipment Incorporated” (REI) (“The Co-op”) store near you, that is a great place to go. But Bass Pro, Scheel’s, Cabella’s, etc. and a host of local backpacking shops will also have what you’re looking for.

Two other things — I didn’t mean to badmouth lensatic compasses, only cheap ones. A lensatic compass is fine, but IMO takes more skill to use well. And the good ones can run you a C-note. You get more bang for your buck with a protractor/baseplate design.

Second, I said that the compass should have a means of “adjusting” for declination. I should have said “compensating” rather than “adjusting.” I recently had a friend use a compass that had a scale on the bottom of the capsule, and you simply placed the North end of the compass over the appropriate mark rather than straight at the “N.” There’s no adjusting – just compensating. That does work. On the other hand, the compasses that have a means of actually adjusting and setting declination sure are convenient. That’s how it is with my Silva Ranger 15 CL. But, as I said, unless you’re using a compass professionally, the Silva Ranger is overkill. Not that I’ll ever part with mine…

Every article always has one guy add a comment that send me into action. Your comment is the one for the compass article.

I will get the baseplate/protractor compass. Not sure where but will look around. This article and your comment was helpful I know nothing about this but this may come in handy one day.