Suunto A-30 Compact Compass - Northern Hemisphere, Metric/Imperial Scale, Accurate for Hiking & Orienteering, Magnifying Lens & Luminescent Marking

Good compass. This is very much like the old Recta compasses, and of course Suunto bought Recta, but I wish they had kept an equivalent of the Recta DT200 which is just like this model but without the large magnifier, which I never use, and used the space for a 1:50000 romer and had a 1:25000 romer on the top and right hand edge of the baseplate instead. Romers are much more useful for UK OS maps than single scales.But it is what it is and if this is the arrangement you want, then it cannot be faulted - it works well, as it is supposed to, it is well made and 5 stars. A little stiff to move the capsule round, but that would be worth losing a half star for at most and I will give this compass the benefit of the doubt and keep the rating at 5 stars.Another peculiarity, at the time of writing, concerning this listing is that there are 2 versions - a USGS NH version for the northern hemisphere, and a metric version for the southern hemisphere. If like me you are in the northern hemisphere, which the UK is, of course, there will be a noticeable depression in the north end of the needle, meaning it points down, and needs the compass to tilt in order to move freely. It may be useful to have a choice but it would have been nice to have had the choice of a metric version for the Northern hemisphere, so buyers need to take care with the labelling - "SH means southern hemisphere and NH means northern hemisphere.

Nice little compass. Tolerant to sub-horizontal use and, when checked against another compass which has always been two degrees out (a Silva with mirror and clino, twice the price and itself compared to a number of others) proven accurate. The needle takes no longer to settle though, dampening from a larger swing, gives the appearance of taking longer. Markings are very clear and luminous parts are delightfully bright.Only gripe, and it's my own fault for not checking, is that baseplate scales are for miles at 1:50 k and 1:24k and inches, making two scales redundant and the third one I'm very unlikely to use. However, I can't blame the product for my being a sloppy shopper. As it happens, I only very rarely use the baseplates for measuring distance and can happily convert back anyway.All in all, I'm quite happy with this and look forward to getting slightly lost so it can prove its worth. Four stars because it'd have to be special for five, not to indicate any shortcoming as an item.

So far so good

Fully met my expectations. The dial is a little stiff, but oherwise excellent.

It has a printed declination scale with which one may manually allow for magnetic north not being at grid north, but doesn't have an adjustable scale ring for physically rotating the compass scale. However. with declination being just around 2 degrees in southern UK, one scale division on the bezel, one can often ignore this when on short walks. If you know you need that precision and also will use your compass frequently, then pay £10 more for the adjustable ring type.This is a good compass, with all the standard features one needs for taking and following bearings from a map.

Ordered took a week or so, to come from the States but worth it.Good solid bit of kit,even ordered the case to keep it in.Fits lovely in your pocket.The thing I like is you can set the compass variation and don't unless you go to a dirrent area need to compensate.

A good compass for every day map navigation

Good compass, except for the side scale1:50000 is fine, but 1:24000 is no good as most walking maps scales are 1:25000