Sighting Compass Mirror Adjustable Declination - Boy Scout Compass Survival Camping | Base Plate Compass Kids Navigation | Orienteering Compass Hiking Map Read Military Compass Backpacking Clinometers

This is a perfectly good $10 compass, accurate and better quality than most. I cannot understand why other reviewers complain about the declination adjustment, which is accomplished with a tiny screw on the bezel in the NE position, and a matching metal shim is provided that functions as a screwdriver. In my accompanying photo, the compass can be seen set for 14°W declination, which is correct for my area; that is, the red outline arrow (not the magnetic needle) Is aligned pointing to the 14°W position on the inner chapter. The declination adjustment screw is not a set-screw that is loosened to free something else, but is a worm screw that actually adjusts the declination: turning it one way moves the declination to the west while turning it the opposite way moves the declination to the east. Once set, the declination remains stable, which is what the vast majority of users want if they tend to stay in more or less the same area. Frankly, if you travel enough where you need to keep changing the declination, you should be spending a lot more than $10 on your compass. In normal use, the bezel is set to the desired bearing relative to true north, and the entire compass (and its user) are rotated to bring the red half of the magnetic needle into the red outline arrow, commonly described by the mnemonic "red in the shed." I didn't do that in the photo in order to give better visibility of the red outline arrow relative to the declination scale; in my photo, the bezel is set for a bearing of 130°, slightly east of southeast. The description is clearly wrong in that my compass has a 1:24,000 scale rather than 1:25,000 scale. Note that in the US it is far more useful to have a 1:24,000 scale to agree with the standard US Geological Survey 7.5-minute quad maps. The compass has an inclinometer, not mentioned anywhere in the description, but that's the tiny red arrow mounted on a freely rotating clear plastic wiper (pointing to SE in my photo), intended to point downward if the compass is held vertically and the baseplate edge is aligned with the horizon. One could in theory use it as a very crude sextant if truly desperate. You will definitely get your $10 worth.

As advertised

Doesn’t work. Absolute garbage.

My wife bought this gift, but due to covid restrictions, i got it after 1 year. The compass needle is not balanced and skewed to one side. I have to tilt the compass about 20 degrees to one side for the needle to work. Can anyone help me with this?

I've always used a Lansatic type Compass, since Boy Scouts and also in the service (USAF - Vietnam 70 -72), but I've always been curious about these "Sighting" type compasses. I still have my USAF Military Lansatic compass, I just bought a new one with more features, but I also bought this one to learn and experiment. I still do a fair amount of backpacking hunting trips (5 t0 7 days) into the wilderness, even at 73 years old, I plan to give this Sighting compass a comparative try. I really like the quality on build and the floating compass is very high quality, as is the mirror. So far I think it's more than worth the price as advertised.