SVBONY Camping Military Compass Pocket Transit Multifunction Compass Lensatic Sighting Fluorescent Waterproof for Hunting Hiking with Strap

These compasses are very inexpensive versions of the Brunton Compass. The VITE Compasses are durable plastic rather than machined aluminum as in the Brunton. The Brunton compasses are a professionals dream, I have had one for over 40 years, and it works today as well as it did for me 40 years ago. How many hikers or recreationalists need that level of compass. Brunton's don't fail, you lose them (Ok, one friend dropped his over a cliff, we never found it). I have had many colleges manage to lose two or three over their professional life time. I expect to have these VITA compasses to have pretty much the same use vs. loss ratio. I am very pleased with the two I bought and will by several more for my grand nieces and nephews for their hikes.

I really like this compass. It has an induction dampened needle and settles down very quickly.The build quality is excellent and the dial cover is made from glass and not plastic.It is a very good compass for the price.I used it for helping to check a property line and it is very accurate as long as you are careful to stay far away from large ferrous masses like cars, trucks and tractors.Such a compass requires good near vision and in some cases, I had to snap a photo of the dial to be able to read it closely. For accuracy, a still mounting is required. I modified a cheap camera tripod by removing the steel parts and substituting brass, as the steel in the tripod can give huge errors.

All the adjustments appear to function OK. The body appears/feels to be of high impact plastic and the glass lens appears to be removable by removing the circular metal ring on top of the lens.Con, the solid appearing brass pin attaching the arm to the body of the compass will walk/move from its centered ideal position. I used a automatic punch on both ends of the pin to widen the ends to prevent/minimize the walk. The tool used was a Sterrett 18AA auto center punch and a solid surface to rest against.

Compass has just arrived, solidly packaged and safe in a layer of bubble wrap.I thought at first it was off from being true to magnetic, until I noticed that the "S" side of the needle touched the degree rim, causing it to stick. This problem is asymmetrical, and goes away when I rotate the compass ninety degrees.Have not yet performed a field test to see whether this will be a major inconvenience, nor attempted to disassemble and repair this problem. As it stands, it looks like this will interfere with any kind of viewfinding with the compass, a necessary task to orient with a map.Otherwise, seems sturdy, about one third the price of the geographical compass of which it is a copy.

Great inexpensive copy of a mil Brunton. Only complaint is needle deviates wildly when aligned with sight arm. Otherwise a great indicator of magnetic north. Damper and sight transit level work well, scales as well. Take your bearing first, then sight and you'll be ok with this. I have two old Bruntons....one 360 and one in mils....I hate carrying them as they are treasured mementos of the past....this is an ok substitute within it's limits.I know how to use it....and I recognize it's slight shortcomings so I can use it wit a high degree of confidence....far more confidence than a $20.00 plastic cheapie or brass pocket compass. For the price I say YES. Just look at it and learn it

The best feature is the adjustable declination to correct for magnetic vs. geodesic north. In our area it's 15 degrees, and that makes ordinary magnetic compasses almost useless. Rather than pay $300+, I bought this one. It is so accurate for following property lines through the woods, that I bought two more.

It seems to be a decent Chinese copy of a Brunton Pocket Transit...which usually costs over $400. The included instruction manual seems to be copied directly from a Brunton manual. They even forgot to change the word Brunton to Svbony in at least 1 place. You can get a better instruction manual from the Brunton web site. The manual describes being able to measure inclinations in slope %, but this instrument does not have the scales for that...it reads inclination only in degrees. For such a bargain price, I am very happy with this instrument.

The instructions were in Chinese, but there are plenty of other places to figure out how to use a compass. The biggest issues are that the needle shakes a bit too easily (according to your own steadiness) and that the brake can shift the needle a bit when activated. Other than that, it's a pretty good piece of equipment.