Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Excellent dry lensatic compass. This is an excellent unit if you know how and why it is used. This is the civilian-issued version of the US military M-1950 3H field compass (MIL-PRF-10436N). Cammenga runs each batch of these through rigorous testing to conform with military specifications (including shock resistance and magnetic accuracy). The compass is identical to military issued models. The company who makes the compass, Cammenga, was started in 1992 to primarily manufacture the model 3H compass for the US military. I love having both degree and mil scales. Build quality is very good (gotta love aluminum). I love having the tritium- it's not mega bright but is sufficient and is necessary if you're navigating at night. The unit I got is marked with 3H (for tritium) on the bottom. It does not have the radiation marker that you often see with tritium compasses. Ignore any reviews where people are claiming they were made in 1977. On these compasses, you can find the manufacture date and lot number inside the compass next to the site wire in the format ## ## ## (Printed in black). My compass is marked "14 09 77". This means it was manufactured September (09) 2014 (14). The last two numbers indicate the lot number; however, the "77" is a generic number that means the unit was NOT made under government contract. I was glad the seller sent me a newly manufactured version (considering tritium is only good for 10-12 years). I docked a star because the site wire is slightly crooked (which does affect siting efficiency). The rotating bezel is a bit flimsy/loose and doesn't click (it does stay in place well enough though). the included pouch is pretty ugly and awkward (it is military issue as well though). The design of this compass does make it difficult to align the bezel properly due to parallax (especially if you are facing south). Also, there is only a 1:50k scale, so if you're in the US and still stuck with 1:24k scale topo maps, you'll need to have an additional aid/scale to get UTM grid coordinates. If you're cheap like me, you can put some waterproof tape along the straight edge and make your own marks for 1:24k scale. Oh yeah. There is also a 1 year warranty by Cammenga. Cammenga is very easy to get a hold of and answer questions via phone. They actually have a compass rental program for Boy Scout groups (and other youth groups). You have to call to get the details of what they offer. I think they would rent out their baseplate compasses for $15, with the option to purchase the compasses if you wanted to keep them for your Boy Scout troop.