Lensatic vs base plate what do you use??

[JoeH]

I'm looking for spending on a good compass for bushwacking have used both before but what do you guys think?

What do you use, weight does not matter I would need a sighting mirror for a baseplate

[NY HIKER 50]

this looks like a good one:

		Silva Trekker Type 20 Compass I have this one since I was an AT monitor and had to be in the woods off trail Silva Ranger 515 Compass hope this helps. The lensatic can be used but if you are using maps the other two would be better.

[jefals]

I don't have a lot of hiking experience yet, but I've been doing a lot of studying on this subject, reading and watching lots of youtubes on this. And although I tend to like lensactic, imo the consensus for hiking seems to be baseplate. A good lensatic, I think is going to be more expensive, and will weigh more. Plus I guess it's less hassle not dealing with the components of the lensatic (lens, cover, sighting wire) everytime you want to use it.

But whichever you choose, it's not a bad idea to be sure and get one with a declination adjustment.

[Another Kevin]

I'd say that about a third of my hikes involve at least some bushwhacking. i use a Brunton OSS 50M on most trips. It was inexpensive (about $40), has a mirror sight, adjustable declination, a clinometer that reads out in both degrees and per cent (with overlapping scales that you can use as a tangent table), and a clear baseplate (handy for marking up a map). It meets essentially all of my needs.

A lensatic is considerably less useful for bushwhacking, in my arrogant opinion. It gives a more accurate reading (not terribly important on a bushwhack, where if you're sensible you're "aiming off" by more than your compass error anyway). But you wind up needing a separate protractor and square, or planetable, or something to transfer the lensatic reading to a map, rather than simply using the ruler on the compass baseplate.

[Wise Old Owl]

These thread used to go for at least 75 posts with 400 views.

[Sailing_Faith]

These thread used to go for at least 75 posts with 400 views.

Yea, but the view count may still be high just because folks have no idea what the thread is about.....

[Dogwood]

I would like to know why you think "you need" a sighting mirror. I know why I might want one on a compass on occasion. Sorry if I'm not being helpful and I'm answering a question with a question but I do much bushwacking in the states and have never felt the "need" to have a sighting mirror. I'm asking not out of challenging your thought but just as I may be ignorant about why one feels a sighting mirror to be a "need"

[Feral Bill]

For taking bearings, I like an optical sighting compass. Suunto makes one for fairly cheap. I find it very easy to use.

[rickb]

For taking bearings, I like an optical sighting compass. Suunto makes one for fairly cheap. I find it very easy to use.

But you are from Washington State. Can you imagine ever needing a sighting mirror in the East?

[Feral Bill]

But you are from Washington State. Can you imagine ever needing a sighting mirror in the East?

Not really. Not for hiking.

[garlic08]

Yes, this is getting in to the arcane for the GPS and smartphone generation.

I carried a lensatic compass when I was a wildland firefighter (and used to train for better than 2 degree accuracy), but never for recreational hiking. I never felt I needed that kind of accuracy on or off trail, and when I hiked the CDT and PNT there was plenty of off-trail hiking. Same with the PCT in the Sierra snowpack. My cheap Silva has worked fine for decades.

AK voiced my opinion and mentioned a great tool for bushwhacking, the intentional offset. For me, five degree accuracy is fine, if coupled with decent map-reading skills, hiking and climbing skills, awareness, and experience.

[jeffmeh]

My compass is ancient, but if buying today I would go for the Suunto M3G, at 1.6 oz. The global needle feature makes it easy to use when hiking, as it does not need to be level to be true. And you can take it hiking in New Zealand. http://www.amazon.com/Suunto-SS01489.../dp/B000FEXZHQ

[MuddyWaters]

The problem with bushwacking in the eastern forest, is you cant see any landmarks to point a compass at, nothing but trees that engulf you.

All you can do is navigate by dead reckoning, which is nearly impossible given the constant obstacles.

[jeffmeh]

The problem with bushwacking in the eastern forest, is you cant see any landmarks to point a compass at, nothing but trees that engulf you.



All you can do is navigate by dead reckoning, which is nearly impossible given the constant obstacles.

It can indeed be challenging. You can try to spot the farthest distinctive tree on the bearing, go to it, and repeat, which may or may not be more accurate than a dead reckoning, depending upon the skill of the practitioner.

[Major Bawls]

I purchased a Konus Konustar about 20 years ago after contemplating life in unfriendly places. Heavy to be sure...but I wasn't exactly hiking...and accurate. A professional compass made to last.

[JoeH]

I'm not talking following a trail, I can use a compass just trying to perfect the skill.

I like the mirror baseplate more because it's more accurate at taking a bearing (view object and bearing at same time). But also hygiene (it's a mirror no weight penalty), used for signaling, allows you to use "cotangent tables"(distance), and reciprocal scale (location on map).

Plane baseplate compass I fell is far to inaccurate to just bushwack with. Just slight inaccuracies can have you far off.

[Another Kevin]

Plane baseplate compass I fell is far to inaccurate to just bushwack with. Just slight inaccuracies can have you far off.

Are we talking about bushwhacking in the East here? The only way you're going to have long lines of sight in the East is from a mountain top or cliff edge, or from a shoreline. (In either case, if you have a decent map and some situational awareness, there are much easier ways to determine where you are!) I don't think I've ever done a sight resection on a real bushwhack in the East - only ones in training classes (that I've learnt in or taught). On a short sight line, you're not going to be very far off even with a pretty substantial error.

In dense woods, which is mostly what we have here, you're sighting at the farthest tree or rock that you can see that's close to your intended direction of travel, and making for it. You're doing that over and over again, and intentionally aiming off from your intended direction. You control your travel with "handrails" - streams, ridges, cliffs, stone walls, park boundaries (marked with survey blazees!), fence lines, roads, trails - that your course will intersect. By aiming off, when you reach your handrail, you know which direction to turn. If you carry an altimeter - I do - you also have the advantage that every contour line on the map is a potential handrail.

Much more important that a precise sight is the ability to read maps and orthophotos and match them to what you see on the ground - and the situation awareness to keep your thumb on the map and know roughly where you are and where you're heading.. "I'm at 3250 feet, and I've come to a stream that flows roughly northwest" can give you a near-perfect fix. (And in fact, that came to mind because I used just such a fix on my last 'whack to as an attack point for an archaeologic site that I was aiming for, and that's tricky to find.)

Also, a lot of my bushwhacks are peak-bagging expeditions, and you need to worry about orienteering chiefly on the return trip. Finding the way to the summit is easy. It's up.

My chief reason for wanting a mirror sight is that I can dial in my intended heading, and then use the mirror to sight it with the compass at eye level. I can also hold the compass out farther from me than I could with a simple baseplate model, and hopefully be able to see well enough to center the needle. This can be a challenge, ever since my doctor inflicted trifocals on me.

[jeffmeh]

QUOTE=JoeH;1816771]

Plane baseplate compass I fell is far to inaccurate to just bushwack with. Just slight inaccuracies can have you far off.[/QUOTE]

Then I should be playing the lottery, as should quite a few of my comrades, who have successfully navigated some pretty challenging orienteering courses, with major obstacles including impenetrable thickets, swamps, and ponds, with a baseplate compass. We must have been very lucky.

Random error tends to cancel out over many sight bearings, and the occasional landmark you can determine from a map puts you back on course.

But by all means, BYOC (buy your own compass).

[JoeH]

ha lol dam Dr's, I was getting a little ahead of my self. This is one skill I'm trying to learn more about and not be reliant of gps or use one. I have to carry a altimeter that would help a lot (which one do you use?).

I just have to get back into the woods, I do to much dam reading on different skills and I get crazy lol. I have a new job so hopefully when things calm down i can get out. thanks

[MuddyWaters]

Plane baseplate compass I fell is far to inaccurate to just bushwack with. Just slight inaccuracies can have you far off.

2 degree error is 184' @ 1 mile.
You are allowed to take a bearing more than once as well.
Ive found a normal baseplate compass plenty accurate in shooting bearings to determining position on maps out west, even with all the inherent errors in facing the landmark, and plotting on map.

A lensatic is accurate for taking bearings, but doesnt mate up with a map, thats why they make the baseplate.