As I mentioned earlier, I am vastly over-compassed for purposes of letterboxing. I sent an email to the good folks at The Compass Store and asked for a reasonable successor to the orienteering compass I favored thirty years ago, a sighting compass made by Silva. At the time, the Silva was considered to be about the best there was. In order to get better you had to get a Brunton pocket transet, which was restrictively expensive even in that era.
In researching compasses online, however, I found that the current breed of Silvas are not well received by users. Though some orienteers still use sighting compasses of the traditional variety, thumb compasses have come to dominate that game as it has become more of a running game, and less of a hiking-in-the-country sort of game. Among those who do use sighting compasses, the Silvas are generally considered inferior, many recommending that you track down an older Silva, even from a few years past.
So I asked the Compass Store folks about a first-class sighting compass that would not cost me an arm and a leg, and a week later my Suunto arrived. It is art. Usable in both hemispheres, I can go letterboxing in New Zealand or Antarctica, I suppose, should I ever be so inclined. Naturally, the declination is manually adjustable, though, for purposes of letterboxing, magnetic direction is normally used.
I cannot wait to get lost with a good topigraphical map now!
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