Tag Archives | Orienteering

NavELite with HzO WaterBlock Technology

NavELite_HzO_3

NavELite has announced an agreement with HzO Inc. to provide their WaterBlock technology for use in the NavELite wrist compass. WaterBlock technology is a microscopic film that is applied to the internal electric components of the compass. WaterBlock technology allowed the NavELite to function after submersion and even during submersion. It adds no weight and does not change the functionality or appearance of the compass.

I recently had the chance to review the NavELite wrist compass and found it to be excellent. The addition of WaterBlock should make it even better.

Check out NavELite.com.

Tru-Nord Compass Face Redesign

Tru-Nord, makes the finest “button” compasses that I have ever used. They are rugged, reliable, and can be compensated for your area’s magnetic declination. Tru-Nord is introducing a new compass face design for 2013 (and going forward) that gives some more detail to the use. The original compass face offered only cardinal directions while the newly redesigned face has degrees marked in increments of 10.

Check out TruNord.com.

Tru-Nord Compass Redesign

Brunton 15TDCL – A Little Dissapointed

I recently bought a Brunton 15TDCL Compass based on online research. An old, beat up, second hand Silva Ranger was my first “good” compass as a boy and I loved it. I wish I knew where it was.

The compasses that are sold in the USA these days as Silva compasses are not true Swedish made Silvas at all. A company called Johnson Outdoors Inc owns the rights to the Silva name in the US. They sell compasses that are made in various Pacific countries that are branded with the Silva name. I have a couple of recent Silva products that work very well but they have a reputation for poor quality control so you might be rolling the dice when you purchase a Silva compass.

People in the know knew that if you wanted a real Silva Ranger, you could purchase a Brunton 15TDCL (AKA Elite 360 or Nexus Elite). The 15TDCL was the Swedish made Ranger type 15 compass, brought into the USA under the Brunton brand. I thought this was the case when I purchased a 15TDCL recently.

Sadly, it appears that now the 15TDCL is also not made in Sweden. My recent example states that the compass was made in China on the packaging. The older models used to state “Sweden” proudly right on the baseplate of the compass. Now they list no country of origin on the compass itself.

The good news is that the 15TDCL appears to be a decent compass in spite of the manufacturing change though it is definitely not the equal of my old Silva Ranger. If I were going to spend the money all over again, I would have just purchased another Suunto MC-2.

I hope to do a review of the 15TDCL and the EXCELLENT Suunto MC-2 Global in the future.

If you are looking for a quality compass that is not made in the Pacific somewhere you could choose a Suunto (Finland) or a Cammenga (USA).

wordpress hit<br /> counter

Free Map Tools at MapTools.com

Recently I found myself 2 days before a hike without a map ruler for 1:24000 scale maps. I didn’t know of any retailers locally that would have what I needed and I didn’t think that an online retailer would be able to get the ruler to me in time for the hike. Sure, I could get by by just using the scale on the map, but those are often scaled in miles and I prefer to have the option to measure things out in yards or meters if possible.

MapTools.com to the rescue! I was already on their site to order some other tools (which will be reviewed in an upcoming article) when I noticed that MapTools.com has a free download section. They have a ton of great tools in .PDF format that can be downloaded for free. I downloaded a 1:24K map ruler and had several printed on overhead transperancy sheets at a local office supply chain. You may also want to consider laminating your ruler since the printing may rub a bit under field conditions. The rulers worked perfectly and I was able to share some spares with others on the hike.

Check out the free tools here.

While you are there, check out their line of unique, very useful, and not free map tools.

wordpress hit counter

Powered by WordPress. Designed by Woo Themes