User Review: Brunton 54LU

Brunton 54LU
Above: The current 54LU, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed August 11, 2006 by Eric Levine

Rating:
Price Paid: $60

I'd say the best compass I've owned by far, and that includes the really fine Suunto KB-14. For dependable extreme accuracy, a true sighting compass is the way to go, but they all require a fancy protractor to maintain that accuracy with a map. The 54, (really a Silva 54) is the one exception I know of. Don't let the $12 baseplate look fool you. This is built to quality standards.

It's also very light, weighing in at 1.3 oz. without lanyard.

The downsides are:
1. Expensive.
2. Not enough U.S. new scales, such as national geographic topos 1/40,000.
3. A fair amount of the inner direction lines are covered up by the large white center circle and the prism assembly (minor point).
4. No declination -- not as big a challenge as you'd think; out west just remember First Man Adam (Field to Map, Add).
5. While the sighting has one degree markings and is accurate to a half degree, the map protractor has the older 2 degree markings instead of the newest magnified 1 degree gold standard. I doubt one could plot a half degree in the field with a short base compass anyway.