User Review: Brunton 9020G

Brunton 9020G
Above: The current 9020G, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed December 3, 2004 by Wilson

Rating:
Price Paid: $20

This compass was one of the first purchases I made when beginning to hike the wilderness. It is a simple compass with a small baseplate. The optic green/yellow baseplate is supposed to assist in legibility reading when placed over a map, this is something you'll either love, or hate.

The biggest problem with the 9020 is the method of adjusting declination. Rather than move the bottom of the compass dial through a small screw/worm drive as with Silva/Suunto compasses, the Brunton uses a simple friction adjustment and the orienting lines also move with the declination change. This means the compass cannot function as a protractor unless declination is readjusted back to zero, a needless complication. For those using a compass in low light this model is not the best, as the degrees/numbers are not printed on luminous material but simply printed onto sticky contact paper. The Brunton works acceptably, but I think there are better compasses out there for general wilderness use.