Reviews > Navigation and Map Gear > Compasses > Brunton 54LU Compass > Owner Review by Gail Staisil

 

Most of my backpacking trips were taken either in the state of Michigan, USA or in Ontario, Canada. I have also used this compass on many hiking trips to Arizona and Utah. The terrain varied from hilly boreal and deciduous forest to high desert and canyon country.  Elevations ranged from 600 ft (183m) to 9100 ft (2774 m ) and temperatures ranged from a low of -20F (-29C)  to a high of nearly 100 F (38 C).

During the course of most backpacking trips I use the 54LU Compass frequently. I mostly use the compass to figure azimuths or direction of travel in two different ways:

1. ) Baseplate Mode

In the first method I line up one of the the long straight edges of the baseplate to connect the point that I am currently at on the map (Point A) to the point where I want to travel to on the map (Point B). I make sure that the arrow on the baseplate of the compass is pointed towards the direction of intended travel. I rotate the compass housing so that the compass North-South lines are aligned with the North-South UTM lines on the map. The North marker on the compass dial should point to the magnetic North on the map. The compass does not feature a declination arrow so after reading the bearing I either add or subtract the declination to that number. For accuracy purposes declination has to be factored into the bearing because a compass will automatically point to the Magnetic North rather than True North. Because most of my travel is in the Upper Midwest most of my bearings have the declination number added. The true declination should also have the deviation from the UTM grid factored into the equation. I reset the bearing to accommodate the deviation from the UTM grid and I am ready to travel to my target. 

Although there are map scales on the compass I don't use them as I have a handy UTM grid plotter that was made by a friend. Instead I have taped the edge of the compass with athletic tape and marked it off in 100 meter increments (328 ft). It allows me to quickly measure the length of my travel from Point A to Point B on the map. In unremarkable terrain with few recognizable features I use pace beads to keep myself on track to the destination.


2.) Optical Sighting Mode:

In the second method I use the sighting mechanism on the compass housing to line up an azimuth if my vision of intended travel is not blocked. The later is often the case in areas where I travel so I often have to settle for intermediate objects to get myself to the target or destination. I bring the compass up close to my eye and look through the optical sighter at a distant object. It immediately rewards me with the azimuth in the number of degrees. All I have to do is rotate the dial to the set azimuth and then use it to follow the intended direction of travel. Upon arrival at that site I just look through the optical sighter to view my new azimuth and repeat. This of course is the easier method of using the compass but it only works well if I have a clear view ahead of me with a recognizable feature such as a small hill or dominating tree. This method is extremely precise with a  +/- 1/2 degree accuracy from the true course.

The optical sighting feature not only gives the correct azimuth in magnified numbers but it also gives the corresponding reciprocal or back bearing in smaller numbers. This is a handy feature if I lose track of where I am going and I need to check the back bearing for confirmation. For example I found this very handy one time when I was in a huge clearcut that was very confusing. I had actually been  hiking on a trail system in a state forest before I traveled into the middle of an enormous clearcut. Not knowing where the trail went from there I checked the back bearing of where I had emerged into the clearcut  to give me a reference point if I needed to get back to the trail that I came from. Instead I continued travel in the general direction the trail had been going and luckily didn't have to backtrack but at least I had a safe reference point. It has also been helpful in deep forest where I have accidentally lost sight of my next target so I used the back bearing as a reference point to re-find my intended target.


Additional Features:

There is a nice magnifier located on the baseplate that often comes in handy for viewing and enlarging map details. This is especially useful for viewing areas that have a lot of elevation changes or tightly packed lines that are hard to see with the naked eye. The diameter of the magnifier measures 0.88 in (2.24 cm) making it unnecessary for me to carry and use reading glasses.

Luminous points are located in three locations on the compass. They are located at the end of the floating red North arrow and the other two are located at each side of the corresponding orienting red arrow on the housing mechanism. They is especially useful for night navigation to box the arrow.

The two long edges of the baseplate also act as a ruler to quickly figure distances. For example one side of it has a two inch ruler on it. It can be used with many basic maps that I often find at many trailheads. For example the bar scale provided on the map might indicate that one inch equals two miles of travel. This makes it real reasy to convert distances on the map to actual ground distances. I can easily take the ruler on the baseplate and measure one inch on the map from my present location and it will show my intended location after two miles of hiking. The other long side of the baseplate also includes ruler measurements in millimeters.

For easier access I have altered the provided lanyard on the compass. Instead of the lanyard being tied in a single loop through the end of the compass I untied it to its full length and then tied a bowline in the unattached end of the lanyard. The other end was threaded through the drilled hole in the end of the compass and an overhand knot was tied to secure it. This allows me to keep the compass lashed to a chest pocket or map case and use it without untying it from its connection. It can easily be threaded through the loop on any of my backpacks, map cases or hydration packs without untying the bowline. 


Care:

I like to keep the 54LU stowed but accessible. This keeps the compass relatively clean and usually undamaged. Unfortunately a few years ago I had a slight mishap with the Brunton 54LU Compass. It was heavy black fly and mosquito season and I was using a lot of DEET. Although I stored my bottle of bug repellent in an extra plastic bag some of it leaked and unfortunately came in contact with the plastic of the compass. They had been both stowed in the same accessible pocket as I frequently needed both items. The small amount of repellent had adverse effects and caused some blurring of the plastic and the sighting mechanism. Although I have polished it as best as I could there is still some slight degradation of those surfaces. However it hasn't affected my overall ability to use the compass as the defect is mostly cosmetic. I learned a hard lesson with this experience and I'm super careful not to store my compass near the bug repellent or to even have bug dope on my hands if I am doing a lot of navigation. Of course this disaster wasn't any fault of the compass but of my carelessness with chemicals.

• Extremely accurate
• Sighting feature unique on baseplate compass
• Numbers are magnified on sighting feature
• Instant back bearing

• Sighting mechanism can become scratched or blurred if exposed to chemicals (duh!!)
  
• Expensive
  

Reviews > Navigation and Map Gear > Compasses > Brunton 54LU Compass > Owner Review by Gail Staisil