Silva Compass Expedition 54

This is a quality compass, well made, and offers unique useful features Fast easy sighting on a baseplate compass.

Best compass on the planet. I use it for SAR here in Colorado and also for backcountry route finding in mountainous terrain. The optical window is hands down the best method out there.

I was so excited to find this compass with a prismatic sighting - being a big fan of Silva thumb compasses which are flawless. I waited in anticipation for days for it to arrive from overseas. At last... an all in one orienteering baseplate compass!!I was crushed to find it does not settle well. And when you rotate the bezel the needle moves with it, so that you have to tap/jiggle/wag it around to get it to resettle. And who knows if it has settled accurately. (Insert row of sad face/frowny face/thumbs down emotions here.)The prismatic sighting is easy to read even without having to don my reading glasses - one of the reasons I got so excited about the compass. I also like the fact that it is a rotating plate, (common in sighting compasses) so you are always easily oriented to E/W quadrants and the chance of 180 errors are less. But there again, is it accurate?At this price? Really Silva?While we're on the subject - note to Silva... How about taking the S thumb compass, adding 1:24000 scale markers/notches at 500m intervals to the direction edge, add a bezel outside the Spectra ring for azimuth readings, and if you can do it without compromising settling, add the prismatic sighting. That would be the perfect compass!!!Update: I discovered why this would not settle properly. There are glow in the dark markers inside the compass. One has detached itself and floats around in the fluid inside the housing, jamming up the works. At least now that I have identified the cause, I can tilt and turn the compass to get it out of way so I can get a reliable bearing. But this flaw in still unacceptable for a compass in this price range!

High quality compass and extremely accurate. This is one of the best compasses I have every used for land navigation in hiking and canoeing.

Best compass I have ever used! It makes land navigation and map reading quick and easy!

Review of Silva Expedition 54 prismatic compass... by woh.This review is on the E54 non-military compass, with degrees, not mils. Iis a baseplate compass with a 120mm x 55mm baseplate, and is similar in construction to most other baseplate compasses. It has, in addition, from E to W on the bezel, a sighting lens and a prism system that enables the user to see a compass rose on the edge of the compass needle plate, accurate to 0.5˚ (according to Silva) superimposed on the scenery beyond. This gives huge ease of operation. To demonstrate this, I will go through the typical steps in setting an aizmuth from a map and “shooting a bearing” with the compass. (Note: “bearing” and “azimuth” are the same thing).On a grid map, mark your starting position (A) and your destination (B).Place the long edge of the compass along the A-B line, with the destination arrow pointing towards B. This is found at the non-compass end of the baseplate. Turn the compass bezel so that the N on the bezel points to N on the map. There are usually N-S markings on the bottom of the compass to line up with the map grid lines to achieve this.Read the number of degrees on the bezel. Let’s say it’s 060˚. This is 060˚ T (for “true”). This is your azimuth or bearing in True degrees.Correct for magnetic declination, (MD). In my location this is 8˚ East.To find the magnetic azimuth on the compass that corresponds to true azimuth on the map, you SUBTRACT the MD from the true azimuth. So, the magnetic azimuth is 060˚T - 8˚ = 052˚M (for “magnetic”). (If MD is west, do the opposite)This means that 052˚ M on the compass is in exactly the same direction as 060˚ T on the map, so you can now use the compass to find your map direction.Then you point the direction of travel arrow away from you.Stand up, look down on the compass, hold it still, and rotate yourself holding the compass until the red compass needle (North) sits over the orientation arrow, the so-called “put red in the shed”.Now the compass direction of travel arrow is pointing at your destination.You look in that direction to find a landmark, such as a tree, rocky outcrop, etc. This is best done by holding the compass at arm’s length at eye level to better line up a feature. The problem is that you can’t see your target and the compass needle at the same time. Its a bit of guesswork now, and your accuracy drops considerably.So far this is a standard procedure for all baseplate compasses, including mirror compasses.This is where the Silva expedition 54 shines. No more “Red in the shed”!You hold the E54 compass up to your eye, look through the sighting lens, and turn until you see 052˚ M and at the same time above this reading you can also see the features in that direction, to which you are going to travel.Done. It is easier than using a mirror compass that lets you see the compass needle and the view in front of you at the same time. In fact, from start to finish, this exercise with the Silva E54 doesn’t require you to put “Red in the shed” at all!(The only time you need to put “Red in the shed” is to orientate a map.) For most uses, you don’t even need the compass needle, just the compass rose on the needle plate viewed with the lens/prism system.The Silva E54 also shows your back azimuth through the sighting system, used when triangulating to find your location.Taking a compass bearing on a feature (tree, etc) is just a matter of sighting it while looking through the lens, and reading off the azimuth from the scale seen below the feature, to 1˚ accuracy. This is the bearing in degrees magnetic. (No Red in the Shed needed).To transfer this to the map, you ADD the MD to the magnetic azimuth to get the true azimuth that corresponds exactly to the magnetic azimuth. (If MD is west, do the opposite).The compass needle and attached rose is very stable, fast settling, and by the time you put the compass up to your eye, the needle and lens azimuth reading are rock solid with no wobble or shake at all.The baseplate has scales of 1:25000, 1:40000 and 1:50000. There is a 100mm ruler on one edge. It has three non-slip feet for gripping the map, and a magnifying glass for reading small detail. A lanyard is providedand it has luminous markings for night use, and comes with a five year warranty.I would recommend this compass without reservation. It is more expensive than most other compasses, but in the long term, definitely worth it for its accuracy, stability and ease of use.Make sure that any compass you buy is configured for your hemisphere. For southern hemisphere it should be “MS” and for northern hemisphere should be “MN”. I was caught with a Suunto M9 compass, a MN model, that, in the southern hemisphere, was useless, with a stuck compass card. Other reviewers complaining about sticking compass needles probably have the wrong hemisphere model.--ooOoo--

I have an earlier model of this, with the magnifying glass and the sighting bubble you can't quite see in the picture of the compass by itself. As others have said, that sighting bubble makes it better than any other sighting compass on the market, and bearings to half a degree are quick and easy to take. I've bought another one as a sort of insurance, which hasn't arrived yet.So, yes, I would recommend this to others, and I would (did) buy it again!