Trimble RS8 rover and modot satellites.

?????? Broomchaser

Life expectancy in combat for an new officer in Nam was measured in minutes.

For quick sighting and general directions Silva Ranger. For better accuracy such as running a property line I use the Suunto. Boy autocorrect didn’t like that word.

Which model Suunto OKforester

Suunto KB-14 Azimuth. I learned how to use the one without declination adjustment and although I’ve tried the models with declination adjustment I still prefer the model without.
When I first started trying to run lines in the early ‘90s I was using topo maps from ‘71 I believe and they had 7 degrees declination printed on the map. I kept missing my corners to the left every time. Figured out I was running too much declination. I should have taken a shot on the North Star like the old time surveyors did but instead I took a bearing on a road going down a north/south township line where I could see for several miles. The declination turned out to be about 5 degrees. I went back to the same spot about 6 months ago and got a declination about 3 degrees. It probably sounds a little cheesy to some but I hope one day I get to run a line with my old Suunto and don’t have to adjust for declination.

Man that seems like a HUGE variation in declination in a very short time !

We have 2° east declination here.....

I just looked it up and according to NOAA our declination is decreasing 6 min/year. Interesting enough I can take two Suunto compasses of the same model and take a bearing on my township road and get slightly different readings. Maybe as much as 1/4 degree difference.

1° 34' E ± 0° 21' changing by 0° 6' W per year (I think has changed faster than that in the past.)

Long long time since I studied compass, but it seems to me that the map and compass could be rotated to bring them into alignment and bearings to your next point then read directly from the compass; or did I imagine that?

But if I understand you correctly....if declination is changing ( at your location) by 6 minutes per year....how the heck does one get a 2 DEGREE change in 6 months ??

I was watching g a YouTube video about the collision of the Mir space station that happened several years ago. The collision sent the space station into an uncontrolled spin through space. An American astronaught used an old fashioned sextant to take reading of stars to fix their position and figured out what thrusters to fire to stop the spin. That is impressive navigationAL ability.

I've a few. My favorite is the boy scout compass that I got for Christmas 60 years ago.
just

Boy scouts is where I first learned orienteering. Coon hunting on dark nights without moon or stars can get turned around easy. I don't care how good your internal compass is. When the dogs got treed I took a look at my compass while at the pickup if I was headed into a big thick patch of timber with a lot of hills and creek bottoms. Was no problem then to walk right back to the pickup. When you have a couple hounds on one lead, a rifle, and a dead coon or three with only two hands, walking right back to the pickup is pretty nice. Trying to find the right softball size rock with a map and compass like scout competitions isn't something I ever need to do in the real world. Have used a compass and gazetteer to find terrain features that looked promising but pin point accuracy wasn't necessary. Pickup I have now has an overhead directional readout built in. Still keep a compass in the glovebox. Its a replica of current military issue. I could still find multiple waypoints and the softball size rock but never need to now. don't often need a compass but when you do its like a box of matches. Your awful glad you have it.

Thanks Okforester

This company is amazing in both quality and customer service. They'll put grid squares and MGRS marks on any map at your request. Will also allow you to customize to use a protractor with your compass/GPS.

The silver one?

Lol...yeah that would be a pretty big jump. What I was trying to get across was the first time I checked the declination was in the ‘90s and it was 5 degrees. Then about 6 months ago I shot a bearing down the same township line and it was 3 degrees.

Marble