I got a reply from the VP of sales who generally described the advantages of the compass compared to their 3H lensatic military compass. I'm not sure what the designers were thinking." The whole point after all of a protractor compass, is to eliminate the need for a separate protractor for taking bearings off the map. The dial typically has the degree marks and the North arrow floats by itself. This is because you can't see through the dial with reference lines to orient the bezel to north on the map. You can't take a bearing off the map which is what a baseplate compass was designed for. I thought it was going to be like a baseplate compass only with your quality components. You can't use it as a protractor anymore so that you can use the 3H (lensatic) as a protractor. "Having finally got the compasses protractor d3-t I have to say I'm little disappointed with the design. I brought this to their attention in an email as follows: When I got it I was very disappointed to realize that simple design flaws (in my opinion) prevented it from working as an effective baseplate compass at all. I acquired a D3-T when they first came out because I was excited for a quality induction dampened tritium lot baseplate compass of Cammenga quality. I haven't seen the Cammenga DT-3 that you mention (it must be new), but it looks like a fine instrument. There are two Suunto sighting compasses in my field packs, and these would serve just dandy also. When the compass is going to be used in conjunction with a map, I tend to reach for my old Silva Ranger baseplate most often. I own the Cammenga Model 27, a variety of other lensatic (lens on the rear sight) or surveyor compasses, and a host of baseplate compasses. When things were all said and done, most of my scouts could pick up either the lensatic or baseplate (with map) and get where they wanted go. In fact, even some of the dads saw how simple it could be and decided to join their sons on the orienteering course. A couple of decades later, when I was teaching land navigation skills to young scouts, they learned the basics MUCH faster when using the simple, inexpensive baseplate compasses. Looking back on things, I know they were right. We were told that once we "learned to proficiently use the baseplate compass, we would move on to the lensatic." Apparently, they were having problems getting new cadets to properly understand and use the lensatic and, thought the "basics" could be better taught on the baseplate.especially when maps were involved. I remember asking the land nav course instructors why we were not issued the lensatic compass, but rather the Silva baseplate compass. In later years, Cammenga got the military contract away from Stocker & Yale, but it is virtually the same compass in use and detail. Just a couple of observations from my lookout: When I was a young military cadet in land navigation training (we did orienteering, too), I assumed we would be issued the usual military compass - the Stocker & Yale lensatic compass at the time. Click to expand.GreyOne is spot on, IMO, so I won't cover ground that has been gone over so well.
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