I recently became interested in survival, bush craft, and map reading. I found your channel and love your teaching. You combine pictures, explain it on whiteboard, and demonstrate. The combination helps my old brain absorb it! I love love love you!!!! I am raising my deceased brother’s grandchildren. These two boys will know how to survive in a SHTF situation. I homeschool them as well. God, Country, Family, Friends and Community.
Mirror compasses work great with a bit of practice. In front of the mirror , is a small folded piece of paper for notes . A compass mirror works fine for signaling and checking ones' eyes for injury , foreign objects etc. Thank you for your most necessary and excellent video .
i have a truarc 15 and even after placing under a microscope,😅😅 there is no "indicator" mark near the mirror hinge point like the base compass you used in your demo. Im guessing the Brunton will require me to add/subtract 180 and read from the bearing under the green line?
Question: should I be worried about parallax errors due to bifocals, or in my case progressive lens eye glasses, when sighting distant features using my mirror compass? I have to move my head down to view features at a distance through the top of my lenses, then move my head up in order to clearly see the compass mirror reflection of the bezel through the lower part of my lenses. I do my best to keep the compass steady as I adjust, alternating between "far" and "near" views. I am also careful not to change the 45 degree angle of the mirror in relation to the base of the compass. Is this a valid concern? Perpetually parallax perplexed....
The most important useage of a sighting compass is to find your own position on a map by triangulation with two distinctive and known landscape features on that map, e.g. village churches. If you don't know where you are, you'll need a lot of luck to pick the right direction to get to your goal.
What is the reason for the crossing of the two lines in the mirror should be in the center of the compass needle? I am very curious because i like to purchase a new compass. I own a normal baseplate compass and a sighting compass Recta DP-6G, but the bessel of the recta DP-6G is very small, so i like to bye a compass with a bigger bessel. Probably a MC2.
The MC2 doesn’t have two lines - just a vertical one. The idea behind the two line cross is that when it is centred over the middle of the bezel you know there is no parallax errors when reading the bearing in the mirror. I think (but may be wrong) that only Silva have this system.
@@TheMapReadingCompany Thanks for your answer. I first have to look what compasses are available in my region. I just named the MC2 because that is one i regularly see on TH-cam . But my question is well answered, now i now what to look for.
The day before yesterday i had to replace my broken Recta DP-6G and i chose for the Suunto MC-2. Indeed, the MC-2 hasn't two lines, but i have made a little modification. I searched where te horizontal line shoud be, and marked the crossing with a little black dot. So now i can very accurately position the mirror to avoid parallax errors. I made different test and it function very well. My sightings are more accurate as before. Only one thing i don't understand why! The MC-2 is a high quality compass and not cheap, and then i see that the romerscale on 1:25000 isn't complete on the Y axle - the Northings. It goes only to 750 m in stead of 1 Km. From a expensive high quality compass id had expected better. But no problem, to determinate exact metric positions i fortunaly have another very interesting tool, a roomer with a rotating protractor. Like a baseplate compass without compass needle. It was a accessory of my first compass a BEZARD COMPAS. It is the most practical tool i ever had for working on the map.
I know what you mean about the MC2. I have pointed that out on my 3 minute review - I will be publishing these 31 videos (one each day) next month. But the main problem with the "roamer" on the MC2 is that it can't be used as a roamer, as it's printed upside down.
@@TheMapReadingCompany What do you mean with printed upside down? On my compass it seems completely normal. I see just the same printed romerscale as on my old recta baseplate compass and on all al of my other romers. I slide the romersccale horizontally over the X-axle until the Y axle (pointing up) touches to the measuring point. So i learned it 50 years ago and still use it the same way al those years. I see some people put the corner of the romerscale on the point they like to measure. The X-axle of the roomerscale points West and the Y-axle down. But that is in my opinion not the right way because so you can deviate from being parallel to the gridlines. I am looking forward to your announced new video’s. Always interesting
Thank you for your video! It seems, I have used the mirror not in the optimal way, as described here. By the way, my Recta DS 50 (now Suunto) does not have a horizontal line on the mirror, but I think, that this would not clear a parallaxis or anything like. One question, though: Your work with the compass in the chart presumes, that the chart is directed to north, otherwise the bearings being random. How to "north" a chart? With my compass, of course, and hereby I mangle grid north with magnetic north, i.e. align the grid north of the chart to the magnetic north of the compass. Should that not cancel out the declination for all bearings?
Very good Video about the😅😅 subject. But, an honest request to the SILVA company: 1. Please make it possible to fix the mirror at 45°. I own 6 mirror compasses from Silva, and all won't hold the position after some time. 2. No mirror compass from Silva kept its luminous markings on top of the cover after unboxing it. I bought a roll of cheap chinese luminous marking bands, cut a narrow slice off and glued it in the position. Now that marking is the stronges and longest glowing one on this compass.
I would like to add that if you do get lost and a search party is trying to find you, a mirror can save your life. The search party, in some cases, will be from chopper - looking down from the chopper into the wilderness is like looking for a needle in a haystack. If the Sun is shining you can reflect the Suns light at the chopper and this will alert your search party of your location.
Try walking out and attempting to do what he’s describing. It will make more sense when you’re holding the compass and trying to take bearings off actual objects. Good luck 👍
To go from the top of the hill to the bottom or bridge the compass needs to point in the direction of travel otherwise your going in the wrong direction it’s a step that needs mentioning or it will lead to errors. You do it in the video correctly but others might not spot it
Agreed, I’ve never used a sighting compass so I was a bit confused at first, mainly because on a normal baseplate compass the end with the romers on is the direction of travel, but on this compass the direction of travel is towards the hinged end so the index mark is at the opposite end of the bezel.
Great video. Shame about all of the whingers on it. This mirror compass seems a strange technology. Does the nirror not obscure what you're looking at? I understand how lens, prism, and flat compasses all work from yiur other videos so the mirror here seems superfluous
There is a hole at the bottom of the mirror to look through when you are holding the compass at eye level, which is the easiest way to sight in on your target. The top of the mirror tilts back toward your face so that you can actually see the compass and bezel when it is being held flat directly in front of your face. That way you can see your bearing on the bezel and make sure that your compass needle is inside the marks on the compass face. If you look at the thumbnail picture, you can see the hole at the bottom of the mirror and also how the compass would look if you were holding it flat at eye level.
I appreciate your knowledge of maps and compass. I fully understand how to use a compass, topo maps and grid readers and have been wilderness navigating for decades. But I fully disagree in principle you not orientating the map. I understand you don’t need to, but it sure makes it easier to read a map. It also makes it SO MUCH EASIER for someone new to this. It was a major thing for me to understand when I was learning. No idea about the UK maps, do they not have the ability to orient your maps? Do you drive your car looking out the side window? Of course not, you drive your car looking out the front window. It is the same with your map and compass. At least it is for me. Cheers
This is not correct. Orienting maps only helps to visually translate what you see on the map to the field. It does not affect the accuracy of measuring a bearing.
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I recently became interested in survival, bush craft, and map reading. I found your channel and love your teaching. You combine pictures, explain it on whiteboard, and demonstrate. The combination helps my old brain absorb it! I love love love you!!!! I am raising my deceased brother’s grandchildren. These two boys will know how to survive in a SHTF situation. I homeschool them as well. God, Country, Family, Friends and Community.
Mirror compasses work great with a bit of practice. In front of the mirror , is a small folded piece of paper for notes . A compass mirror works fine for signaling and checking ones' eyes for injury , foreign objects etc.
Thank you for your most necessary and excellent video .
i have a truarc 15 and even after placing under a microscope,😅😅 there is no "indicator" mark near the mirror hinge point like the base compass you used in your demo. Im guessing the Brunton will require me to add/subtract 180 and read from the bearing under the green line?
Well done. Very well explained 👏
Question: should I be worried about parallax errors due to bifocals, or in my case progressive lens eye glasses, when sighting distant features using my mirror compass? I have to move my head down to view features at a distance through the top of my lenses, then move my head up in order to clearly see the compass mirror reflection of the bezel through the lower part of my lenses. I do my best to keep the compass steady as I adjust, alternating between "far" and "near" views. I am also careful not to change the 45 degree angle of the mirror in relation to the base of the compass. Is this a valid concern? Perpetually parallax perplexed....
Thank you for the info. Much appreciated
Thank you for the explanation.
The most important useage of a sighting compass is to find your own position on a map by triangulation with two distinctive and known landscape features on that map, e.g. village churches. If you don't know where you are, you'll need a lot of luck to pick the right direction to get to your goal.
What is the reason for the crossing of the two lines in the mirror should be in the center of the compass needle?
I am very curious because i like to purchase a new compass. I own a normal baseplate compass and a sighting compass Recta DP-6G, but the bessel of the recta DP-6G is very small, so i like to bye a compass with a bigger bessel. Probably a MC2.
The MC2 doesn’t have two lines - just a vertical one. The idea behind the two line cross is that when it is centred over the middle of the bezel you know there is no parallax errors when reading the bearing in the mirror. I think (but may be wrong) that only Silva have this system.
@@TheMapReadingCompany Thanks for your answer. I first have to look what compasses are available in my region. I just named the MC2 because that is one i regularly see on TH-cam . But my question is well answered, now i now what to look for.
The day before yesterday i had to replace my broken Recta DP-6G and i chose for the Suunto MC-2. Indeed, the MC-2 hasn't two lines, but i have made a little modification. I searched where te horizontal line shoud be, and marked the crossing with a little black dot. So now i can very accurately position the mirror to avoid parallax errors. I made different test and it function very well. My sightings are more accurate as before.
Only one thing i don't understand why! The MC-2 is a high quality compass and not cheap, and then i see that the romerscale on 1:25000 isn't complete on the Y axle - the Northings. It goes only to 750 m in stead of 1 Km. From a expensive high quality compass id had expected better. But no problem, to determinate exact metric positions i fortunaly have another very interesting tool, a roomer with a rotating protractor. Like a baseplate compass without compass needle. It was a accessory of my first compass a BEZARD COMPAS. It is the most practical tool i ever had for working on the map.
I know what you mean about the MC2. I have pointed that out on my 3 minute review - I will be publishing these 31 videos (one each day) next month. But the main problem with the "roamer" on the MC2 is that it can't be used as a roamer, as it's printed upside down.
@@TheMapReadingCompany
What do you mean with printed upside down? On my compass it seems completely normal. I see just the same printed romerscale as on my old recta baseplate compass and on all al of my other romers.
I slide the romersccale horizontally over the X-axle until the Y axle (pointing up) touches to the measuring point. So i learned it 50 years ago and still use it the same way al those years.
I see some people put the corner of the romerscale on the point they like to measure. The X-axle of the roomerscale points West and the Y-axle down. But that is in my opinion not the right way because so you can deviate from being parallel to the gridlines.
I am looking forward to your announced new video’s. Always interesting
Thank you for your video! It seems, I have used the mirror not in the optimal way, as described here. By the way, my Recta DS 50 (now Suunto) does not have a horizontal line on the mirror, but I think, that this would not clear a parallaxis or anything like. One question, though: Your work with the compass in the chart presumes, that the chart is directed to north, otherwise the bearings being random. How to "north" a chart? With my compass, of course, and hereby I mangle grid north with magnetic north, i.e. align the grid north of the chart to the magnetic north of the compass. Should that not cancel out the declination for all bearings?
Very good Video about the😅😅 subject.
But, an honest request to the SILVA company:
1. Please make it possible to fix the mirror at 45°. I own 6 mirror compasses from Silva, and all won't hold the position after some time.
2. No mirror compass from Silva kept its luminous markings on top of the cover after unboxing it.
I bought a roll of cheap chinese luminous marking bands, cut a narrow slice off and glued it in the position. Now that marking is the stronges and longest glowing one on this compass.
I would like to add that if you do get lost and a search party is trying to find you, a mirror can save your life. The search party, in some cases, will be from chopper - looking down from the chopper into the wilderness is like looking for a needle in a haystack. If the Sun is shining you can reflect the Suns light at the chopper and this will alert your search party of your location.
I was thinking the same
It deeply saddens me that I’m still failing to comprehend a video titled “simplified” 😂
Try walking out and attempting to do what he’s describing. It will make more sense when you’re holding the compass and trying to take bearings off actual objects. Good luck 👍
I would like to have this.
To go from the top of the hill to the bottom or bridge the compass needs to point in the direction of travel otherwise your going in the wrong direction it’s a step that needs mentioning or it will lead to errors. You do it in the video correctly but others might not spot it
Agreed, I’ve never used a sighting compass so I was a bit confused at first, mainly because on a normal baseplate compass the end with the romers on is the direction of travel, but on this compass the direction of travel is towards the hinged end so the index mark is at the opposite end of the bezel.
Great video. Shame about all of the whingers on it.
This mirror compass seems a strange technology. Does the nirror not obscure what you're looking at? I understand how lens, prism, and flat compasses all work from yiur other videos so the mirror here seems superfluous
There is a hole at the bottom of the mirror to look through when you are holding the compass at eye level, which is the easiest way to sight in on your target. The top of the mirror tilts back toward your face so that you can actually see the compass and bezel when it is being held flat directly in front of your face. That way you can see your bearing on the bezel and make sure that your compass needle is inside the marks on the compass face. If you look at the thumbnail picture, you can see the hole at the bottom of the mirror and also how the compass would look if you were holding it flat at eye level.
You didn’t mention anything about orienting the map. Any bearing you take from that map will not be correct unless you first orient the map.
Hi James, a map does not need to be oriented in any direction if it's being used with a compass
I appreciate your knowledge of maps and compass. I fully understand how to use a compass, topo maps and grid readers and have been wilderness navigating for decades. But I fully disagree in principle you not orientating the map. I understand you don’t need to, but it sure makes it easier to read a map. It also makes it SO MUCH EASIER for someone new to this. It was a major thing for me to understand when I was learning. No idea about the UK maps, do they not have the ability to orient your maps? Do you drive your car looking out the side window? Of course not, you drive your car looking out the front window. It is the same with your map and compass. At least it is for me. Cheers
This is not correct. Orienting maps only helps to visually translate what you see on the map to the field. It does not affect the accuracy of measuring a bearing.
Clearly obvious, but I must say you make some very videos.