Top-of-the-range mirror sighting compass with eco-friendly materials
Available in a few different variants, Silva's Expedition compasses are high-end, feature-packed navigation tools for outdoor professionals. This version features the classic flip-up mirror sight to help you get more accurate bearings off distant objects, and it's also part of their 'Terra' range – meaning that the lid and ring are made in eco-friendly Revo material. Like all Silva compasses, it's got the famous revolving dial and the luminous markers for night nav, but there are also loads of extras including a magnifying lens, grippy friction feet to keep it steady on the map, and a built in magnetic declination adjuster so you only need to set it once per destination. The base plate has map measuring scales in mm, inches, 1:24, 1:25 and 1:50, and there are also gradations on the detachable lanyard so you can measure longer distances.
- Lid, grip ring and graduation ring are made of Revo material (recycled polymers mixed with plant fibres from hemp, with up to 90% lower carbon dioxide emissions compared to ordinary plastic)
- Mirror sighting with sighting hole for accurate bearings
- Detachable distance lanyard with scales to measure longer distances
- Rotatable housing
- Magnifying lens for precision map work
- Rubber grip for easy handling
- Rubber friction feet give improved grip against the map
- Built-in permanent adjuster for magnetic declination
- Luminous markings for night navigation
- Waterproof
- 5-year warranty
- Accuracy: 1°
- Dimensions: 10.8 x 6.4 x 2 cm
- Measuring scales: mm/inch 1:25000, 1:50000, GPS scale
- Recycled Materials: made from made of recycled materials with 90% less carbon emissions.
It’s a bit of a cliché to say, ‘this brand needs no introduction…’, but sometimes it really doesn’t. If you ever did scouts, guides or cadets, got epic blisters on a D of E expedition or went on an outward bounds residential, chances are you did it with a Silva compass in the pocket of your boil-in-the-bag cagoule.
Like so many world-changing inventions, the Silva compass began as a problem that needed solving. Back in the day, your standard compass wobbled all over the shop, making it tricky and time-consuming to get a decent reading. That is, until 1933, when four Swedes invented a liquid-filled compass. The resistance from the fluid slowed and stabilised the needle, meaning you could nail a reliable bearing in seconds. Navigation was never the same again.
But iconic as the compasses are, they’re only one part of the Silva story. They were one of the first companies to make reliable electric head torches for the outdoors, and they’ve also branched out into optics, trekking kit and other navigational gear. Tried and tested for the better part of a century, Silva’s precision instruments have literally been the difference between life and death for generations of outdoor adventurers – and as brand pedigree goes, that’s pretty much impossible to beat.
