Simple mirror sighting compass featuring sustainable materials
It was Silva who first came up with the design for a mirror sighting compass back in 1939. Compared to your standard baseplate model, the flip-up mirror helps you get a really accurate bearing off a distant object – making it especially good for navigating in open and mountainous terrain. These days Silva do a few different versions of the sighting compass – and this Terra Ranger S is one of the most compact and versatile. Palm-sized and robust, it's got the classic rotating dial with luminous markings for night nav. It's great for map work too, with three measuring scales and a rubber grip that stops it sliding around on the map when you're lining up the dial. Part of Silva's 'Terra' eco-friendly range, the lid and dial are made using recycled polymers and plant fibres.
- Lid and graduation ring are made in Revo material (recycled polymers mixed with plant fibres from hemp, with up to 90% lower carbon dioxide emissions compared to ordinary plastic)
- Detachable safety lanyard
- Rubber grip for easy handling and great friction against the map
- Declination scale inside the capsule
- Rotating housing
- Luminous markings for night navigation
- Robust material
- Waterproof
- 5-year warranty
- Accuracy: 1°
- Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.7 cm
- Measuring scales: mm1:25000, 1:50000
- 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.
