Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 Not too bad February 26, 2010
AR Fool (Tampa, FL)
I will admit that if this compass did not have the UTM tool built in, I would still be using my old Silva. The downsides are that the compass sticks a bit while rotating, making taking my initial bearing from a map difficult and I generally prefer a compass that has a longer direction of travel line. Still, easy to use and the built in "set it and forget it" declination feature is very nice.
Compass November 2, 2009
Hatepavement (MO, USA)
The compass works great, used it for an adventure race in december, and anorienteering event last wee. Took a little to get used to the circle in circle, but I like if just fine now.
 1st time winner April 3, 2009
M. Howk (South Carolina)
I chose this Eclipse Racing compass after doing a little product research online. I needed it to participate in my first ever orienteering race. I had never before found a location by way of GPS points on a map, but after a little instruction and practice I felt very confident. This compass was so easy to use! I only had one problem out of 50 plot points, and that's because the course setter mapped a point backwards. Even for a newbie, the Eclipse made it pretty easy to figure out the real location.
Good Compass, a couple of flaws January 18, 2009
D. Williams (Bethany, OK USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this compass for adventure racing. I really like the circle in circle orientation method...that's what makes is worth $20. That one feature significantly reduces the common-when-tired navigational error of mistaking the north end of the needle for the south. I also like the magnification on the bezel that allows one to imagine that one is orienteering to 1 degree of accuracy. When one is tired, at night, those large magnified numbers are great!
In practical use, I would like to see a few different features.
1) Rather than an ergonomic baseplate, set up I guess for holding the compass in the left hand, I'd rather have two straight sides for more convenient map use. When one has one's map folded small to hold in one hand...in say a 3" wide by 6" tall rectangle, working with just one straight side near the top of the map is inconvenient.
2) Brunton's little red orienting lines are printed on the white bezel. They are really short and far apart and hard to see when trying to line them up with map grid lines. I much prefer orienting lines that run across the bottom of the liquid filled housing. This makes for a much easier time orienting the bezel with the map accurately.
3) I think for an adventure racing compass, Brunton could get rid of the GPS estimated error circles. Those are legacy feature from the Brunton GPS compass. By the rules current in adventure racing today, GPS is illegal for race use, so those are unnecessary. They don't hurt anything, but neither do they add anything useful in my view.
A previous reviewer complained that the compass housing/capsule snapped out of the baseplate when dropped hard. I've had this happen, too. In that moment it's scary, but the thing snaps back together pretty easily. In fact this is a good feature since grit gets between the baseplate and compass housing making it difficult to turn. One can snap the housing out, wipe off the grit and snap it back together for much freer movement.
This compass is not perfect, but it is a really good compass for adventure racing and general use.
 Great features, questionable durability and support November 11, 2008
Will Murphy (Hollywood, FL United States)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Prior reviewers have done a good job describing the many nice features of this compass. It has a declination adjustment, the markings on the compass ring are to one degree. It has UTM tools for 5 different scales and 5 different radius rings for marking targets on a map. It has a small ruled (3 inches) straight edge that has metric on the back. It comes with a short lanyard. Unlike some similar Brunton compasses, it does not include a whistle. The "circle in circle" design makes following a bearing about as easy as a compass can make it.
However, the very first time I raced with the compass, all the UTM markings washed off of it. So did the blue circle on the base plate, making the "circle in circle" feature hard to use, impossible in low light.
I contacted Brunton about the problem and did not get any response, not even the courtesy of acknowledging the feedback on their product.
Then I set down my pack on a hard surface and the compass came out of the base plate. I was able to replace it, but it didn't inspire confidence.
I really like the features this compass offers, but have been disappointed with the durability, particularly of the markings, and the lack of response from the manufacturer. If they get back to me, I will edit this entry.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
|
