Silva Guide 2.0 Compass

Great price on this little guy. I prefer the compact sizes personally. It's just shorter so when it closes that's about it. Feels sturdy and well-made.Arrived safely in a bubble pack. Note that manufacturer packaging leaves the dial exposed.Neck lanyard connector is plastic plug, not very snug at all. Hangs fine but if it snags, no way it's holding. I recommend expecting to use some 550 or whatever.Dial's Blue is darker than pictured and less teal. This is good because markings are very readable.Night glow is on North needle with a dot on either side of the shed/doghouse. Dots are off-center, but mark on needle is also off-center, it looks like them centered on each other results in the needle being properly centered also.Wish there was an inch measure on the side but I'll deal. Really want the markings to be doubled-up for more accurate edge measure in case of an odd scale, but that's an uncommon situation.Pretty happy overall, excellent price and I feel good tossing it in my pack. My other is a Brunton Classic shorty, same size just no mirror. That one lacks N/S lines in the dial center (but has them on the dial edge), and the doghouse isn't straight lines. But it has a 35deg protractor on the curved top edge. Wish I could just change the inner dial and slap a mirror on it and I'd be happy :P, but that's beside the point. Good buy here for <$25.

I was worried that the smaller size would make it tougher to use, but not at all. Peep/mirror combo make it easy to take bearings, and the clear base even makes it useable on a map. The fact that is has a real hinge instead of those "living hinge" creased plastic things was why I chose Silva over a comparable Suunto, and I don't regret the decision.

I haven't used it yet. It will work. The lanyard is kinda useless. It clips together, if you unclip it it becomes just a string, it won't stay together. Cost them a star, because if you include it as part of the compass it should work, even though as a problem it is insignificant.

When I received my compass it had no luminous properties what so ever. The Amazon listing said the markings would glow for up to 4 hours after being in a light source. It doesn't glow at all for any amount of time even after being under a 60 w light bulb. In the sellers defense the packaging said it would glow as they listed. I really wanted this feature so I returned the item thinking it was defective. The next compass was the same. No glow. I contacted the seller asking what I needed to do to get one that glows. He said the compasses they had didn't glow, that a different model which was pricier did which I could get and that I should take things up with the manufacturer (Silva). Im not exchanging it though because it is a nice compass for the price despite the issue I mentioned.

Nothing flashy, nothing special. It points north with a good scale and has a decent mirror. Some cheaper ones can do the same thing, but they aren't nearly as reliable. Can't remember the last time I went marching through the woods a night without a headlamp. Glow is overrated. Never had a Silva break, and I have tried. Well, there was one time when a Ranger collided with an axe.