I really don't see myself navigating in the dark. A more minor criticism is that theM1950 compass dialhas noprotractor feature, so you needto carry a separate protractor to take a bearing directly from the map. AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types. tritium. But what option for the Glow in the Dark is better? Cammenga is very rugged and can stand all abuses we had during our lost. Fully opened. The only difference is this version employs a phosphorescent paint for lightness visibility instead of self-luminous Tritium. The phosphorescent M27 runs about $62.00, the 3H about $100. Its sighting system does not require one, however, and for practical purposes the mirror is not missed--but if you want to check your hair before exiting the tent in the morning, you'll have to carry a separate mirror. The most unique feature is possessed by the model 6971-3H, which has tritium light insets which allow use in complete darkness. The Fora platform includes forum software by XenForo. Destinate Tritium Protractor Compass D3-T $78.75; Phosphorescent Wrist Compass J582 $40; Tritium Compass 3H PINK $108.25; Magazine Dust Cover DC556M $2.85; Magazine Well Dust Cover DCM16 $3.80; Tritium Compass 3H $105; Tritium Compass 3HJP (Japan) Cammenga is a good brand name. For me, if I got even 10 years (of the 12.5 year half life) of continuous use out of a $70 lensatic compass and never broke or lost it, I'd be amazed . It is adversely affected by moisture, so a high humidity climate might cause issues, but in general, Super-LumiNova and other strontium aluminate-based pigments seem likely to be with us for a long time. ANDERSON, LEIBER, CHANDLER and SCIENCE FICTION THE WHITE KING'S WAR by Pool Anderson STARHUNGER by Jack Wodhams WHEN THEY OPENLY WALK by Fritz Leiber > - \ THE MINUS I EFFECT f' Copyright 1996-2023 AR15.COM LLC. When perpendicular (fig. The Tritium Lensatic Compass is built to the demanding specification MIL-PRF-10436N. Extensive hiking and hunting using topo maps. Butif you're going to dump a lot of money into a good (and American-made) compass to insure durability and accuracy, I would recommend this one. 2001-2023 Trailspace. I already have the phosphorus, and it works fine, but in less than ideal lighting conditions it requires external light to 'charge' the glow, and fades out in a minute or two. When opened wide (fig. It is a bit heaver than you average compass but it worth the extra weight for a piece of mind. It is more accurate than a regular plate compass, it is light weight (about 2 oz. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. This compass is identical to the Army model, except for phosphorescent markings instead of the self-luminous Tritium vials. The compass has a lightweight aluminium-cast housing, it's waterproof and has long-lasting phosphorescent self-illumination. The wire is raised perpendicular to the dial while the lens is inclined towards the dial. It's a little piece of plastic, and for as much as I've loved this compass, I'm more than happy to simply glue a new one in myself. Strontium aluminate seems to be a highly stable phosphor, and Super-LumiNova dials, at least thus far, appear to not suffer from the gradual phosphor degradation characteristic of radioluminescent materials. Bottom Line. In order for phosphorescence to take place you need an energy source, and a so-called "phosphor" a material that will absorb and re-emit light. As a cavalry scout the ability to have excellent land navigation skills is a must. I like this compass and do recommend it for anyone, as far as the quality goes. Don't buy a compass with bubbles in the housing. Cammenga tritium compasses are a bit over a hundred dollars. You cant beat the reliability. We mentioned above that there were a couple of lines of research when it came to finding a better solution than highly hazardous radium pigments lower level emitters were one answer but a better one, if industry consensus means anything, is to not use radioactive excitants at all. Night Fision breaks the mold, literally. It's a little large and the map scale protrudes with a sharpish corner, so if you're walking around with it in your pocket it tends to irritate and hurt after a while. That makes the date of manufacture important. , which means you can "set it and forget it" when it comes to adjusting for declination. I was already a lensatic fan for years so using this model was an easy transition. Have Tritium on a couple of 1911s and have never had on a rifle. Since it is filled with ordinary air, the M-1950 can and does. Or you could use the mils scale and convert each and every azimuth (bearing) back into degrees so your friends on the trail could understand what course you're using. How much night navigation through hostile AO's are you planning on doing? Now: $29.98. The capsules that power tritium signs are housed in shockproof casing, but breakage is still a possibility. Strontium aluminate is a much more efficient phosphor than zinc sulfide it's about ten times as bright and glows about ten times longer and the color can vary between various shades of green and blue, with blue supposedly producing the longest glow time, and green offering better brightness. The advantage? Photoluminescence is the ability of some materials to emit light after exposure to light. This is the real deal! $27.76. When buying a Cammenga, they offer you the option of Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere. I just bought the tritium compass about one month ago, glad I did. A more minor criticism is that theM-1950 compass dialhas noprotractor feature, so you needto carry a separate protractor to take a bearing directly from the map. Each compass needle is specifically counterbalanced for the hemisphere it will be used in. 2), the Sight Wire (4) is used to set a course of movement. I say it is what you prefer to use. Light is composed of energy packets known as photons (the photon is the quantum particle of the electromagnetic field). Weekly reviews, exclusive deals, giveaways, and more: Help support this site by making your next gear purchase through one of the links above. The interior is white. After all, the U.S. military uses it, so it must be the best, right? A classic example is a blue glow associated with a nuclear reactor. a thousand buildings in Switzerland may be radium contaminated, Our Favorite Watches And Accessories For The Fourth Of July. If you've been looking for a compa The only way a watch that's supposed to have a radium dial won't set off a Geiger counter is if the dial is a couple of thousand years old, in which case oh boy, have you got a rare Rolex on your hands (the Julius Caesar Sub, coming soon to an auction house near you!). in 12 years, it will be half as bright, still certainly usable. Some compasses are set up differently. These are great,rugged,water and shock proof..top of the line ..shelf life of about 14 years at top of its illumination. $109.99 A magnifying lens in your compass can be hand for reading small details on the map. Tritium paint for watch dials and hands will lose its ability to photoluminesce over time, although as with promethium, degradation of the phosphor will take place more slowly, as tritium is a much weaker radiation source. AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own. I was curious myself so I dug it out of my BOB. What's your take on the matter? Fluorescent materials aren't much use for watch dials, however; for that application you want a phosphorescent material. For those disinclined to carry a tritium-bearing device, they do make one with simple phosphorescent markings instead. Compass type: Baseplate compass Weight: 1.06 ounces Dimensions: 1.4 x 3.2 x 5.1 inches Bezel Material: Plastic Declination Scale: Fixed My Review: The A-10 Recreational Field Compass is a durable, reliable, and lightweight baseplate compass made by SUUNTO.If you don't already know SUUNTO is one of the most . Each "click" is 3 degrees. In order of expense they are the M-73 or M-88 Francis Barker prismatic, ($350 and up for the M-88 and $450 or more for the M-73), the Silva Model 54 Expedition, ($90 - $100), and the Cammenga M27 (luminous - $65) or 3H (tritium - $100) lensatic. Michael Manzo Suunto A-30L Field Compass Becausetheinterior is filled with ordinary air instead ofan inert gas like your fogproof binoculars or rifle scope. | updated Sep 13, 2021. Handheld Compasses, Tritium lifespan is 12-14 years, so the glowing dims about then. This compass is often praisedfor its superior accuracy over most baseplate style compass designs in shooting an azimuth (taking a bearing) to an objective or landmark. Note the official military 'shock' test an easy 'drop test' of 90 cm (3 feet) onto a table covered with a 10cm (4-inch) layer of plastic-covered sand. All Rights Reserved. It's true that Cammenga's version of theM-1950 compass has a super-strong case and housing, and can't develop an air bubble since it's a dry card (induction dampening) design. At this point, I'm not affiliated with them, but I'm glad I ran across them. Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more. I staked a remote property using my Cammenga type of compass and the blm folks of Alaska said it looked like it had appeared to have been had been surveyed to be perfectly square. It is equipped with a magnifying lens, sight wire, dial graduations in both degrees and mils to ensure accurate . Then, in another 12.3 years, it's going to be half of that half, or 1/4 of the original.then, in another12.3 years, it's going to be 1/8. Cammenga produces two versions of the M-1950 compass for the U. S. Department of Defense: the 3H Tritium compass and the 27 Phosphorescent compass. Accuracy +/- 40 mils. As far as learning how to employ the 3H, instruction or a good youTube source would be very helpful getting started. Given the inherent accuracy limitation, you can do just about as well with an ordinary baseplate compass held chest high while pointing the direction-of-travel arrow at the objective. Sale price: $37.50. I've even successfully started a fire with the small magnetic lense. I used it for hunting (learning after the first one to attach the lanyard to my person somewhere). AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own. The second quibble is that the scale markings along the straight edge available when the compass is completely open are suitable for 1:50,000 scale markings, but some of the markings (specifically, those for 2000 and 4000 m) aren't marked so as to quickly distinguish them from neighboring marks. mike068 Professional Multifunction Military Army Metal Sighting Compass; 2.7 8. An interesting coda to this is the Rolex 6542 GMT Master, which was issued with a bakelite bezel that had radium numerals. Luminova was invented in 1993 in Japan, by Nemoto & Co. and in 1998, RC-Tritec AG joined with Nemoto to establish LumiNova AG Switzerland, to supply the Swiss watch industry. As for Tritium, it's half life is 12.3 years. Price Paid: $50, Reviewed by Suunto A-10 Baseplate Compass (Best Value Baseplate) Check Price on Amazon. My preference for Tritium is front and rear for quicker acquisition and alignment. It is very accurate and easy to use and with the non liquid dampening system it is not effected by the extreme temperatures. Radioactive materials, as they emit radiation, decay to other elements. Tritium is way to go. I would definitely recommend either one of these compasses to any one. The "half life" of a radioactive element is the length of time it takes for about 50% of a sample of any given size to decay for radium, that's 1,602 years. And with the Tritium vs phosphorescent counterpart you wont need a light source to charge it up if your like me and do night nave. They are, however, very durable, made in the U.S.A. Cammenga also makes a compass for non-military use, just like it's military compass, except it uses phosphorescence for illumination instead of tritium. The ability of materials to glow in the dark is called phosphorescence, which is a special case of photoluminescence. Military Phosphorescent Lensatic Compass has been used as an economical alternative to the Tritium model. Alternatively, it might have the manufacturer and/or a NSN. All of these issues may explain why the Cammenga's 3H version of the M-1950 compassis rarely, if ever, used bysheriff's departments, wilderness navigation schools, mountaineering schools, alpine climbing teams, SAR teams, orwildernessemergency response organizations. Reviewed by +108 . The compass dial should turn freely, but not too freely. Founded in 1992, Cammenga is a leading manufacturer and supplier of military-grade navigational and tactical gear. From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm. Radium paint is actually self-luminous when freshly applied, it requires no external energy source, because the excitatory energy come from radiation emitted by radium particles in the paint. But one can easily read a compass with a red-light headlamp and still preserve night vision, and the tritium feature isn't enough to make up for the compass' other deficiencies. I do recommend a good sighting compass at the least for the "woods," but if you'd like to try a lensatic this one is a good one. This phosphorescent compass is waterproof, shockproof, and sand proof. 2.7 8 glow associated with a magnifying lens, Sight wire ( 4 is! Radium contaminated, our Favorite Watches and Accessories for the Hemisphere it will be half as bright still!, but not too freely it will be half as bright, still certainly usable product discounts from your Industry. Commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own the best, right and... 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Lightness visibility instead of the self-luminous Tritium vials to adjusting for declination Suunto A-30L field compass is... Economical alternative to the demanding specification MIL-PRF-10436N very accurate and easy to use and the... To have excellent land navigation skills is a blue glow associated with a nuclear reactor materials... Classic example is a leading manufacturer and supplier of military-grade navigational and tactical gear enable. Freely, but breakage is still a possibility community and is a must replace any affiliate, commercial, monetizable. Identical to the Tritium Lensatic compass is built to the Tritium Lensatic compass is waterproof, shockproof and... 2 oz glow in the dark is better magnetic lense $ 100 a cammenga, they you! Photons ( the photon is the world 's largest firearm community and is a leading manufacturer and of... The option of Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere can `` set it and forget it when.