Brunton  TruArc 15 Compass

I bought this compass because I had misplaced my old reliable Suunto which I had for over 20 years. I used the Brunton compass on exactly three trips and based on the fact that my Suunto was still in service when I lost it, I believe that would show that I take care of my equipment. However, the Brunton compass somehow developed a large air bubble which is definitely affecting the accuracy of the compass. I am not sure how it got in there and I have not had any luck removing it. Luckily, I have found my Suunto and now have a working compass again.

I joined a Search and Rescue group, and needed a good compass for land navigation. I have found that the needle on this compass doesn't move unless you have it completely level. I can turn 90 degrees, holding it (not quite) level in my hand, and the needle will stick until I take the time to get that bubble completely in the center. Even my trainer was surprised how unresponsive this is compass is. We do not have time to play with, and baby a compass when we're searching an area. Complete waste of money.

I'll second what everyone else has said -- Brunton has really messed up with this one. We bought 10 for my school's orienteering program, and all of the needles are slow to respond. Not one of the bubble levels works -- not that it's really that important, but why add a feature if it doesn't function? The tool-less declination is the worst -- really difficult to set and impossible to make small adjustments. And it ships with a manual for the TruArc 5, which is a substantially different design. Don't buy!

I purchased the compass for use in mountain operations course, the needle won't stay balanced unless you hold it just right (not level) and the numbers are extremely hard to read. Declination is impossible to precisely set using this compass. I ended up having to borrow a teammate's Sunto. Do not buy.

I bought this compass a couple of months back thinking it had all the features I wanted and would be perfect for my needs. Unfortunately I just got done with a navigation course, and I had to use someone else’s compass to pass the course. The declination on this thing was way off. The instructor compared it to 3 other quality compasses in the class and this think was off by about 2 degrees. That’s not acceptable when you need to perform precise navigation.

Declination adjustment is extremely difficult, and would be impossible if your hands were cold. The mirror is too small to see the needle and the level at the same time. The dual numbers on the ring are confusing--I've used other compasses for many years, so can figure them out, but the system is certainly not intuitive.

Agree with the others that this compass is very finicky. I would twist and turn every time I used it, to ensure it was moving freely. However, my biggest issue is that the printing wore off after less than 6 months of use. I don't use DEET, because of what it does to plastics, so that cannot be the reason. My other complaint is that, when opened, it doesn't give a straight line. It would be nice to have a straight line for marking bearings on a map.

When the compass arrived the needle pointed south. A perfect 180 degree error when compared to other compasses.