Junk On The Bunk: Land Navigation Kit

This is an update to an older article from January 2021 – BR

I wanted to share my go-to navigation equipment for navigation in the bush. Just like other skills, this one has different pieces of equipment that are better suited to some uses than others. For those interested in learning to use this stuff check out my fieldcraft classes.

GPS

GPS, like so many modern conveniences is great until it runs out of electricity or the system that it relies on doesn’t work anymore. For these reasons I treat my GPS as a training aid to help me get better with traditional map and compass. It works really good to double check myself to see how accurate my land nav skill is.

I’ve got a fairly old Garmin E-Trex that I’ve had for a dozen years or so. It’s pretty bare bones by today’s standards but it still works good enough to give me a 10 digit grid when I need one.

I’ve always tried to protect it in a semi hard case and I always take the batteries out when I store it.

Compasses

I’ve had a good amount of experience with three different compasses; the USGI Cammenga 3H, the Suunto MC2, and the Suunto Clipper watch compass.

The 3H is a heavy duty piece of kit. It’s all aluminum housing has proven to be grunt proof over the years. This compass isn’t my first choice for land navigation, for reasons I’ll detail below, but it’s a very solid piece of gear that will get the job done. Some versions are built with a few pieces of tritium to aid with night time land navigation.

3H tritium at night

The major con for this compass is that the sighting techniques for it leave a lot to be desired. There are two techniques you can use, the “center hold” and the “compass to cheek”, neither of which are very accurate. It’s very easy to introduce errors even when using the compass correctly because it fails to utilize good aiming techniques. Think of it like the same error when trying to shoot a rifle with a short sight radius. The closer your sights are to your eye the less accurate your sight picture and vice versa. While many an infantryman has been able to use this compass, I think they would have been even better with a better designed compass.

The “compass to cheek” method is the more accurate of the two 3H Aiming techniques, and it still leaves a lot to be desired. Try doing this with Night vision on..

The Suunto MC2 (I have both the NH and G models, they are both good) is my preferred compass for land navigation. It has a few design features that make land nav easier when you’re tired and your brain is hazy.

MC2 Compass

For starters, it has built in declination adjustment that once set you no longer need to compensate for magnetic declination every time you shoot an azimuth. This is a major improvement over the system the 3H uses since it relies completely on mental math. The MC2 sighting system is also the opposite of the 3H. You aim an MC2 just like you would a pistol, out in front of you at arms distance, creating a long and accurate sight radius from the compass to your eye. By adjusting the mirrored lid you can still see your compass bezel while doing this, allowing you to shoot that azimuth more accurately by lining up the built in “sights” on a distant land mark. While this is noticeably better than a 3H in the day time, it’s even better when working at night wearing night vision since you can actually aim the compass while wearing your NOD’s.

While it does have photo luminescent markings to aid in nighttime land nav, it doesn’t have tritium so it needs recharged with a light source. I use a small UV Photon light and it takes about 20 seconds to give enough charge to last for hours. While lacking in tritium I think the fact that it can be used while wearing night vision makes this compass superior at night time use compared to the 3H.

While it’s built good, it’s not as heavy duty as a 3H, so in other words you can’t use it for a hammer. That being said I’ve had one for about five years that has been to all my civilian training and it’s still as good as the day I got it. Mine rides dummy corded in my front left pants pocket as part of my line 1 gear since it also doubles as a signal mirror.

MC2 at night

The last compass I routinely carry is a Suunto watch band compass. It is a good little compass and a great way to always have one with. I’ve found it to be accurate enough (within about 5 degrees) for quick azimuth checks and as a great way to get my bearings quickly when I need to relay Cardinal directions to other team members.

Suunto Clipper

It has a photo luminous face and an adjustable bezel in 5 degree increments. I like that it is low profile enough that it doesn’t snag on things also. For a compass of its type I can’t really think of any cons.

Protractors

Protractors are used to help plot grids and azimuths when you are using a map. These too come in different styles and I’ve found I like some styles better for different tasks. I’ll be honest and admit that I haven’t used every protractor out there, but I have used the following ones quite a bit.

For plotting azimuths I like to use a round protractor. The one from MapTools has a small hole in the center and I like to use a small elastic band that wraps around the edge and back through the hole. It’s thin enough that its only about one degree wide on the protractor and snug enough to stay put wherever I set it. I like this better than using the square style since the elastic band will stay put while I’m making my marks on the map.

Get some elastic thread from the sewing shop, run it through the hole and tie it together in a blood knot.

For plotting grids I like to make sure I have a full sized 1,000 meter scale (at the map scale) to work with. For a 1:10,000 scale map, which is going to be your most accurate for land nav, a lot of the multi purpose protractors only go out to 500 meters on their 1:10,000 scale, so I use a dedicated protractor for that size map. For smaller scale maps I can get away with the multi use protractors.

Some protractors have a 1:100,000 scale only, to use this protractor for a 1:10,000 scale divide the 1:100,000 by 10.

Pens, pencils, paper and glasses

Another component needed for good land nav is your note taking gear. For laminated maps a good set of fine point map pens is a must have for plotting grids. These markers from Staedtler are all I’ve ever used and I’m pretty sure they are the go to for everyone else as well. They come in a nice hard case too. They are fairly permanent but will clean off with alcohol. There’s also a correction pen that is handy, so don’t forget that.

For pencils I like a thin lead mechanical pencil. I really like these from Pentel. They are very sturdy and I typically always have a few stuffed in my gear.

For notepads I use Rite in the Rain. I use many different sizes but the 3×5 spiral bound is a great size to ride in your gear. I take a lot of notes when I’m doing land nav so I keep a pencil handy with the note pad. I know Ranger Beads are a common land nav item but I’ve never really cared for them, I prefer to write my azimuths and pace counts down as I pass land marks as I am going. Having a small notepad and pencil handy means I can take lots of notes that come in real handy if I need to back track.

A small solar calculator is another convenient piece of gear to have along as well, whether for calculating pace counts or making ballistic calculations.

As a final note, a set of reading glasses. While not something I normally carry (at least not yet) there have been a few students and readers who have found them to be really useful when trying to read maps, compass and protractor.

That’s pretty much it, nothing really high speed about it, just simple, rugged and proven equipment.

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