This compass is hands down the best compass you can buy, and well worth the money. I've had the opportunity to use every major compass brand: Brunton (owned by Silva Sweden, which makes good compasses), Silva America (which is owned by Johnson Outdoors and the compasses are made in china), Silva Sweden (good compasses), Suunto, and many others, including military compasses. All have been tested in serious field navigation. The Suunto Global compass makes all these look like toys. The global needle alone is enough to set it apart; it makes field use far easier and much more accurate. Moreover, it is the only field compass that has sufficient glow-in-the-dark capabilities to be usable in low light conditions (other than the tritium military compass-very heavy and can't be corrected for declination). Also, it is available with metric scales (1:25000 and 1:50000) as well as the standard U.S. scales (1:24000 and 1:62500), but not on the same compass. Finally, it has a much nicer sighting window and the lettering and marks are actually etched into the plastic so they don't wear off (unlike almost all the other compasses). I could go on, but you get the picture. It is everything a compass should be.

Great Compass, use it all the time outdoors, and have used it in class for projects. The bottom sighting hole is mostly for the Slope Meter function, which is nice if you feel like you need a more accurate on that you can get on a normal compass that doesn't have this hole, but don't feel like lugging the extra weight of a clinometer. Accurate compass that is easy to read, anytime, including at night thanks to the glow in the dark ring around the base. This has a magnifying glass to zoom in on your map for closer inspection, and sticky feet so it doesn't slide around on off-kilter surfaces. The only thing missing from this compass is the UTM grid for 1:50000 and 1:25000 maps on similar Suunto, Brunton and Silva compasses. If that was added, and the price went down, this would be the best compass around.

This is a great navi tool, but somewhat useless for most people. If you're an outdoors man, afraid to use a GPS by itself, or just want another cool gadget, this is a top-of-the-line navigator. It really isn't too much greater in terms of accuracy or functionality than similar devices 1/2 it's price. My suggestion is to spend a bit less, and use the money on another gadget!