Compass for Christmas - degrees and mils?

[MJC88]

Hey guys,

Looking at getting myself a basic baseplate compass for Chrissie, nothing fancy want to keep it simple to learn the basics. Budget $50-60.

The Ranger 3 looks like it would suit my needs however I noticed there's a couple different versions. The standard one with just degrees and the NATO version with degrees AND Mils.

I've been seriously considering joining the Army Reserves in the future and obviously basic training will cover navigation so it'd be nice if I was already familiar with the system/methods they use.

Does anyone know if the Army uses a particular system (degrees vs mils) or have any recommendations? The two i'm tossing up between:

Degrees:
http://www.armysurplus.com.au/showP.../Silva+Ranger+Compass+-+Model+3+-+36985-6005+

Degrees and Mils
http://www.armysurplus.com.au/showP...lva+Ranger+Compass+-+Nato++-+Model+3+-+36896+

 

[MongooseDownUnder]

As far as I'm aware the army still uses Mils. You might be better off spending slightly more and getting a Silva Ranger S though.

 

[Aussie123]

Knowing both systems will be handy if you are serious about the mil (pun intended).

If not, then just stick with degrees.

Mils give a higher degree of precision because there are 64K rather than 360 a circle.
This is handy if you're trying to describe a point many KM away with great accuracy - in spite of all that precision, they are only as good as the compass itself !

All the basic map and navigation skills are exactly the same for everyday purposes.

 

[MJC88]

Thanks for the info guys. After contemplating over this some more I think I'll stick to keeping it simple. Go the degrees option being my first compass and all and then perhaps switch up to something more advanced when I have the basics down pat. Cheers!

 

[Bloffy13]

The military uses mils and, I tend to use it to for the greater accuracy.
If you can get one which deals in both mils and degrees snaffle that. It is a great skill set to have. You can use a compass to tell the time once you are skilled in its use. I haven't done it for years as its more a party trick but its relatively accurate. From memory, you need a degrees compass to do it.
So both have their advantages.
Cheers
Bloffy