UKC

I'm after a decent basic baseplate compass for a friend for Christmas. I've read in the past that the quality of Silva compasses has gone downhill, with them regularly developing air bubbles after not that much use or abuse - is that still the case, or was that a temporary blip?

(After a cursory bit of Googling I'm leaning towards a Suunto A-10 - does anyone have any strong opinions either way?)

Never had a problem with silva personally 

I've been using a Suunto A-30 for a few years and have had no pronlems so far, unlike with the Silva Type 4 which it replaced which had developed a large air bubble, albeit after a good few years of use.

I've heard of a lot more people having problems with Silva compasses than Suunto models, but then again there are a lot more of the former in use.

I've got a suunto m-3 which is great...I also have an older version silva type 4 and a newer version which are also good. The romer on the silva baseplate is more useful for measuring distance than the suunto one when my head is too full of other stuff to do mental arithmetic. That's pretty much the only appreciable difference.

The Suuntos don't seem to provide a proper Romer scale. They also have 1:24k and 1:65536 scales; those might be useful in the US, or with old UK 1":mile mapping, but not so helpful with modern OSGB mapping.

Bit of a shame, as, otherwise, they have a good reputation.

Silva Expedition 4 seems the most applicable to UK use, with multiple Romer scales.

I recently bought a Suunto M3 G to replace my Silva, which had developed a bubble.

Rather than a metal needle, the Suunto has a clear plastic strip with the red marker printed onto it. It does not consistently settle at north, often sticking despite a shake. I would not recommend it.

A read of some forums suggests it's a problem inherent to the new design.

The 'standard' A-30 seems to have 1:25k and 1:50k. There is a USGS version also available mind.

I went with a Silva Ranger in the end. I hadn't realised the things the A-10  is missing, the Ranger is a few pennies cheaper than the A-30, and my own Silva has survived yonks and only just needs replacing now (and I was looking at the M-3 to replace it...but maybe not!).