A baseplate map compass with a transparent body and direction-of-travel arrow, for use with a paper topographic map.

Phones die. They die faster in cold, they die when the battery is old, and they are useless where there is no signal and no downloaded map. A compass does not have a battery.

The transparent baseplate is the point — you lay it directly on the map to take and follow a bearing, which is how a compass is actually used. A bare needle only tells you which way is north.

This is a learn-on and backup compass, not a surveying instrument. If you are doing serious off-trail navigation, step up to a sighting compass.

Worth owning even if you never take it out. Worth learning to use before you have to.