Suunto A-40

User Friendly Recreational Compasses

The A-Range of recreational compasses is a series of handy, well designed, navigational aids which are assets in any environment. All four models in the series (A-10, A-20, A-30L and A-40) are compact, high-accuracy instruments made from durable, clear, scratch resistant acrylic that have been ergonomically designed to fit into the palm of your hand for optimum ease of use. These light-weight compasses feature a fixed declination correction scale as well as a patent-pending lanyard snap-lock enabling the compass to be easily detached from the lanyard.

Two Geographical Balancing Zones

The vertical intensity and direction of the earth's magnetic field, the inclination, influences the horizontal plane of a compass needle according to the latitude where it is used. Due to inclination, compasses must be balanced for different geographical zones in order to keep the needle in a horizontal position.

Previously, the globe was divided into five different balance zones in which specific compasses functioned. However, as people travel more and more, the need for a compass with a greater geographical range has increased. Thanks to Suunto's 'Two Zone System' there are only two balance zones to consider in compass use - the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. In practice, this means that a Suunto compass designed for the northern hemisphere will still work for a fair distance into the southern hemisphere, and vice-versa.

Suunto also makes globally balanced compasses, which can be used accurately all over the world.