The Brunton Nexus Star is a low-cost, fairly rugged, basic compass. Like any low-cost compass, if you know how to use it you can get where you want to go, but it lacks features you may later wish you had. On the plus side, it is lightweight, inexpensive, and fairly thin, so it doesn't take up a lot of room in your pocket. On the minus side, the baseplate is very short, so it is harder to use with a map and a little less accurate when reading a bearing. The biggest disadvantage, in my opinion, is that it doesn't have a true declination adjustment; it is advertised as having a "declination scale" which is not the same. On a baseplate compass, you take a bearing by lining up the compass needle inside the North Reference Indicator (sometimes called the "Doghouse") etched on the bottom of the vial. Compasses with true declination adjustment allow you to rotate this "Doghouse" to align it with the desired declination. That way you always read a bearing by aligning the needle inside the Doghouse. On the Nexus Star, however, you can't do this. Instead, you have to remember to line up the compass needle with the point on the scale that corresponds to the local declination. In this case, the needle is not boxed inside the doghouse, and I find it can lead to errors, especially when you are tired and not thinking clearly after a long hike. If you always navigate using magnetic bearings rather than true bearings, this isn't a problem.

I can recommend this compass for use with a GPS receiver that is set to read magnetic bearings, and it is suitable as a back-up compass. I also regularly use it as an inexpensive tool to teach students in my GPS classes how to use a compass, but I wouldn't recommend it for serious work. 2 stars

I bought this compass to use with my telescope and it is large enough to use and see with a red light at night. 5 stars

I'm using this compass to align my telescope. The compass works great and is easy to use. I can put the edge of it to the edge of the telescope and get a true north reading. 5 stars

It's a basic compass that has everything that's needed for basic/casual orienteering. It's easy to read, and the rounded base makes it easier to hold in-hand for those quick bearing checks. I gave one of these as a gift to a friend who them took it along on a Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness trip. It served him just fine, and has proved durable. It is a little more compact, so it fits better in my wast pack, or in my cargo pants side pocket. 4 stars