From 1980, JWA had imported Swedish-made compasses manufactured by Silva Production AB for sale in North America.
[24] JWA also retained the North American rights to some product names such as Ranger, Polaris, 1, 2, 3 and others commonly used and recognized in the U.S. and Canadian markets and made popular during the time Silva Production AB was manufacturing Swedish-made Silva compasses for JWA in North America.
[25] JWA was eventually renamed Johnson Outdoors, Inc. For its part, Silva Production AB/Silva Group retained the right to manufacture and sell compasses, GPS tools, and other navigational products under its Silva trademark outside the United States and Canada, as well as market its Swedish-made compasses and GPS tools in North America under the Brunton, Elite, and Nexus brands.
[20][21] Silva Sweden AB retained its own corporate identity as an outdoor products manufacturer within Fiskars under its Gerber Legendary Blades Division.
These actions left Silva of Sweden without a North American distributor for its Swedish-made compasses and GPS tools.
In the mid-1990s, Silva introduced the Model 25TDCL and TDCLE Ranger compass, rebranded for North American sale as the (Brunton) Nexus 225 or 25TDCL/TDCLE Pro Elite.
Besides compasses and GPS tools, Silva manufactures several other types of outdoor gear and navigational equipment, including weather/altimeter/temperature/wind meters, headlamps, binoculars, and orienteering accessories.