A Compass

There are excellent new & modern quality compasses and geometry sets available from: Helix, Staedtler, Rotring, Faber Castell, Jakar, Maped, Linex, Alvin and so many more international brands that I am not familiar with. I asked on Instagram and here are some brand suggestions: Ecobra, Draftex, Pelkan, Dux, Camel/Camlin, Nobel, Kronos, Koh I Noor Hardtmuth, Botti, S&A. I therefore suggest looking for reputable brands and build quality. Try to look at their top to middle range products, not ones aimed at school children. Don't be tempted by cheap, mass produced, brandless kit online, they really won't work so well. 

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Look for these particular features that are useful for constructing patterns: 

A thumb wheel:  allows for small adjustments and remains fixed in the position you set.

A sharp point:  School compasses are often blunt and rounded, look for a sharp point, a shouldered point is even better.

A 2mm lead holder: This you can switch to a hard lead, sharpen with a lead sharpener or emery board.

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The following are generally very useful:

A well built universal pen attachment: to switch from the 2mm lead provided to any pen or pencil of your own;

A quick release mechanism for major adjustments (although I think it can impede on the accuracy over time if it doesn't have excellent build quality).

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Be careful of confusing the technical pen attachament with a universal pen attchament. As one has a threaded "interior" which can only take technical pens with a threaded barrel, not any pen/pencil.

Buying new is fine, but I would also say some of the best sets were manufactured 20 or more years ago and can be found on Ebay or second hand on Etsy and in charity or vintage shops. The build quality of a vintage HAFF, Kern, Harling or Rotring compass is superb, their weight, their small & spare parts are of the highest quality. Pergelistan (Turkey), Mike Wyndham (Canada) and Ayla Sina(Germany) often sell  via their Instagram accounts. A good range brilliant geometry sets have been shipped and enjoyed by many I know from all three. Scroll through their feeds to get a sense of vintage brand names and admire the build quality! Also visit www.drawingislamicgeometricdesigns.com/ where the knowledgeable Alan Adams shares a wealth of detailed information about compasses and tools. I also love visiting www.mathsinstruments.me.uk  a  museum of great geometry sets of the past complete with photographs and history. A place to find information & photographs to help age and identify some of those mysterious vintage compasses. I always think people like us are giving these old tools such good homes!

The following are my recommendations depending on your budget: