In the study of natural foundations of designed engineering structures, the most important indicator to be clarified is the ability of the soil to compact under the action of external load, i.e. compression properties of the soil. Laboratory tests of compression properties of soils consist in determining the compressibility of the soil loaded in the ring of the compression device under the action of the load increasing in steps. The deformation of the tested soil is judged by the change in its porosity according to the indicators. The quality of compression test results is decisively influenced by a variety of factors: the quality of the devices in which the tests are carried out, the serviceability of the levers used to compact the soil, the technique of the experiment and the methodology used to carry out the tests. Some differences in the design of existing compression instruments are not decisive for compression tests, although they differ greatly in terms of usability and speed of operation.