Sextants

[Paul McGhee]

I am shopping for a sextant. I'm opposed to buying a cheap plastic sextant to "learn" on. At the end of the day, I'm out a couple hundred bucks and I still need a real sextant. I'd rather buy the thing once and be done with it.I see lots of Tamayas for sale on eBay, with discontinued model numbers, like 636, M-2 and 933. Does anyone know about these particular sextants?Does anyone have any experience with the older Cassens and Plath models? Are they worth the $500+ price that they command? Can you get them serviced?Does anyone know about the Astra III from China? I'd rather not buy anything from China if I can help it (I just can't forget that reconaissance airplane business), but they seem to own the "pretty good at a lower price" market segment.All advice appreciated! And don't tell me to get a GPS, I've got three. Just looking for something else to put in my bag of tricks.Paul

 

[Ed]

Bought a Russian one for $225

Got it on ebay. It's sturdy, came with night lenses, lots of filters, and in a solid wood box. Its scope is powerful, but the view is inverted. I bought a scope from Celestaire that's not as powerful, but the view is right-side up. I also bought a scope with a level to practice when the horizon cannot be seen.I'm sure other Russian sextants come up for sale on ebay. Even with shipping, handling and the extra scopes, I still paid less than $350 for a very good metal sextant. BTW, the Celestair salesman at the Annapolis boat show told me the Russian sextants were copies of a well know German design. Mine has a serial number that dates it to 1972. The instruction are in Russian, but other than the scope inverting the image, it works the same as the Japanese and German sextants. Also, the metal is painted a dark olive-green, and except for the mirrors, nothing on it is reflective.~ Happy sails to you ~ _/) ~

 

[Phil Hunter]

Treat Yourself

Hello Paul,I have used the Astra III and they work just fine, but they are fairly light weight. I would suggest treating yourself to a Weems and Plath. Having shot stars on both a ship and on a sailboat, the heaver the sextant the better.Phil

 

[Alan]

My Davis plastic one

When I took my CN course, we used all kinds of sextants, from the $800 models to the $100 Davis Mark 25 cheapo. For our final exam we had to take shots with 3 different units. The entire class was shocked to find that the cheap Davis was just as accurate as the expensive ones. In fact for my sightings, the Davis was the most accurate of the three that I used. Price is not always the factor. Just for example; the best radar reflector on the market is the cheapest, the Davis foldup, go figure!

 

[Derek Rowell]

Robert E. White Instruments Inc...

... in Boston specialize in quality "classical" navigation instruments and sell reconditioned sextants. http://www.robertwhite.com'Ridge (for Eldridge) White is a personal friend (had dinner with him last night), and I can vouch for the quality of their stuff. (They are the publishers of Eldridge Tide Tables.)

 

[Tim Bastian - Zephyr's Aura]

I have the Astra III B

I am certainly not an expert but I have been using the Astra III B for two yeasr and it works well. Bought it from White Instruments while I was in Boston. Went with the whole horizon mirror and found it to be a good choice. Also got the S tables from Celestaire. It’s a very small sight reduction system in about 9 pages. It fits in the sexton box so I always have it available. It’s a good back-up to the computer. Tim Bastian Zephyr’s Aura Hixson, TN

 

[Gregg]

Alan from LI......

Where on LI did you take a CN course? I have my grandfather's sextant that I'd like to learn to use.