Sextants

[jimandjunep]

How do I know when I see a decent quality sextant? Looking round car boots and boatjumbles these items come up from time to time, at all sorts of prices. How do I tell the ´good buy´ from the bad? What are good names to look for?

 

[Guest]

The ones you can find at Car Boot Sales tend to be Either Old and Useless or Decorative, you'll be lucky to find a decent one down that route.
Try the following websites- ronrobinson.co.uk and bookharbour.co.uk.
Names to look for Mainly German these days- Carl Ziess, Frieburger, Astra. There are very good ex Russian Navy ones on the Market and Ron Robinson does recons. A good book to buy is Reeds Sextant Simplified, Noddy's guide to Sextants and how they work! Good Luck.

 

[CPN]

Try www.celestaire.com

I bought an Astra IIIB sextant from them. They delivered from the US, no problems. Cost about $450 - extremely good value for money.

 

[Lynette]

Certification

Sextants are normally sold second-hand with new or recent certification of accuracy. Without that, you will be buying an ornament with a warped frame. It is impossible to spot at a casual glance.

 

[Buck]

I was given a plastic bodied Webco a few years ago, it was brand new and seriously crap, so avoid them, other than that can't help, I'm afraid.

Buck

 

[ianwright]

Get a copy of "The Sextant Simplified" by Capt O M Watts, you'll need it anyway if you intend to use a sextant, it will show you a few simple checks that you can do, even at a boat jumble.

IanW.

Vertue 203, Patience

 

[Guest]

I know that Nauticalia sell a pretty expensive sextant that I don't think they intend to be an ornament... Of course this is no guarantee of it not being crap.

Incidentally they also sell a cardboard self-assembly model which is strictly NOT recommended for navigation, but which serves as an introduction to the subject/a practice model.

 

[Guest]

If you intend to take up the noble art of astro navigation, all of the decent books on the subject instruct you on how to test asextant for error etc.
once you understand this then to check out a sextant is easy. if the seller objects walk away.
good luck
Adobe

 

[tomboy352]

A point not yet mentioned about purchasing a s/h sextant is check that the optics are of good quality. When searching for a heavenly body at twilight, when you cant see it by naked eye, good optics are essential.