Which Sextant

[ghostlymoron]

Having just completed the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean theory course, I am considering buying a sextant to use as a backup to GPS navigation (and also as a bit of fun). Which type should I get? Traditional brass (£500), micrometer plastic (£250), budget plastic (£50) and where from?

 

[john_morris_uk]

Lots of threads on this subject from time to time.

Try e-bay - you don't need to spend anywhere near £500 to get a good one. I used a plastic sextant for years and then got a brass one off e-bay for about £150 - a bargain and in a nice wooden box with its certificate etc. Just avoid the decorative ones - but with your newfound knowledge from your YM Ocean course you should be able to spot the difference.

 

[ErikKiekens]

A metal sextant is expensive but more precise than a plastic one. The precision of plastic is enough for use onboard yachts, given the errors that we make (a.o. being so close to the waves)
Plastic is more sensitive to temperature however, so it is advised to re-establish index error a lot more frequently (I do it prior to every measurement).
I bought a Davis Master Sextant Mark 25 last year. I had it shipped from the US as that was still a lot cheaper than buying it in Europe. I believe I payed around 200 euros in total.
Good luck!
Erik

 

[JayBee]

Metal sextants can be bought on ebay for similar prices to new plastic micrometer versions. A ball park figure for a Russian SNO-T, one of the best sextants ever made, is around £200. These come up regularly, often from ship-breakers in India (who usually have excellent feedback), but shipping costs, clearance costs and VAT bump up the final price considerably - this also applies to US and other non-EU purchases, obviously.

Here is a Russian sextant for sale in the UK at the moment:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....16&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123#ht_500wt_1156

Good Freiberger and other famous makers' sextants come up regularly for sale on ebay from UK sources. If you search for "sextant" and save the search, ebay will email you whenever anything with "sextant" in the description is listed.

Beware the shiny, easily identifiable, for-decoration-only repro jobs

A metal sextant will be a much better instrument than a plastic version and will also tend to keep its value well.

 

[Topcat47]

Robinson's at Hamble usually have a small stock of good used sextants. He advises a chinese one for "small" boats. I bought a nice Husun from him five years ago for £200. I knew he was right about the one he was recommending being better for small boats (I've a 26 footer) but the Husun had been calibrated by the Admiratly Compass Observatory in Slough and I'd worked there.

 

[Skylark]

I bought a plastic one for vertical / distance-off use, wreck site finding, in a RIB when I was more active as a diver 20 odd years ago.

After doing YMO theory, I bought a reasonably good quality, full mirror, C&P Sailing Sextant. A magnificent piece of engineering.

I did a qualifying passage as a one-way trip on a friends boat. Due to my perceived concerns of being able to get it through airport security as hand carry-on, I chickened out at the last minute and took my plastic one. For sun-run-sun, meridian passage, compass checking etc using the sun, no big problems.

If you're planning a lot of twilight star 3 point fixes, or planets the much better optics of the "real" one win by a huge margin.

I'd add that I'm a keen amateur, not an old salty sea dog, hence my view is based upon my limited, but most enjoyable, personal experience