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I have the inexpensive Davis and I have not been impressed.  Screws have 
fallen out of the mirror holder, leaving it unusable.  Even before this, its 
accuracy was quite poor.

If you think you are going to seriously want to do celestial nav and have it 
as a backup (or primary!) source of position for a major ocean passage, treat 
yourself to the Astra IIIb for $450.  It is all metal and will delight you 
far more than plastic will.  I did this and it helped me get over the hump of 
just toying around with celestial to becoming really dedicated and serious 
about learning how to use a sextant.

Or look around for a good used sextant.  You can often find other metal 
sextants in the $200-$500 range if you look for a few months, or try 
www.ebay.com.

Spending MORE than $500 for a sextant doesn't buy you much, but I think every 
dollar spent up to around $500 is worth it.

Dan Allen
danallen@microsoft.com

-----Original Message-----
From  John K Simmonds [mailto:mobi@netconnect.com.au]
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 1999 4:06 AM
To: carl
Cc: navigation@roninhouse.com
Subject: Re: [Fwd: [Nml] Ebbco sextant]


Actually, imho, the Davis (either model) makes a good learning instrument
(especially teaches adjustment and the need to check prior to use) and when you
move on to a metal instrument, makes an excellent backup

cheers,
John

carl wrote:

> I don't know about the Ebbco, but I have both a Davis Mark 3 and a Mark
> 25.  The 25 has pretensions to being a serious sextant--for $175.  A
> couple of years ago the cover of Ocean Navigator showed a navigator
> taking a sight in fairly rough seas with a Mark 25.  It's not that it's
> not accurate--just it takes a lot of fiddling with the mirrors to keep
> it in adjustment.

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