NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: What is a good sextant to buy?
From: Bill B
Date: 2019 Sep 2, 22:03 -0700
From: Bill B
Date: 2019 Sep 2, 22:03 -0700
Sextants were designed for crossing seas. The distance at 1 second of an arc is approximately 101.3 feet latitude or longitude at the equator. Tamiya and P&C specs state plus/minus 12”. Astra 3B professional is plus/ minus 15”. Astra 3B deluxe is plus/minus 20”.The above are worst case. There are other variables that can throw a twist into the quest for perfection that are out of the user’s control. Do the math and decide if a 3” to 8” difference is worth paying the difference. Unless you are on an unusually stable surface like land, an oil rig or large ship in calm seas in ideal conditions (and know your height of eye to the foot) the difference(other than price) is moot IMHO.
