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Alexander wrote:
>
> Can you really testify that C. sextant performs better than
> Tamaya or Freiberger?
> Or it is just the snob appeal?

Robert responds:

With respect to the Frieberger, yes, absolutely. No question. With respect to 
the Tamaya, I have only used these on a few occassions and did not like the 
"feel" of them. But if you re-read my post, I was referring to Cassens and 
sextant as being, in my humble opinion, the best of the lot in today's 
market. If you want a statistical analysis of the two, you're outta luck.

I agree that in some cases, preference in choosing a sextant can be quite 
subjective and yes, I readily admit that snob appeal was one of the 
motivations for my purchasing a C.sextant.  Guilty my friend!  Guilty! But, 
aside from snob appeal, there were a whole host of other, more practical 
considerations that lead to my final choice.

Alexander wrote:

>
> It is interesting to know what the reputation of various
> brands really depends on. Has anyone really seriously
> compared
> performance of various brands?

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of any published works on this topic. A 
lot of authors side step the issue. When I was on my steep learning curve, I 
had the good fortune to have some first class mentors at my disposal: all 
ex-Navy officers with decades of solid experience in the pre-GPS era where 
having a good sextant was crucial to safe and accurate navigation. To a man, 
they all believed that C.sextant and Cassens and sextant shared the apex of 
the sextant world, with all others vying for position as second, third, 
fourth etc. And all of them owned either a C.sextant or a Cassens and 
sextant. The late Bruce Bauer (author of the Sextant Handbook)for example, 
owned a Cassens and sextant.

Having myself carefully examined and used many types of sextants, I share 
their sentiment. An interesting thing to note is that Bruce Bauer indicated 
that the late Frank Janicek of Maryland Precision Optical in Baltimore, felt 
that Cassens and sextant was the superior sextant because, from the 
perspective of the instrument repair man, they are easier to work on.

I don't pretend to be an expert. I can only pass on the "wisdom" of my own 
limited experience. Others may have more compelling reasons to support their 
own preferences.

cheers,

Robert





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