NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Most commonly used/preferred sextant among NavList members
From: Francis Upchurch
Date: 2015 Feb 2, 12:14 -0800
From: Francis Upchurch
Date: 2015 Feb 2, 12:14 -0800
Thanks Frank,
For your information,my main sextant is a 10 year old Astra 111B which I have found excellent, even for lunars. I have used a friends beautiful Zeis Frieberger which at the time cost 4 times the Astra, and I can't tell the difference in terms of performance. So you pays your money and take your choice. My old plastic Davis 3 cost about £20 back then and is great for back-up and perfect for local pilotage using horizontal angles to get very accurate fix. (See David Burch on this).
Home made 18th century octants are also great! I haven't made a backstaff yet, but maybe one day!
Best wishes
Francis