NavList:

Hi Rommel, nice to meet you! There is absolutley nothing wrong with making do with one or three for that matter.

When my son asked me ten years ago to teach him. I declined and said buy some backup GPSs - but what I didn't say was, I always had a desire to use some of the more sought after sextants. That was a busy time in my life. My only free time was for family or sailing, not learning another hobby. Some enjoyable pursuits one chooses to explore in depth and with serious dilligence. At this point in my life, CN would fall into that category. Collecting various instruments, tables, starfinders, etc, etc, would be a natural progression of that, for both insight as well as pleasure.

To understand further, survey instruments have been a life blood for me. When one couldn't buy a job in my trade, in the tough economic time of the 80's, precision surveying and eventually total station surveying kept me employed. Consequently in later years on large complex projects QCing survey was one of my primary tasks, as well as working with third party surveyors. Many of my old surveyor aquantinances and friends collect survey equipment, as do I. The fellow standing next to me in the introduction is a surveyor, his collection of instruments is much more impresive then mine. Another surveyor we know has a collection, that put's both ours combined to shame. But who's counting, I'm certainly not.

What better pursuit, then getting intimate with a collection. Later one could keep what one wanted and sell the rest and hopefully not at a loss - or donate the collection where it might be displayed.