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Re: Second hand sextant advice
From: Bruce Cutting
Date: 2018 Apr 7, 15:37 -0600
From: Bruce Cutting
Date: 2018 Apr 7, 15:37 -0600
I bought a 2nd hand sextant from India and was generally satisfied. The optics has seperted which cost $60 to get repaired, but mechanically, the sextant and box was fine. The packing was not the best and the "legs" on the sextant were slightly bent - no obvious damage to the sextant, and it has given me good results. Cheers! Bruce > Hi all, > I am a student studying a marine based navigation course at university. > Since having had practical use of a sextant on my sea phases and learning > about it in some depths throughout my studies I have been itching to get > my hands on one for personal use and as something that can last me for the > many years to come. I was hoping that I could hone in on someone’s wisdom > here and be advised accordingly as I find myself going in circles at the > minute. > Having practiced on the Astras I find no issues with them, even though > they are made in China they do themselves justice for the price. Without > the consideration of cost I have looked at Tamayas, Cassens and Plath, > [LINK: > https://www.force4.co.uk/force-4-freiberger-drum-sextant-split-view.html] > Freiberger and a variety of others. The cost for these (especially those > with a brass/bronze arc) is vastly more expensive in comparison to > sextants such as the Astras. Is this down to the fact that you are paying > for a prestigious name or because in fact that the ones manufactured in > Japan and Germany are just that much better? Unable to afford a brand new > Tamaya or C&P I had a look around for second hand ones which are more > within my price range. Is going for a second hand Tamaya or C+P better > than investing in a brand new Astra. It seems mad that people would > potentially pay a huge sum of money for a Chinese Astra when for the same > price you can purchase a second hand Tamaya or C&P with a brass arc and a > better scope for the same price. I was hoping that with the money I may > save on purchasing a second hand sextant that I could maybe invest the > remainder on sending it to a local shop in London that specialises in > refurbishing sextants. The large majority of these second hand German and > Japanese sextants seem to be coming from India, has anyone had experience > on importing a second hand sextant from India or is it something that > should be avoided? A large quantity of them seem to be going for a good > price however, some of the photos show that the manufacturing number on > the arc and the sextant certificate do not match up, should that be a sale > to walk away from? Is there anything that I should be meticulous in > checking specifically when looking at a second hand sextant or avoid it > completely? > Thank you in advance for considering the above and I really would > appreciate any feedback and comments. > I look forward to hearing from you. > Kind regards, > > > > Ed. > > [plain text auto-generated] > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > NavList message boards and member settings: http://fer3.com/NavList > Members may optionally receive posts by email. > To cancel email delivery, send a message to NoMail[at]fer3.com > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > > : > http://fer3.com/arc/m2.aspx/Second-hand-sextant-advice-Colonna-apr-2018-g41787