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Subject: [Nml] Ebbco sextant
Aliscafi@XXX.XXX
Date: Sat Jan 23 1999 - 13:26:50 EST
The Ebbco in my opinion is not a good sextant, either for beginner or more
advanced navigation. It tries to have a foot in both camps, but not
successfully. It is too plastic for the stability you would seek from a metal
sextant, such as an AriesIII series, and it contains pretensions to optics and
a drum micrometer that are likewise not of good quality. You pay more for
these pretentions, but they won't satisfy you for long.
A much better plan, if you are a beginning navigator, is to buy the Davis Mark
3 and use it until it no longer challenges you. (This may not happen for a
very long time; I still drag mine out every once in awhile and surprise myself
how accurate it is.) By then, you will know how far up the chain you wish to
go for a better sextant. In the meantime, keep your eye on the "used cruising
gear" ads in sailing magazines. The sailor who has become disillusioned about
cruising across the seas will often advertise a new and very fine sextant for
disillusionment prices. That's the time to buy a better sextant, and not
until then.
I have taught for many years using the Davis Mark 3 for my students, and I can
say with absolute confidence that it would if necessary take you safely around
the world with considerable accuracy (say, 2 parts in 1000 n.m). It lacks
optics (hence, won't gather light from stars or planets very well), a
micrometer drum (hence, must rely on a vernier scale---as did generations of
R.N. navigators), and it's plastic (hence, needs to be protected from heat and
being sat on). But, pound for pound (or is it Euro for Euro, now?), dollar
for dollar, it's a great buy---about $40 U.S.
Good luck.
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