Davis Davis Mark 3 Sextant Bundle with Artificial Horizon & Celestial Navigation Quick Reference Chart (3 Items)

Excellent delivery time (three days before the planned day)Excellent packaging to preserve the integrity of the itemsThe items perfectly meets the description, now I can start to learn the basics of celestial navigationa at a very reasonable price!Highly recommended purchase for all those who want to learn the basics of celestial navigation

The sextant will be perfect for learning to take celestial measurements.

I've never used a sextant but have always been interested in being able to find my position from the heavens. My first line-of-position after becoming accustomed to the sextant and artificial horizon seemed pretty good to me but I'm sure I will improve on it. I haven't had a good sun after making the first LOP so I don't have a "fix" yet. However, plotting the LOP and my cell phone's GPS location I might be within 6 miles. Not great but it's my first experience. I have some suggestions for Davis: 1) in the instruction book for the sextant add sketches of how the sun should appear for an upper and lower limb shot. Initially I kept trying to put the reflected image over/under the sun but they need to be half of each, side-by-side down the middle, i.e. the suns image on the left and the index arm reflection on the right; 2) add a note to the instructions for the artificial horizon alerting the user to the field of view. That is, I was standing too far away (I'm at 43 degrees N. latitude) but I found a YouTube review that said the closer you get to the artificial horizon the greater your field of view. That made it quite easy to get the sun's image in the middle of the artificial horizon's water surface. Overall, I give 5-stars because the device seems to work smoothly and fully meets my expectations for the price. Also, the instructions for making the alignment adjustments were easy to follow and simple to perform. My only problem on alignments was finding a suitable target at least a mile away - hard to find in my town.

The filters need to be darker. The sun is still very bright with all filters in place. Looking at the sun with the filters in place quickly cause eye strain and it takes several minutes for your normal vision to return. I have made many solar observations with a survey total station with a filter in place and did not find the sun nearly as bright as this device. I believe the filters need to provide the same darkening as a number 10 welding shield glass.

I was rather suprised that at this price point this device was as heavy, well made, and reasonably accurate as it is. I would not try to navigate the Southern Ocean with it, but if you had no watch at all, it would help you know local actual noon for taking sextant measurements of the altitude of the sun. Also a great conversation piece for the home.