pf@mplvax.UUCP (Pierre Flament) (04/05/85)
After a close look to the market, I also bought a Freiberger sextant (which is in fact Carl Zeiss Iena, DDR, where Carl Zeiss was before WW2). It is one of the nicest on the market. Extremely light cast aluminum construction (many sextants are still made of brass), good tangent screw, well protected from spray. I also like the clutch mechanism, at 90 o of what is found in most sextant; it is more ergonomical. I have both the standard telescope and the monocular, but find that most of the time, in yachting applications, it is easier to remove them, and use the naked eye. The mirrors are identical to the Plath's (and I think to the Tamaya), but the silvering quickly tarnishes. Has someone experience with Plath mirrors, are they better ? The box is cheaply built of a soft wood that gets dammaged quickly. The reading light is a badly designed add-on. I also had a 3/4 size Freiberger in the past, and really liked it; I am not yet sure what's best on a yacht. One of the cheapest place to purchase it is Kelvin Hughes (a profesionnal, not yachting place) near Tower Hill in London, I do not have recent prices, but it should be less than 300 $. I am surprized that this communist block product is imported in the US!