The point of having a sextant onboard is to have an analog means of position fixing apart from digital equipments, a sextant all by itself is a device that has errors but it can be adjusted mechanically by the navigator, now that it is integrated into a digital device it introduces another source of error.
The point of having a sextant on board is to have a GPS backup. Period. If a digital sextant helps overcoming the fear of attempting celestial navigation, surely it is something to encourage. Yes, you are introducing a small dependency on the battery of the digital unit, and indeed the angle sensor is a new source of error. However, this is an interesting development. The price (around US$5000 in Sept 2022) is sadly very high... A traditional metal sextant is around US$1000.
The digital unit is not impressive. May as well detach the digital unit and place it on the chart table. The Casio scientific calculator would be just as good to do the sight calculation with much cheaper price than the digital unit of the sextant, i presume.
This is like having a pendelum clock with a digital display......an invention nobody needs. A mechanical sextant is a backup for your digital toys. Adding another electronic toy makes it not more usefull.
The point of having a sextant onboard is to have an analog means of position fixing apart from digital equipments, a sextant all by itself is a device that has errors but it can be adjusted mechanically by the navigator, now that it is integrated into a digital device it introduces another source of error.
The point of having a sextant on board is to have a GPS backup. Period.
If a digital sextant helps overcoming the fear of attempting celestial navigation, surely it is something to encourage.
Yes, you are introducing a small dependency on the battery of the digital unit, and indeed the angle sensor is a new source of error.
However, this is an interesting development.
The price (around US$5000 in Sept 2022) is sadly very high... A traditional metal sextant is around US$1000.
The digital unit is not impressive. May as well detach the digital unit and place it on the chart table. The Casio scientific calculator would be just as good to do the sight calculation with much cheaper price than the digital unit of the sextant, i presume.
Seems like a HUGE pain in the Rump to use 😢
This is like having a pendelum clock with a digital display......an invention nobody needs.
A mechanical sextant is a backup for your digital toys. Adding another electronic toy makes it not more usefull.