The SF is the same in all directions from any point, and deformation increases regularly. The shapes of small areas are preserved. Uses - Large scale mapping, esp. Mercator - introduced for nautical navigation. Great circle route can easily be approximated from a series of straight rhumbs.
Areas enlarge at rapidly increasing rate in higher latitudes, however, so only use is navigation.
Conformal, but rhumbs are no longer straight lines. Only useful is small zone around the standard meridian. Used for topographic maps and a base for the UTM plane coordinate system. Lambert's conformal conic projection with two standard parallels - has two concentric parallels and perpendicular, equally spaced straight meridians. Areal distortion around the standard parallels is low.