iOptron Duel "DV" Saddle

[Don Quixote]

This piece of kit allows me to mount both Vixen and Losmandy rails on my Vixen based telescope mounts.

I acquired this piece in my pursuit of the best mounting solution for my Meade ???, 10 inch Schmidt Cassigrain .
This scope is much to heavy in my opinion to mount with a Vixen Dovetail.

The Losmandy Dovetail is very strong and and beautifully finished with numeric mounting demarcations for instant repeat positioning for the use of various optical set ups. I like the precision of this rail.

So I needed a way to mount the Losmandy Dovetail to my existing mounts. But I did not want to have to remove an adapter when I use one of the scopes with the Vixen Dovetail attached.

I purchased the iOptron Duel "DV" Saddle, IOP-8426VD from Highpoint. It is a very robust piece of machining.

The 6 inch spring loaded jaws support the rather flexible aluminum vixen dovetail on my Skywatcher very firmly imparting more stability to this mount configuration than the 2.5 inch jaws on the mount head. The vixen portion of the iOptron saddle is a solid chunk of steel and does not flex in the 2.5 inch jaws of the mount. It becomes one unit when all is tightened down.

But the vixen dovetail is not the main reason I acquired this saddle.

Mounting the Losmandy Dovetail was my objective.

This system is a delight to operate. The jaws open on a spring load...no thumb screws to fiddle with as I hold the scope in the saddle. The large fluted clamping drivers are easy to grasp and have a large allen head through bolt that is very securely tightened with my handy allen wrench.

Once the scope is mounted, before final tightening with the Allen wrench, it is a sinch to slide the dovetail in the clamping jaws to set the balance for whatever optical arrangement I am planning to employ.

This piece of kit is not cheap, but...well good equipment usually isn't.

That's my story on this humble accessory.

I hope these images do it justice.
Clear skies to you all.

[Lady Fraktor]

Very nice Mark.
I purchased one of these for my Vixen SXP mount as I am planning on getting a Losmandy plate for the 150mm f/8 at some point.
The dual capacity saddle is a nice option to have.

[Hankmeister3]

Nice piece of kit, Marcus. I look forward to checking it out when we have another DSO mini-star party. I wish the saddle of my EQ6-R Pro was as nicely manufactured since I use OTAs with either Vixen or Losmandy mounts. In fact I'll be hauling out my own Meade LX200 10-inch light bucket in a couple of days and loading on the obligatory counter-weights! My back hurts already thinking about it. Heh!

[Don Quixote]

Nice piece of kit, Marcus. I look forward to checking it out when we have another DSO mini-star party. I wish the saddle of my EQ6-R Pro was as nicely manufactured since I use OTAs with either Vixen or Losmandy mounts. In fact I'll be hauling out my own Meade LX200 10-inch light bucket in a couple of days and loading on the obligatory counter-weights! My back hurts already thinking about it. Heh!

I will be sure to bring the analgesic when we go out Henry.

It is a real pleasure to see your post on here my friend. I hope you have a great day !