Hi AB,
I want to replace my current dovetail bar with a Losmandy plate but I have never used or even seen one. Are all mount saddles compatible with them ? I can’t find anything on internet to confirm wether it will work with my EQM-35 Pro
Losmandy plate on EQM-35 Pro ?
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Searched a lot and found the answer. It’s a vixen style saddle. I’ll have to find a replacement if I want to switch to Losmandy.
Eric Gagne · Feb 21, 2026, 03:41 AM
Searched a lot and found the answer. It’s a vixen style saddle. I’ll have to find a replacement if I want to switch to Losmandy.
Depends on what you are hoping to achieve, Eric. I took a trip to Sky watcher land and had to cross the pond to England and FLO.
And yep, it is a sort of a Vixen style saddle. But did you know Losmandy also makes Vixen style bars as well as their D bars?
If you want to see if you can change the clamp, here is a GM8 mount clamp. But you will need to call and find out of it would bolt on to your EQM35 Pro.
There used to be some pages on the Losmandy site giving the layout of their D-bars and the dimensions, but I couldn’t find them. I did find this for the DUP14” D bar.
And finally, here is a link to Losmandy’s Store page.
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Here’s what I’m trying to do….maybe I should have started with that :D
I know many consider the EQM-35 Pro like a cheap mount that should be avoided but I like it, it does the job for me. At 500mm with my Askar 71F I get good guiding, not perfect but enough to be below my resolution.
I do though absolutely hate the external motors because they get in the way and that’s what I am trying to fix. My AF runs into it and I couldn’t find a way to balance the mount by moving the scope forward or backward so I had to rotate the saddle 180º but that puts the cable in the way a little and forces me to plug it upside down.
Motor on the left when facing the mount, should be on the right hand side.
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But that creates other issues. Now the AF runs into the knob which would normally be on the other side so I had to replace it with a bolt and I need to use a wrench each time I mount/dismount the scope. That’s annoying and makes it tricky to do without dropping the whole thing because it also makes the “anti-slip” screw useless now. It’s supposed to help prevent the scope from sliding down while it’s being mounted but it has the wrong angle now that it’s on the top.
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So I need 2” riser blocks but I am not comfortable with the idea of using them on a dovetail bar. I wouldn’t have concerns with 0.5” or 0.75” ones but at 2” I worry that the blocks being taller than wide may not be very sturdy and could lead to flexing issues because the centre of gravity will be higher and that’s gonna pull on them.
So my plan was to get a Losmandy plate and user large riser blocks, basically the same width as the plate wo they couldn’t flex.
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William Optics makes a Vixen style dovetail plate that is 3.5” wide. I think that’s the solution for me. I just need to find riser blocks that will fit, that shouldn't be difficult.
https://williamoptics.com/products/vixen-style-dovetail-plate
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I also found this ADM V to D converted. Much more expensive than William Optics considering I’d need that plus a Losmandy plate but that gives me more flexibility, I could use any Losmandy plate I want.
https://admaccessories.com/product/v2d-converter-converts-v-series-mounts-to-a-d-series-mount/
Eric Gagne · Feb 21, 2026, 03:07 PM
William Optics makes a Vixen style dovetail plate that is 3.5” wide. I think that’s the solution for me. I just need to find riser blocks that will fit, that shouldn't be difficult.
https://williamoptics.com/products/vixen-style-dovetail-plate
Looks like a workable solution, Eric.
A lot of our equipment comes down to figuring out how to make it work with our ideas.
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I got lucky this morning. I found an ADM V2D on eBay for only $55 CAD and it’s here in Canada.
Sonny, thanks for your help.
Eric Gagne · Feb 21, 2026, 03:46 PM
I got lucky this morning. I found an ADM V2D on eBay for only $55 CAD and it’s here in Canada.
Sonny, thanks for your help.
You’re most welcome, Eric.
That ADM adapticator looks like the answer to your wish.
I will say I never liked hollow or open (Extruded) Vixen bars when I was using my AVX mount. I went to great pains and found a guy would made solid Vixen bars. He wanted a solid bar for his own use and made more and sold the extras. They were a one-off run. But fantastic. No holes, drill your own.
After my AVX lived its short life, I was looking for a new mount and found so many were comparing to Losmandy this, or Losmandy that. I decided to look at Losmandy mounts and decided to get the real deal. And here I am. Plus I live about 25 miles North of the Burbank Losmandy Factory. I pick mine up at the source. Got to meet Scott, Tanya, and Brian before he worked for them. (Doesn’t anymore.)
For my scope I liked the 14” Universal because I wanted to spread the scope rings out. I thought they looked terrible only ~6” apart on my AT130EDT. Now they are much more appealing to me and my scope is better supported. Then I bought another 14” for the top because I run a guide scope and camera. It sandwiched the telescope and makes things very solid.
At first I tried my damnedest to get an OAG to work. Bought 2 and tried for a month but found instant guiding success when I got a guide scope and mounted it on my 80mm telescope. Back then OAG’s were only recommended for Shmit-Cassigrains.
Anyhow, I think you found a perfect way to get a Losmandy Style bar on your mount you love. Good hunting!
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SonnyE · Feb 21, 2026 at 05:22 PM
Anyhow, I think you found a perfect way to get a Losmandy Style bar on your mount you love. Good hunting!
That is still temporary, until I can afford a NYX-88 but in the mean time it’s gonna make things easier to manage. I shoot from my deck, I have to take everything in and out each time and it’s too heavy to move as a whole. Fiddling with this bolt and a wrench quickly becomes annoying and steals some of the fun.
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Eric Gagne · Feb 21, 2026, 05:31 PM
SonnyE · Feb 21, 2026 at 05:22 PM
Anyhow, I think you found a perfect way to get a Losmandy Style bar on your mount you love. Good hunting!
That is still temporary, until I can afford a NYX-88 but in the mean time it’s gonna make things easier to manage. I shoot from my deck, I have to take everything in and out each time and it’s too heavy to move as a whole. Fiddling with this bolt and a wrench quickly becomes annoying and steals some of the fun.
When planning my mount I planned how to have hand screws in places I didn’t want to fiddle with Allan wrenches. But you might consider revising where you are fighting Hex Heads to Allan head cap screws and use T-handled Allan wrenches for convenience. Ball tipped are an even greater convenience.
Along with a lot of brainwork, I find my ability to adapt is used a lot as well.
Ajoining points on my mount have Allan head bolts (AKA:Capscrews) in places I don’t want taken apart, and hand screws in the places where I do.
You will need to figure out the sizes and lengths you want for the best fitment of the problematic bolts or fasteners you’d like to make more convenient.
No sense in letting the hardware frustrate you. 🤬😉
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