ADM Dual saddle on EQ6

[Patrice Lanteigne]

The AR152 with accessories is a heavy scope. It comes equipped with an inexpensive generic vixen sized dovetail bolted to it's cradle type scope rings. That fits directly in the vixen saddle of my EQ6 which being older did not come with the newer dual saddle. When mounted and accessorized the AR152 did not sit as solid as I would have liked. There is always a bit of flex, no matter how tight the two retainer bolts of the saddle are turned in.

Today the postman delivered some goodies from ADM. A replacement dual 'DV' saddle and puck for the EQ6 and a wide dovetail for the scope. The changeover from old saddle to replacement is done in less than 5 minutes. Loosen 3 grub screws, remove the old puck, drop in the new one and retighten the grub screws. I made sure to mark the home position first as as to align the new saddle in the same direction as the old one.

The ADM dovetail was also a simple and fast changeover. Didn't even have to take the scope out of its cradle. The ADM unit sits flat against the cradle whereas the old dovetail made contact along two raised little ridges at the edges of the dovetail. The 2 cradle seats are only 1.5 inches wide and have only one tapped hole each, so the ADM dovetail is still only attached to the scope by 2 allen head bolts. I was not sure if this would be adequate to stiffen things up, but i was holding off ordering a set a Parallax rings since they are pretty pricey. It turns out that as it stands everything seems to be working as it should. It must be the combination of flat mating surfaces as well as the wider dovetail in a longer saddle clamp. The setup now seems totally solid at the mounting point. I'll give it few tryouts before making a decision on rings with a wider base and 3 bolt attachment points.

In conclusion I feel the ADM upgrade is not wasted money. Their stuff is well priced and the fit and finish is second to none.

[Scotty27]

It certainly looks the business Patrice.

[StuartJPP]

Looks good, also liking your replacement alt bolts

[r3i]

Agreed - it's an excellent upgrade. I bought mine back in 2010 at the same time as I bought the EQ6. At that time all you got with the EQ6 was the Vixen saddle.

Not only did the ADM saddle give me the dual option, it is a much longer saddle than the default one so gives a greater amount of grip on your precious scope.

[kirkster501]

Looks great. But what does the ADM saddle offer over and above the standard saddle the EQ6 comes with?

[Patrice Lanteigne]

Looks great. But what does the ADM saddle offer over and above the standard saddle the EQ6 comes with?

The saddle that came with my EQ6 is very short, only accepts vixen dovetails (narrow) and has two bolts which chew into the dovetail to retain it,

The ADM is longer so more contact. Clamping force is distributed along the entire length of the saddle. The wider saddle is more resistant to sideways torque. The model I chose will accept both narrow and wide dovetails. My lighter scopes will keep their smaller dovetails for now.

[Dunkster]

Wow Patrice that looks cracking! The AR152 looks like a big scope... I (occasionally LOL) use a C11 on an NEQ6 but the AR makes the C11 look like a baby

[Sp@ce_d]

Nice setup you have there. Looking good.. I use ADM bars & adapters on everything now. Have a Dual Bar setup on my eq6. Very nicely made. I do prefer the older style knobs though. The newer ones are slightly smaller and a sharper finish at the back. Not as easy to tighten with cold hands as I found out when I sliced through my gloves !

[celkins]

Wow Patrice that looks cracking! The AR152 looks like a big scope... I (occasionally LOL) use a C11 on an NEQ6 but the AR makes the C11 look like a baby

Indeed - it looks similar (very) to my Bresser Messier R152s, which I found to be hugely more stable on the wide dovetail, with an ADM clamp (on a CG5) - same observation about only 2 bolts, but it does seem to make a big difference, never the less; good choice, IMHO.