Farpoint Sure Grip Vixen Dovetail Saddle

Product Overview

The Farpoint Sure Grip Vixen Dovetail Saddle is a V-size (Vixen-style) saddle for attaching optical tubes and accessories to a mount. It is machined from aluminum, finished in black anodize, and CNC-machined in the United States. In place of a set-screw tip, it uses a non-marking clamp system that spreads the clamping load across the dovetail, so the bar comes through repeated setups without pitting or deformation. The saddle weighs 1.313 lb.

Who It’s For

This is a good match if you…

• mount optical tubes, guide scopes, or cameras on V-size (Vixen-style) dovetail bars.
• break the rig down after every session and would rather the bar surfaces stayed clean.
• are replacing a set-screw saddle that has started to dent or pit your dovetails.
• are building out a V-size dovetail system and want the saddle to match the bars.

Key Features & Design

• Non-marking clamp system: the clamp bears on the dovetail over a broad contact area rather than through the point of a set screw, holding firmly without marring the bar.
• V-size standard: clamps Vixen-style dovetail bars, the narrower of the two common telescope dovetail standards.
• Black anodized aluminum: the anodized surface resists handling wear and keeps stray reflections down around the mount head.
• CNC-machined in the United States: the dovetail profile is machined rather than extruded and filed to fit.
• 1.313 lb: light enough that it takes little out of the payload budget of a small equatorial mount.

Mechanical Design

A conventional Vixen saddle grips with the tip of a single set screw. That concentrates the whole clamping force into a contact patch a few millimetres across, which is what leaves the row of dimples along a well-used bar and, in time, raises burrs that make the bar harder to slide. The Sure Grip clamp instead presses a bearing face against the dovetail flank, distributing the same load over a far larger area. Two things follow: the bar surface stays flat, and the grip stays consistent, because a flat face cannot skate off a burr the way a screw tip can. Armored-strip bars exist specifically to survive set screws; with this clamp, the plain versions hold just as well.

Recommended Uses

• Carrying a short refractor or small SCT on a V-size saddle for visual observing.
• Mounting a guide scope or a camera assembly that rides on its own Vixen bar.
• Replacing a stock set-screw saddle on a mount where bar marking has become a nuisance.
• Portable setups assembled and dismantled at a dark site several times a month.

Compatibility and Accessory Notes

• Dovetail standard: V-size (Vixen-style). D-size (Losmandy-style) bars ride in a D saddle or on a V-to-D adapter instead.
• Attaches to: mount heads and plates drilled for the saddle’s base hole pattern. Farpoint publishes a product drawing giving the hole pattern and measurements.
• Bars: any V-size bar, armored or plain — the non-marking clamp removes the reason to pay for the armored version.
• Material: black anodized aluminum throughout, CNC-machined in the United States.

Tell us your scope and mount and we’ll confirm the fit.

Good to Know Before You Order

• This is a saddle, not a bar. It is the half that goes on the mount; the dovetail bar that bolts to the telescope is a separate item.
• V-size only. The clamp is cut for the Vixen profile, so a D-size bar calls for a D saddle or the V-to-D adapter saddle.
• Base hole pattern. Bolting to a mount head or plate depends on that part being drilled to match, and the published product drawing gives the pattern.
• Published weight is 1.313 lb. That is the saddle alone, without bar or fasteners for the telescope side.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it difficult to install?

Installation is a bolt-on job with hand tools. The saddle fastens to the mount head or plate through its base holes, and the telescope’s V bar then slides in and clamps. Where the base hole pattern already matches, no machining or shimming is involved.

What makes the clamp a “sure grip”?

It bears on the dovetail across a broad face instead of through a set-screw tip, so the holding force is spread out. The bar stays unmarked and the grip stays even.

Are armored dovetail bars still worth buying with this saddle?

Armored strips exist to protect bars from set screws. This clamp does not mar bars, so plain V-size bars serve equally well here.

Is V-size the same as Vixen?

Yes. V-size is the Vixen-style dovetail, the narrower of the two common standards; the wider one is D-size, also called Losmandy-style.

What is it made of?

Aluminum with a black anodized finish, CNC-machined in the United States.

Bottom Line

In short: a 1.313 lb CNC-machined V-size saddle whose clamp holds a Vixen bar firmly and leaves it unmarked — which also means plain bars serve as well as armored ones.