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  #11  
Old 11-21-2017, 06:39 PM
steve123 steve123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spook View Post
I had a CronusBTR (4.5x20) sent to me on approval by a distributor.
the glass is really, really (and I'm tempted to add a 3rd really) nice, as in better than most.
the knobs are a good size and easily "clicked" with gloved fingers
the retical is crisp and the actual lines and dots minimally thick.
things I bitch about: no sunshade included , seriously WTF ? for what would have cost them less than a buck to produce , I get to sent them 30 bucks and I'm told the color match sucks. epic fail in marketing
the retical brightness control is on the end of the side focus knob ? could be worse I guess.

this scope, by virtue of the quality of the glass, might be a smidge better than my Vortex's and equal to the upper end Bushys .
tempted to keep this one
You mean the Cronus BTR 4.5-29x56. There's little excuse for the sunshade color debacle except that there was an unanticipated mistake and the problem will be taken care in future shipments of the sunshades. I "do not" work for Athlon as an employee so I'm just conveying what I've heard.

The Cronus BTR is what I'm running this year on my main tactical rifle. Every time I get behind it I'm happy I did!
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  #12  
Old 11-23-2017, 02:44 PM
Spook Spook is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steve123 View Post
You mean the Cronus BTR 4.5-29x56. There's little excuse for the sunshade color debacle except that there was an unanticipated mistake and the problem will be taken care in future shipments of the sunshades. I "do not" work for Athlon as an employee so I'm just conveying what I've heard.

The Cronus BTR is what I'm running this year on my main tactical rifle. Every time I get behind it I'm happy I did!
any idea why they didnt INCLUDE a sunshade , like everyone else at that price point does seriously?
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  #13  
Old 11-23-2017, 04:24 PM
steve123 steve123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spook View Post
any idea why they didnt INCLUDE a sunshade , like everyone else at that price point does seriously?
Not the slightest???

FYI, I didn't get anything but a white box with my S&B.
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  #14  
Old 11-27-2017, 02:59 AM
NZVarminter NZVarminter is offline
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just to clarify the glass used in the Athlons:

Cronus is Jap class..supposed to be very good and possibly out of same factory as Nighforce

Ares (FFP) and Midas (SFP) are Chines "HD" glass

The rest are Chinese glass of lesser optical quality

I have a few Zeiss MC and HD5 scopes so use these as my "baseline" I'm not interested in dull optics and tunnel views (even sent my HD5 back when I first got it as couldnt see any improvement in optical definition over the old MC, and it has noticeable tunneling FOV compared to the older MC).

I have made up a jig to hold three scopes STEADY so you can view same image side by side. NB your wasting your time trying to compare scope in the gunshop holding them up to your eye.This tells you nothing.

I bought a Midas 4.5-27 and have done a side by side comparison in my jig with the Zeiss HD5 5-25 and an old Vortex Viper 6.5-20 x44.

2 seconds comparing the Midas to the Zeiss and I new it was going back! Dull, hazy, parallax wouldnt adjust past 400m and super critical eyebox. It was brighter than the Vortex, but the vortex parallax adjustment works! NB all three were compared at 20x. When you consider this is a $600-700 scope that's come out of China, and is new to the market I was expecting the optics and features to be much better.

Now for the interesting part. I did bit more research and found a few others with similar experience with the Midas, but nearly all posts on the Ares were very positive with comments of good optics. So I thought I'd be open and give the Ares a try.

Well I've now put the Ares 4.5-27 alongside the vortex and Zeiss and its a whole different scope. Not quite as bright as the Zeiss, but not far behind, but there is more chromatic aberration on the Zeiss than with the Ares. Looking at the USFA test chart, the black square is blacker in middle in the center of zeiss lense, but lighter colour towards the edges. The Ares is not so stark black at the center, but consistant across the width of the lense.

So the Ares glass is much better, and I rate it pretty close to the MC. At 27 power I can resolve more detail than the MC at 20

So at the end of the day I think it still comes down to price and features. Its Chiness and new brand, but the Ares is FFP, probably better to compare to Vortex PST Gen II so its $900 compared to $1400?

Now if the Midas glass was as good as the Ares, then that $600 compared to $1000 Leupold or Zeiss.


Cheers

Grant
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  #15  
Old 11-27-2017, 03:49 PM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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As has been stated, buying a scope is a very subjective thing simply because what one set of eyes perceives might not be even remotely close to what the next set of eyes perceives.

I wore corrective lenses from the time I was 19, largely due to astigmatism. Early this year I had cataract surgery done on both eyes, and for an extra fee per eye, the eye surgeon flattened the astigmatism ripples on my cornea and installed special new inner-ocular lenses that focus on the the totally flat back side of the lenses. The net result for me is my current 20/15+ combined vision which has virtually eliminated my age-old astigmatism.

One thing that I noticed very quickly after the surgery was that the adjustable eye piece on every scope I owned was screwed out way too far. After each was adjusted in a considerable amount, I found that a couple of scopes that I owned had clarity that I had not seen before. Saying which scopes makers they represent isn't important because the next guy's eyes likely won't see what I or someone else sees.

The experience didn't change my belief that not all scope glass is equal in quality, but it did surprise me how much the focus on each scope had to be adjusted for my eyes to look through the same scope. What was quality glass before my surgery still is.......... and inferior quality glass is still inferior for my eyes..............

Look around and choose what scope works best for you visually while realizing that what works for you might not be the next guy's choice for the very same reasons. Two different sets of eyes are involved. And different scopes offer different non-visual options that might influence your choice also. Those options that you like might mean didly to the next guy.

Each of us is different from everyone else in a bazillion different ways. And no specific rifle scope will "fit" everyone, simply because it might be your favorite.

-BCB
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  #16  
Old 11-28-2017, 12:53 AM
NZVarminter NZVarminter is offline
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Hmm I too have quite strong astigmatisms and all my scopes eye pieces are screwed right out too. Whats interesting is the apparent FOV is significantly larger when screwed out and maybe that's highlighting the tunnel view I see in most scopes.
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  #17  
Old 11-28-2017, 02:21 AM
JSH JSH is offline
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Well after a bit of tossing around I hit the go button on another Leupold.
VX-3 6.5-20. Buddy has three of them and said if I didn't like it he would give me my money back.
So I will see how it turns out.
Jeff
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