I was pleasantly surprised the first time I had my cronus out to 600 yards at the range, I was able to see my 6.5 bullet holes on my target! That is worth the cost of the scope to me.
Rifle Scopes Cronus clarity
- Thread starter knuckleballz
- Start date
I dont own a Cronus but the ones ive looked through were pretty impressive. Its defiently on the short list of scopes for my 6.5.
Well I guess I'll get to check it out for myself, just ordered one from Midway, they have a great price.
take a look at the new Ares as well. Priced a little lower, FFP, nice lines. I found it very clear. Some comments here on 'Hide from me an others... things we would have liked, but in the price range it rocks. Not a Chronus, or BMW 5 series, buy maybe a 3 series. 
May I ask if yours has these etchings on the 2's when illuminated? I'm trying to find out if this is normal. Thanks
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My Cronus BTR has similar artifacts when illuminated but overall it is still one of the best overall daylight bright to low light implementations of reticle lighting I've seen.
It tracks true, returns to zero. and optical quality is excellent! In my opinion, the optical performance of this scope is well above its price point!
I had Cronus 4.5-29x56 scopes on both my 40X repeater & Stiller 2500XR 22RF trainer rifles, and was very reluctant to move those two scopes to any of my CF rifles after getting spoiled by the optical quality of the Cronus. I kept the Cronus off the Stiller in the safe after selling that rifle, with the intention of mounting it on the 2nd 40X repeater when I get it back from jelrod. But after shooting a bit at 500yds with the Ares 4.5-27x50 on my M70 push-feed 6x47, I'm thinking of putting an Ares on that 40X when I get it back. Probably will at least give an Ares a trial on the 22, just to find out whether I can see a 22RF bullet going through the field of view & hitting the target. That's pretty common while shooting with a Cronus, as long as my follow-thru is good, and that I don't blink at the shot break. Actually, testing tracking of an Ares on a 22RF is a good thing, since I tend to shoot a heckuva lot more rounds per outing with a 22, and also shoot far more often than I do with any of my CF rifles. All the dialing done on a 22RF when engaging targets from 50-200yds gives the knobs a work-out, so lack of recoil's effect on durability aside, testing a scope on a precision 22RF is a good way to find out how consistent a new scope is.
It is not normal. I have that issue. After the season mine will go in. I contacted Athlon. They said no problem having that taken care of. The filament is slightly off center.
The BTR has fixed the parallax tightness. It's really really good now. I've used it in prs where you can't touch your scope when they say go. Shot from 300 to 1000 with no adjustment. Easy to do. Very forgiving glass.
Thanks for letting me know yours has the same issue. I keep getting crap from people because I'm trying to point out the issue and they all basically say turn down the illumination and deal with it, which is not the answer, it's a manufacturing problem and I thought I'd bring it to people attention. I will say Athlons been great and I think they know the issue but aren't really confirming. It's a really nice scope and I hope this issue gets fixed.
I just looked through mine with the illumination on, and it does the exact same thing. Parts of the #'s are randomly illuminated while others are not...? I do utilize the illuminated reticles in my scopes during certain hunting scenarios so I'll have to contact them to check about this as well.... And the turrets.
Well, don't bother as they will tell you it's within spec and nothing is wrong. They told me that all of them were like that. I will say that they where very responsive and helpful. They sent me another one and threw in a sunshade for free (although the black isn't the same so it doesn't match). I hope that the next iteration of the Cronus won't exhibit this issue. I don't really use the illumination very often and when I do it's during the day so I can live with it for now, but the point is that it shouldn't look like that, my other Illuminated scopes don't exhibit that issue. I think whomever did the etching of the reticle were off a few hundreds.
Are the numbers in the reticle supposed to be fully illuminated, or just the reticle itself, and not the #'s...? Yeah, none of my other scopes do that either. I don't know, I'm sure I'll be just fine but it would be nice if the #'s were all fully illuminated. So far, other than that illumination issue, the only other gripe I have with my Cronus is the mushy turrets (not at all like the ones I've seen in the videos where they're tactile, crisp, and audible). I thought that was something Athlon fixed on the new BTR's...?
No, I don't believe they are supposed to be illuminated, the older reticle numbers didn't illuminate. I have a BTR and my turrets aren't mushy at all.
Turret clicks on my Cronus BTR are both distinct and audible with thankfully larger engraved Mil markings than original Cronus. Best of all, elevation turret tracks perfectly to at least 10 Mil (as far as I've tested it) and returns to zero every time. Passed tracking test with flying colors.
Yeah, I thought that was one of the things they fixed with the newer Cronus BTR's, but I guess mine didn't receive that same treatment as they are probably the mushiest feeling turrets I've felt in the last 7 or 8 years. Barely audible unless I spin the hell out of them really fast, and very easy to skip a click or two while dialing. I don't know if I've just been spoiled by the turrets on my other scopes, but even the Viper PST's and freaking Nikon M223 scopes I've had, have had more tactile and audible turrets than this BTR. I'll contact Athlon and see if there's a quick fix for it or if it's something that would require sending it in.
Yes, I will be sending it in to Athlon in the very near future for them to check it out/fix. So far, I like everything else about the scope. All in all this is a very small to me issue and I have complete confidence they will do their best to make it right as I've heard nothing but great things about their customer service/support.
Wyzard, The fix for the mushy turret feel on any early athalon scope is to remove the knobs, wipe off the factory grease, and replace it with the new grease they use (athalon will send it out to you if you contact them) I did this and the difference in notable clicks is substantial. I did it on all my midas, cronus, and budget line athalon scope turrets.
Thanks. I was gonna give it a shot, but was contacted by an Athlon employee/representative (?) and they recommended I send it in for them to check out. So, I already shipped it out earlier this afternoon. It probably is something as simple as switching out the grease in the turrets, but what the hell... At least now, it'll get the once over while it's there. I honestly don't know if I'm just expecting too much out of the turrets on my Cronus BTR, especially compared to my NF, Razor, Steiners, etc...? Maybe I've been spoiled by some of my other scopes as far as how crisp, audible and tactile they are.
As far as illumination goes. The BTR was not suppose to have illumination on the numbers to simplify the reticle while lit up. The original Cronus has the numbers illuminated and is one of the best illumination jobs I've ever seen on any scope. There is zero bloom and no bleed.
