Rifle Scopes Ares BTR 4.5-27 vs Midas Tac 6-24

[spife7980]

What I thought was pertinent info ended up being too much info.

Which one of the two listed for 550 bucks?

 

[spife7980]

Some applicable quotes

There's nothing "cheap" about Athlon scopes. I've been beating them up for 3 years now. I'm on my 3rd Cronus, using the BTR version now.

The Midas TAC is an awesome scope. I have the 4-16x on one of my rifles and love it. I passed it down to my son who is taking interest in shooting matches with me. I have a friend who bought the 6-24x and is placing top-3 at a lot of local/regional matches with his.

I feel it would be an excellent choice for your friend to consider with the described usage you laid out above. FFP, true ZS, capped wind knob, bright glass, great reticle, very audible and clicky turrets etc. I couldn't be happier with mine for the price.

Athlon guys came from Bushnell, know and stand by their optics. Good luck!

If he likes the reticle in the Talos BTR then the Ares BTR would be very similar. There's four of them among friends and they have worked well. I was just using mine on my 4.5-27/223AI yesterday. For the money - the sale price, it's a fine scope.

I like the turrets more on the TAC's I own but prefer the nice .2 reticle in the Ares BTR but the turrets on the Ares BTR are decent as is.

We have small steel behind bigger steel at a friends place and the only rifle and scope combo I've cleaned the small steel with is that Ares BTR 4.5-27x50. These things track well.

I was/am an Athlon detractor for the most part and even I own a Midas Tac. As long as you temper expectations, I don’t think there is a better sub $500 value.

The glass is as good as you could possibly expect for the price point. It even does a halfway decent job at controlling CA. Really my only complaints are the somewhat tight eye box over 20x and the center dot being pretty small.

The turrets and ZS are excellent, it tracks true, and it will not inhibit you from being competitive at local/regional matches. For the price, I don’t think you’ll find anything better.

 

[ccasanova]

Tag

Trying to make a similar decision.

 

[Kevins750]

x2

 

[littlepod]

Do you want an illuminated reticle? The illumination on the Ares BTR is quite pleasant in my opinion.

The turrets on the Ares BTR are mentioned that they're upgraded now. I'm not sure what to compare against. I just got my Ares BTR in the mail today. The Burris XTR II Turrets are much more tactile feeling, I like those a lot more.

For the same price, I'd think the Ares BTR is a better buy. Slightly more range in magnification, given you a larger FOV since you can go to 4.5x, and it has illumination.

 

[stilesg57]

Haven’t been behind them myself, but researched enough here and elsewhere that I’d say at the same price I’d do the Ares BTR. But at $75 spread or more, I’d do the Midas Tac. Those Midas Tac owners do seem more pleased with their scopes on average.

 

[cast1]

I have both in hand. They are both good scopes with some distinguishing characteristics. Reticle options are great in both. Both track well. Internals are stainless on the Midas TAC vs brass on the BTR. Clicks are very crisp on the Midas TAC vs a little more slippery on the BTR but not awful by any means. Windage is capped on the Midas vs not on the BTR. There are some screaming deals on the BTR right now, like below dealer cost. I do believe tho they are about to dc them if I had to guess.

 

[littlepod]

I have both in hand. They are both good scopes with some distinguishing characteristics. Reticle options are great in both. Both track well. Internals are stainless on the Midas TAC vs brass on the BTR. Clicks are very crisp on the Midas TAC vs a little more slippery on the BTR but not awful by any means. Windage is capped on the Midas vs not on the BTR. There are some screaming deals on the BTR right now, like below dealer cost. I do believe tho they are about to dc them if I had to guess.

Is the glass image quality pretty much the same?

 

[littlepod]

Also, for those who are looking at getting one or the other, I received 2 Athlon scopes and fantastic customer service over @ bluelineoptics.com. [email protected] was great to work with setting me up with the scope, sunshade, caps, and throw lever. I was bouncing back between BTR, ETR, and Cronus, and ended up with the Ares BTR and ETR. The Cronus was a little out of my price range.

Reach out to him if you have specific questions as he has all the Athlon scopes in hand to play with.

 

[A-Rob]

I had both and I kept the Ares, but I really could have gone either way depending on my mood for the day. I got the Ares cheap so it was an easy decision. If you like very clicky turrets, go Midas.

 

[Stickshift]

I bought an Ares BTR for $600 during the sale in March. At that price, or near it, I'd get one of them over a Midas Tac. I prefer the reticle in the Ares even over the tree reticle now available in the Midas Tac and the turret feel isn't much behind the Midas Tac when the o-ring is removed from the Ares' turrets. I don't care about the illumination, but it can't hurt to have.

 

[littlepod]

Ares BTR will be $550 starting Monday. They basically made too many of them and now people are buying the ETR, so they have way too much quantity to sell.

 

[Anderson_A]

I have expirence with a few other Athlon besides these twoand was planning on a Midas Tac for my kidd 22 I’ve been so happy with my ares ETR I was going to hold off and get another one of those but with what the BTR is going for now I’m back on the fence interested to see what you decide on

 

[A-Rob]

I have both in hand. They are both good scopes with some distinguishing characteristics. Reticle options are great in both. Both track well. Internals are stainless on the Midas TAC vs brass on the BTR. Clicks are very crisp on the Midas TAC vs a little more slippery on the BTR but not awful by any means. Windage is capped on the Midas vs not on the BTR. There are some screaming deals on the BTR right now, like below dealer cost. I do believe tho they are about to dc them if I had to guess.

I read a review on the BTR with the upgraded turrets that said it also had stainless internals. Can anyone confirm this? I searched but couldn't find an answer.

 

[Stickshift]

I read a review on the BTR with the upgraded turrets that said it also had stainless internals. Can anyone confirm this? I searched but couldn't find an answer.

This is what the elevation turret's guts look like on my Ares BTR with the turret secured by a big screw in the middle of the turret. The recess in the steel section is where the o-ring is from the factory. The functional parts look like brass.

 

[littlepod]

I went and zeroed my rifle with the Ares BTR today then came home to reset the elevation/windage. I can confirm the picture above. I set the zero stop which was really easy.

Removing the O-Ring did make it more tactile, but I felt it also made it also easier to click. Sometimes it was hard for me to precisely click one click, and I'd jump over two just from the force I was exerting. I guess I was used too much to the Burris XTR II turrets.

I was shooting @ 100 yards at 27x and I have to say, this glass isn't bad at all for $550. Also I was able to run it at 27x @ 25 yds, so it focuses down to that even at max magnification.

 

[cast1]

I would say glass quality is similar.

Is the glass image quality pretty much the same?

 

[slickalaus12]

Old thread. But as someone who now owns both, I would go with the Midas Tac ( I own the 6-24x50)

Midas Tac has:
Better turrets
Smaller windage turret, and doesn't have the illumination ring which makes the Ares quite wide at the turrets
Smoother, easier to manipulate magnification ring
Parallax down to 10 yds as opposed to 25 yds
Cheaper price tag (6-24x50)


The only reason to go Ares would be for illumination. It has a slightly wider mag range but generally people wouldn't be shooting at the absolute low end or absolute high end of the range anyways.