Binoculars with reticle: Bushnell Match Pro vs Athlon Midas G2

[beetroot]

There is lots of info/reviews out for the Bushnell 15x56 Match Pro binos but very little for the Athlon Midas 12x50 binos.
Seems like the Athlon binos are relatively new but there is basically no info out there from real life users.

Any one have experience with the Athlons, or better yet compared the two?

To be honest I would probably just buy the Bushnell as I think the extra magnification would be nice and I’m picking they’ll have better glass.
But I can’t buy them locally and I can’t see any retailers in the US that’ll ship internationally.

 

[Gunny89]

I also like the reticle on the Athlon.
Following for hands on review

 

[tlsmith22]

There is abt to be a new release to the bino market with a reticle. Zeiss is releasing a 15x56 Conquest HD with a reticle ard the first of the year. I have had a chance to play ard with it and its legit top tier class, with a reticle and dual adjustable diopters.

 

[beetroot]

There is abt to be a new release to the bino market with a reticle. Zeiss is releasing a 15x56 Conquest HD with a reticle ard the first of the year. I have had a chance to play ard with it and its legit top tier class, with a reticle and dual adjustable diopters.

I imagine these will be amazing, hate to think what the price tag will be though.

 

[tlsmith22]

I imagine these will be amazing, hate to think what the price tag will be though.

I think for what you get, the price tag is going to surprise some people. I don’t know the finale price but the ballpark is going to be 1800-2200 I think. Pretty much right on par with other top tier glass without a reticle.

 

[beetroot]

I think for what you get, the price tag is going to surprise some people. I don’t know the finale price but the ballpark is going to be 1800-2200 I think. Pretty much right on par with other top tier glass without a reticle.

Definitely more money than I'm hoping to spend at the moment, but for high end glass I'd imagine it'll be a fantastic option.

 

[J_D]

For the money, the Bushnell ones are excellent.

I would guess this would be the week to buy them too.

 

[beetroot]

For the money, the Bushnell ones are excellent.

I would guess this would be the week to buy them too.

Yeah I'll keep a look out for some sales.
Need to find somewhere that'll ship internationally though.

 

[crossgun]

I picked up a pair of the Athalon Midas G2 PRO's a couple of months ago. Honestly I love them, outstanding value. Glass is clear and bright and the reticle doesn't fight the image when your not using it. Before I purchased them I spent a fair amount a time with a friends Bushnell Match Pro. I thought the glass in them sucked. Clarity was poor and once you looked out past the center of the image the outer third was basically useless. Bushnell's are BIG and awkward IMO. Bushnell customer service seems to also suck so all of that turned me off and for the money I just had to try the Athalon. Im using them mainly at rimfire matches on small targets and seeing impacts is a big deal for me and they have not disappointed. I have had numerous shooters get be hind them and they are pleasantly surprised. Have not heard a negative comment. I did have the Mavens on a trial bases and they are outstanding and definitely on the to purchase list but in most situations I compared both in it was truly hard to see some of the difference plus the Mavens have more magnification. I'm surprised we are not hearing more about the Athalon PRO's. For the money you cant go wrong and will not be disappointed provided you receive what I did.

 

[beetroot]

I picked up a pair of the Athalon Midas G2 PRO's a couple of months ago. Honestly I love them, outstanding value. Glass is clear and bright and the reticle doesn't fight the image when your not using it. Before I purchased them I spent a fair amount a time with a friends Bushnell Match Pro. I thought the glass in them sucked. Clarity was poor and once you looked out past the center of the image the outer third was basically useless. Bushnell's are BIG and awkward IMO. Bushnell customer service seems to also suck so all of that turned me off and for the money I just had to try the Athalon. Im using them mainly at rimfire matches on small targets and seeing impacts is a big deal for me and they have not disappointed. I have had numerous shooters get be hind them and they are pleasantly surprised. Have not heard a negative comment. I did have the Mavens on a trial bases and they are outstanding and definitely on the to purchase list but in most situations I compared both in it was truly hard to see some of the difference plus the Mavens have more magnification. I'm surprised we are not hearing more about the Athalon PRO's. For the money you cant go wrong and will not be disappointed provided you receive what I did.

Cheers for that review, I'm thinking of going the Athlon direction.

I'll use them mostly for 22lr so the 12x would probably be about right, at the moment I spot with 10x binos and the FOV is nice and usually enough magnification.

I think 15x in the Bushnells would be nice for centrefire, but 12x is probably not too far behind.

 

[beetroot]

I found this YouTube video from @TheMoondog seems like the Athlon binos are pretty nice, just seem to fly under the radar compared to the Bushnell Match Pros.



I have some Athlon Cronus binos amd they are nice, don't hear much about them so I guess it's Athlon doesn't have the badge appeal for binos.

 

[TheMoondog]

When I go to SHOT I can actually talk to people who work at Athlon. But Bushnell is just one of the brands owned by Vista Outdoor who doesn't even go to SHOT anymore.

 

[beetroot]

I ended up ordering a pair of the Athlon binos, couldn't find anyone who would ship internationally.
I actually asked the place I bought the Athlons through if they could get the Bushnells, they said they don't deal with Bushnell anymore as they are difficult to deal with and have bad CS...

I was on the fence about 12x vs 15x so decided to take a spare scope to a match and use that for spotting, I ended up using the scope on 8x most of the time due to the narrow FOV being hard to find targets. I figured if 8x was ok for milling targets, and my 10x binos are good enough for spotting then 12x bino will be fine.

 

[Sblzrd65]

When I go to SHOT I can actually talk to people who work at Athlon. But Bushnell is just one of the brands owned by Vista Outdoor who doesn't even go to SHOT anymore.

I'm a fan of some of those videos