I've been wanting to try one of these ever since they came out, I was looking for 30x and another aspect, which concerns illumination which I cover below.
The ETR got to my house in 5 days, ordered afternoon of the 19th of Feb and received on the 24th, that's in a timely time frame I'd say.
As always with Athlon scope boxes the ETR came in a nice colorful box, both ends of the scope, and the bottom turret, were supported with rigid foam so it'd be hard for the scope to be damaged in shipping, which is something I appreciate, as I'm sure everyone would. The scope looked brand new as it should. I had my doubts when I ordered but I like the burnt color of the brown/bronze anodized finish, glad I got this color! My impression is this finish seems durable, unlike a $1800 IOR scope I used to own that was obviously painted on, which scratched off in their supplied IOR rings when I slid that scope forward to adjust eye relief. There was no drama mounting and leveling the ETR in the ARC 34mm rings. BTW these American Rifle Company/ARC rings are extremely well made and very differently engineered compared to all the other rings out there, being that the design employs basically a double, and opposing, strap wrench concept! My rings are a 1st gen set that are 10 years old but the newest gen are equally awesome.
First impressions?? Well it's not a huge or long scope at 15.3" – check that off. Ever seen those old USO 5-25's, they are 20''s?? or so long. This ETR is not so heavy for this class of scope either, that's good, it's "36.5oz", – check that one off too. Speaking of weight have you ever picked up a Vortex Gen2 Razor 4.5-27×56?? man they are pigs, at 48.5 oz, crazy! I give the ETR a solid pass for both those aspects.
Of course I went straight to the 10 mil per rev elevation turret because that's what I use most. Okay this aspect of the ETR is astounding, no lie! Perfect IMO, it has SUPER distinct clicks, in fact the best I've felt on any riflescope!!! Keep in mind I own S&B's too!, The sound the clicks make are very very audible, also more than any scope I've ever heard before. The white lines indicating 10ths of mils all line up with the centerline on the housing, again perfectly. Those lines are easy to see and standout, unlike the lines on my S&B's which can be hard to see for my old eyes, part of that reason is the S&B double turn turret has 14 mils crammed into the turret so there isn't much room to space the "thin" lines. Of note on the ETR elevation turret, the action of the turret is on the harder tension side of scope turrets, this I like because there is less chance of them moving by accident somehow. Though it is easy to make one click at a time without running over to the next click. Lastly the zero stop is easy to set, and the top screws on both turrets come off with a coin so no tools needed. The elevation travel is 32 mils so plenty of travel. Even though the EVOL has a "50" moa base, yes it is actually 50, I was still able to get a 30 yard zero!!!
Next I went to the windage turret. Much the same but it takes less tension to move it. It has a large-ish R for right, and L for left, so you know which direction to go at a glance. Nice, it has a locking feature! Just pull out to turn the turret and push in to lock again, this also has a very distinct snap in and out feel. Check – very well done indeed! One time I put my S&B 5-25 into my drag bag and inbetween stages the windage turret accidentally turned, that cost me a lot of points! Ever since I've liked locking turrets.
Side focus next, 25Y to infinity, a good action to them, nothing odd to report, check that off too. ""EDIT - I posted this review on a airgun forum too"" If you have low powered AG's that you'll shoot at 10Y this scope is not for you. However I found that this scope does focus to 15Y on 4.5x. Otherwise it's versatile for most any other application one could want to use a scope for.
ILLumination, to actuate this feature go to the very end of the side focus knob where it resides. It's got 6 different brightness settings with a 0 inbetween each setting so we don't have to go all the way back to a stop to shut off the illume, that's a convenient thing! THE other """BIGGEST THING""" to me is this scope does have "DAYLIGHT BRIGHT" illume!!!! I love this feature on low magnification, and on black steel plates, or black round paper bulls! A BIG CHECK OFF for this aspect! This is another reason I chose this scope over others.
GLASS, you've been waiting for this, right?! Well it's awesome, or I should say better than I expected it to be! Looking through my Athlon Ares BTR gen1, the ETR has much more/better image quality, it's pleasantly superior. Comparing to my S&B 5-25 it's close, almost there, just less, but plenty nice, and that's really nitpicking. The ETR pulls off 30x well, no darkening and the image is crisp and clear. On 4.5x the FOV is huge and sharp from edge to edge. No CA that I can see either. The general colors are true to life which makes the experience of gazing through the scope seem like it's an S&B. Check this area off with flying colors – pun intended.
Reticle, okay this is my only small complaint. The truth is I like "all .2 mil" tree reticles for exacting holdovers and holdoffs, it's my personal preference, you may not feel this way! I do like the line thickness, it's .03 mil for the main crosshair and is also for the center dot. See here for all reticle dimensions https://athlonoptics.com/wp-content...-Ares-ETR-APRS1-FFP-IR-MIL-Reticle-Manual.pdf Basically on low magnification I use the reticle as kind of a tree looking, upwards pointing arrow, duplex reticle because the center dot can't be seen, though with the illume on the reticle sticks out dramatically, especially useful on 4.5x to 8x No drama on mid power, I can see the reticle fine without illume. On high magnification the center dot and the rest of the reticle actually appears large. Remember that in a FFP scope "no matter how small or large the reticle appears" all those dimensions remain exactly the same on "any magnification". I do like center dots, so I can suffer the .5 mil hashes as my compromise for the benefit of having 30x which is half of why I wanted to get the ETR. I'll give this a check, only because I'm picky when it comes to reticles, and I know that 90% of shooters wouldn't care one way or another. Also in many ways this reticle blows most other reticles
out of the water anyway. Like this aspect, see the reticle in the link above, there are no mil line numbers just off the vertical crosshair getting in the way of a wind holdoff, when holding over. I hate looking through a number, don't you??!!
Magnification ring action is good, maybe a little on the stiff side. Numbers are easy to see. Check.
Euro style diopter adjustment is good and with no slop. I like this type of diopter because my eyes fluctuate and I let friends and family look through my scopes, and first thing that has to happen is they need to set the reticle focus to their eyes. I like that I can set it back for me quickly! Check.
Conclusion; To start. I don't see how anyone could not love this scope if that person likes FFP scopes! Man it totally kicks butt on many scopes costing a significant amount more $. I could name brands but that'd be in poor taste. Let's just say I'm glad I sold some scopes costing more money because for various reasons certain aspects of the scope were to me a disappointing "FAIL" which I couldn't talk myself into putting up with. Let's just say I've felt crappy turrets, lines on turrets not lining up, seen poor glass, seen poorly designed reticles, on and on and on, and I gotta say that this scope is such a well sorted out scope regardless of cost! How much do I like this scope? Well if it had an all .2 mil tree reticle and it focused down to 10Y, I'd sell all my S&B's!!! That's how much I like the ETR and that says a lot about it. Hint -hint!
Any questions you may have please feel free to ask.
Here in a short while I'll be mounting this ETR on my 6.5Saum, it's only temporarily on this air gun, because I posted this review on Airgun Nation too, and of course they want to see nice scopes just as much as we do.
WHAT THE HECK RIFLE IS THAT, you say??!!
It's a American Air Arms EVOL, in 30 caliber - a 9 shot repeating 'mag unshone' - PCP air rifle, featuring a biathlon style lever action and a titanium air tube, as well as a 50 moa scope base for long range. The tune is 50.1 grain pellets at 882 fps and groups at 50Y are often all touching. Just less than 80fpe energy.
What for you say??? Because, that's why - Just kidding, it's for hunting and a match called the "Extreme Bench Rest" match that Airguns of Arizona puts on annually. As well, this thing really thuds small game and steel hard - for a pellet gun!
Believe it or not I was hitting a 7" diamond at 289Y with it and a full sized metallic chicken silhouette was easy to hit at 200M. Which is amazing for a pellet gun using pellets.
The ETR got to my house in 5 days, ordered afternoon of the 19th of Feb and received on the 24th, that's in a timely time frame I'd say.
As always with Athlon scope boxes the ETR came in a nice colorful box, both ends of the scope, and the bottom turret, were supported with rigid foam so it'd be hard for the scope to be damaged in shipping, which is something I appreciate, as I'm sure everyone would. The scope looked brand new as it should. I had my doubts when I ordered but I like the burnt color of the brown/bronze anodized finish, glad I got this color! My impression is this finish seems durable, unlike a $1800 IOR scope I used to own that was obviously painted on, which scratched off in their supplied IOR rings when I slid that scope forward to adjust eye relief. There was no drama mounting and leveling the ETR in the ARC 34mm rings. BTW these American Rifle Company/ARC rings are extremely well made and very differently engineered compared to all the other rings out there, being that the design employs basically a double, and opposing, strap wrench concept! My rings are a 1st gen set that are 10 years old but the newest gen are equally awesome.
First impressions?? Well it's not a huge or long scope at 15.3" – check that off. Ever seen those old USO 5-25's, they are 20''s?? or so long. This ETR is not so heavy for this class of scope either, that's good, it's "36.5oz", – check that one off too. Speaking of weight have you ever picked up a Vortex Gen2 Razor 4.5-27×56?? man they are pigs, at 48.5 oz, crazy! I give the ETR a solid pass for both those aspects.
Of course I went straight to the 10 mil per rev elevation turret because that's what I use most. Okay this aspect of the ETR is astounding, no lie! Perfect IMO, it has SUPER distinct clicks, in fact the best I've felt on any riflescope!!! Keep in mind I own S&B's too!, The sound the clicks make are very very audible, also more than any scope I've ever heard before. The white lines indicating 10ths of mils all line up with the centerline on the housing, again perfectly. Those lines are easy to see and standout, unlike the lines on my S&B's which can be hard to see for my old eyes, part of that reason is the S&B double turn turret has 14 mils crammed into the turret so there isn't much room to space the "thin" lines. Of note on the ETR elevation turret, the action of the turret is on the harder tension side of scope turrets, this I like because there is less chance of them moving by accident somehow. Though it is easy to make one click at a time without running over to the next click. Lastly the zero stop is easy to set, and the top screws on both turrets come off with a coin so no tools needed. The elevation travel is 32 mils so plenty of travel. Even though the EVOL has a "50" moa base, yes it is actually 50, I was still able to get a 30 yard zero!!!
Next I went to the windage turret. Much the same but it takes less tension to move it. It has a large-ish R for right, and L for left, so you know which direction to go at a glance. Nice, it has a locking feature! Just pull out to turn the turret and push in to lock again, this also has a very distinct snap in and out feel. Check – very well done indeed! One time I put my S&B 5-25 into my drag bag and inbetween stages the windage turret accidentally turned, that cost me a lot of points! Ever since I've liked locking turrets.
Side focus next, 25Y to infinity, a good action to them, nothing odd to report, check that off too. ""EDIT - I posted this review on a airgun forum too"" If you have low powered AG's that you'll shoot at 10Y this scope is not for you. However I found that this scope does focus to 15Y on 4.5x. Otherwise it's versatile for most any other application one could want to use a scope for.
ILLumination, to actuate this feature go to the very end of the side focus knob where it resides. It's got 6 different brightness settings with a 0 inbetween each setting so we don't have to go all the way back to a stop to shut off the illume, that's a convenient thing! THE other """BIGGEST THING""" to me is this scope does have "DAYLIGHT BRIGHT" illume!!!! I love this feature on low magnification, and on black steel plates, or black round paper bulls! A BIG CHECK OFF for this aspect! This is another reason I chose this scope over others.
GLASS, you've been waiting for this, right?! Well it's awesome, or I should say better than I expected it to be! Looking through my Athlon Ares BTR gen1, the ETR has much more/better image quality, it's pleasantly superior. Comparing to my S&B 5-25 it's close, almost there, just less, but plenty nice, and that's really nitpicking. The ETR pulls off 30x well, no darkening and the image is crisp and clear. On 4.5x the FOV is huge and sharp from edge to edge. No CA that I can see either. The general colors are true to life which makes the experience of gazing through the scope seem like it's an S&B. Check this area off with flying colors – pun intended.
Reticle, okay this is my only small complaint. The truth is I like "all .2 mil" tree reticles for exacting holdovers and holdoffs, it's my personal preference, you may not feel this way! I do like the line thickness, it's .03 mil for the main crosshair and is also for the center dot. See here for all reticle dimensions https://athlonoptics.com/wp-content...-Ares-ETR-APRS1-FFP-IR-MIL-Reticle-Manual.pdf Basically on low magnification I use the reticle as kind of a tree looking, upwards pointing arrow, duplex reticle because the center dot can't be seen, though with the illume on the reticle sticks out dramatically, especially useful on 4.5x to 8x No drama on mid power, I can see the reticle fine without illume. On high magnification the center dot and the rest of the reticle actually appears large. Remember that in a FFP scope "no matter how small or large the reticle appears" all those dimensions remain exactly the same on "any magnification". I do like center dots, so I can suffer the .5 mil hashes as my compromise for the benefit of having 30x which is half of why I wanted to get the ETR. I'll give this a check, only because I'm picky when it comes to reticles, and I know that 90% of shooters wouldn't care one way or another. Also in many ways this reticle blows most other reticles
Magnification ring action is good, maybe a little on the stiff side. Numbers are easy to see. Check.
Euro style diopter adjustment is good and with no slop. I like this type of diopter because my eyes fluctuate and I let friends and family look through my scopes, and first thing that has to happen is they need to set the reticle focus to their eyes. I like that I can set it back for me quickly! Check.
Conclusion; To start. I don't see how anyone could not love this scope if that person likes FFP scopes! Man it totally kicks butt on many scopes costing a significant amount more $. I could name brands but that'd be in poor taste. Let's just say I'm glad I sold some scopes costing more money because for various reasons certain aspects of the scope were to me a disappointing "FAIL" which I couldn't talk myself into putting up with. Let's just say I've felt crappy turrets, lines on turrets not lining up, seen poor glass, seen poorly designed reticles, on and on and on, and I gotta say that this scope is such a well sorted out scope regardless of cost! How much do I like this scope? Well if it had an all .2 mil tree reticle and it focused down to 10Y, I'd sell all my S&B's!!! That's how much I like the ETR and that says a lot about it. Hint -hint!
Any questions you may have please feel free to ask.
Here in a short while I'll be mounting this ETR on my 6.5Saum, it's only temporarily on this air gun, because I posted this review on Airgun Nation too, and of course they want to see nice scopes just as much as we do.
WHAT THE HECK RIFLE IS THAT, you say??!!
It's a American Air Arms EVOL, in 30 caliber - a 9 shot repeating 'mag unshone' - PCP air rifle, featuring a biathlon style lever action and a titanium air tube, as well as a 50 moa scope base for long range. The tune is 50.1 grain pellets at 882 fps and groups at 50Y are often all touching. Just less than 80fpe energy.
What for you say??? Because, that's why - Just kidding, it's for hunting and a match called the "Extreme Bench Rest" match that Airguns of Arizona puts on annually. As well, this thing really thuds small game and steel hard - for a pellet gun!
Believe it or not I was hitting a 7" diamond at 289Y with it and a full sized metallic chicken silhouette was easy to hit at 200M. Which is amazing for a pellet gun using pellets.
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