I've always been a Burris fan. Started out with a couple of Signature 6-24's back in the day on prairie dog rifles. NICE scopes. Then, between work and prairie dog towns disappearing in the area I got away from longer distance shooting. Mostly hunting and lower powered scopes then, 3-9's, 4.5-14's and such. All Burris. Then a few years ago I bought a 6.5CM and obviously needed a better scope. Found a Burris 5-25 XTRII on closeout at Cabelas and bought it. I really liked it so picked up a 3-15 XTRII, same deal at Cabelas. I've always thought they had a good, clear picture normally. But, sometimes it seemed like there would occasionally be days that the weather conditions were such, with haze and mirage, that the picture deteriorated.
Of course there's absolutely no love for Burris XTRII's here on the hide, but except for those days noted I did like mine. But I also knew there were better scopes out there and I'd eventually step up in quality. I figured I'd go next to something like a Razor. As a hobby shooter I wasn't going to be able to go to something like a SB but figured the Razor would be a step up. But there's been a lot of comparisons done here between the Razor and the Athlon Cronus BTR. One such thread just down the row here. Seemed to be general consensus that they were pretty much comparable in glass quality. And the Cronus was a bit less in price. Actually I had no reason to buy another scope at this point but it just kept nagging at me all the time, so when a Cronus BTR was offered in the PX I decided to give one a try.
So last week I mounted the Cronus on my 338LM and took it out Saturday to sight it in. While there, I did a side by side comparison with the Burris 5-25. Now basically I was just comparing glass quality. Saturday was a nice day, I didn't have the haze and mirage conditions to deal with. But quite honestly I couldn't see a bit of difference between the two scopes as far as glass quality. Clarity seemed equal. I looked short range and long and there just wasn't enough difference to note. My main concern has always been the glass quality and looking solely at that, they compared pretty much equally.
Now I have mixed emotions. On the one hand I'm happy with the way the Burris compared especially at a bit more than half what the Cronus cost(I know cost doesn't always mean anything!). While I've always been satisfied with the XTR, when you read all the negatives here about them, even though I'm happy, it still sat in the back of my mind that it's lacking in quality. I guess that's just mind games. Then of course on the other hand, I'm kinda disappointed in the Cronus LOL. After everything I've read I expected to see a light shining down from the heavens onto my target! Yeah, not really. But I did expect it to show up the Burris too. Oh well, now I've got another good scope to work with. I still have to compare the two on one of the days that weather conditions suck, so maybe I'll see some difference there? Who knows.
Of course there's absolutely no love for Burris XTRII's here on the hide, but except for those days noted I did like mine. But I also knew there were better scopes out there and I'd eventually step up in quality. I figured I'd go next to something like a Razor. As a hobby shooter I wasn't going to be able to go to something like a SB but figured the Razor would be a step up. But there's been a lot of comparisons done here between the Razor and the Athlon Cronus BTR. One such thread just down the row here. Seemed to be general consensus that they were pretty much comparable in glass quality. And the Cronus was a bit less in price. Actually I had no reason to buy another scope at this point but it just kept nagging at me all the time, so when a Cronus BTR was offered in the PX I decided to give one a try.
So last week I mounted the Cronus on my 338LM and took it out Saturday to sight it in. While there, I did a side by side comparison with the Burris 5-25. Now basically I was just comparing glass quality. Saturday was a nice day, I didn't have the haze and mirage conditions to deal with. But quite honestly I couldn't see a bit of difference between the two scopes as far as glass quality. Clarity seemed equal. I looked short range and long and there just wasn't enough difference to note. My main concern has always been the glass quality and looking solely at that, they compared pretty much equally.
Now I have mixed emotions. On the one hand I'm happy with the way the Burris compared especially at a bit more than half what the Cronus cost(I know cost doesn't always mean anything!). While I've always been satisfied with the XTR, when you read all the negatives here about them, even though I'm happy, it still sat in the back of my mind that it's lacking in quality. I guess that's just mind games. Then of course on the other hand, I'm kinda disappointed in the Cronus LOL. After everything I've read I expected to see a light shining down from the heavens onto my target! Yeah, not really. But I did expect it to show up the Burris too. Oh well, now I've got another good scope to work with. I still have to compare the two on one of the days that weather conditions suck, so maybe I'll see some difference there? Who knows.
