Rifle Scopes Cronus Upgrade - NX8 vs AMG

[YotaEer]

After lugging my rifle through the woods this deer season, I’m looking to upgrade my Athlon Cronus to a lighter crossover scope with 24x+ Power and locking/capped windage. Budget is $2000 via used through the PX. Max range is 1000 yards, with majority of practice/hunting shots between 250 and 500.

Ive narrowed it down to either the vortex AMG or NF NX8 4-32 in mil.

Any thoughts on which I should go with?

 

[Mxridr]

How did you like that Cronus. Looking for second scope.

 

[YotaEer]

How did you like that Cronus. Looking for second scope.

honestly, I really like it. It’s the nicest scope I’ve owned, very reliable and clear. I shot quite a few groundhogs with it this summer as well as a 2 white tails last week. One at 271 and one at 251.

If it was lighter I wouldn’t even think about upgrading. I put a rubber hose gasket in the windage turret to tighten it up from spinning and i haven’t had an issue, so the capped/locking windage is really just insurance. It has the APRS reticle (floating cross) instead of the dot. Had the APRS1 (dot) in an Ares ETR, which was hard to pickup in the field, IMO.

It is the bronze color if you’re interested in taking it off my hands once I upgrade lol

 

[MarinePMI]

AMG, hands down.

 

[Poorboyr]

I second the AMG.

 

[BikePilot]

Third on the AMG. Really great optic and more comparable to the ATACR like from NF.

 

[Secant]

Fourth - AMG over NX8.

 

[skatz11]

I another AMG vote. Replaced a Cronus with an AMG. I still have he Cronus in the safe for a back or future rifle. Don’t expect a huge leap in optical performance. The Cronus punches abound it weight. The main benefits of the AMG is the weight savings and locking turrets. The parallax is much more forgiving on the AMG. I found the Cronus to require more fine tuning when switching distance.

 

[YotaEer]

I another AMG vote. Replaced a Cronus with an AMG. I still have he Cronus in the safe for a back or future rifle. Don’t expect a huge leap in optical performance. The Cronus punches abound it weight. The main benefits of the AMG is the weight savings and locking turrets. The parallax is much more forgiving on the AMG. I found the Cronus to require more fine tuning when switching distance.

thanks for this input as well as everyone else’s. I’ll keep an eye out in the PX for an AMG. I also reached out to Scott @LibertyOptics

 

[jzerfoss]

I'm pretty curious why the AMG over the NX8... Has anyone directly compared them within the AMGs magnification range? I hate when people compare scopes at different power ranges thinking that 32x scope should be as bright and easy to get behind as a competitor at 24x. They are very close to the same weight and the NX8 is shorter, more affordable, and IMO better reticle choices.

 

[5RWill]

I'm pretty curious why the AMG over the NX8... Has anyone directly compared them within the AMGs magnification range? I hate when people compare scopes at different power ranges thinking that 32x scope should be as bright and easy to get behind as a competitor at 24x. They are very close to the same weight and the NX8 is shorter, more affordable, and IMO better reticle choices.

Because the AMG has a smaller erector in a much larger form factor, while the NX8 is shoving an 8x erector into a small form factor. Read Bill's review and you'll see why the AMG is getting the nod. Granted the 4-32 might be more suitable but i'd be willing to bet the eyebox, parallax, DOF, and edge to edge clarity are still better on the AMG throughout the entire mag range. Having ventured down the ultra-short path a bit with the Leupold Mark 6 and K318i there are simply sacrifices you make for those small form factor optics.

For the record i haven't used an NX8. I have ran the ATACR and still own my AMG. The AMG has very few drawback's for it's intended crossover purpose.

Rifle Scopes - Nightforce NX8 2.5-20x50 - Initial Thoughts

Backstory When the Nightforce NX8 long range scopes were announced I raised an eyebrow. Over the years I’ve had or used many different long-range scopes from the budget category all the way into alpha class, but in all that time I have never owned a Nightforce and the reason is because they...

www.snipershide.com

 

[jzerfoss]

Because the AMG has a smaller erector in a much larger form factor, while the NX8 is shoving an 8x erector into a small form factor. Read Bill's review and you'll see why the AMG is getting the nod. Granted the 4-32 might be more suitable but i'd be willing to bet the eyebox and edge to edge clarity are still better on the AMG throughout the entire mag range. Having ventured down the ultra-short path a bit with the Leupold Mark 6 and K318i there are simply sacrifices you make for those small form factor optics.

For the record i haven't used an NX8. I have ran the ATACR and still own my AMG. The AMG has very few drawback's for it's intended crossover purpose.

Rifle Scopes - Nightforce NX8 2.5-20x50 - Initial Thoughts

Backstory When the Nightforce NX8 long range scopes were announced I raised an eyebrow. Over the years I’ve had or used many different long-range scopes from the budget category all the way into alpha class, but in all that time I have never owned a Nightforce and the reason is because they...

www.snipershide.com

Bill's review is also of the 2.5-20 and everyone I've read and talked to that has looked through both says the 4-32 is better in every way the 2.5-20 is flawed.

 

[5RWill]

Bill's review is also of the 2.5-20 and everyone I've read and talked to that has looked through both says the 4-32 is better in every way the 2.5-20 is flawed.

Yes, which is why i mentioned the 4-32 but was trying to illustrate that the same principle still applies. 8x erector, small form factor, it's going to have drawbacks.

ILya explains it far better than i can.

 

[jzerfoss]

Yes, which is why i mentioned the 4-32 but was trying to illustrate that the same principle still applies. 8x erector, small form factor, it's going to have drawbacks.

I can see why you may assume that but it's still an assumption without a comparison especially since quite a few people are saying the 4-32 doesn't suffer the same issues as the 2.5-20.

I'm curious to hear from people who have compared the two.

 

[5RWill]

I can see why you may assume that but it's still an assumption without a comparison especially since quite a few people are saying the 4-32 doesn't suffer the same issues as the 2.5-20.

I'm curious to hear from people who have compared the two.

I hope someone has compared the two so they can answer your question. Give that video a watch though it will allude to why people chose the AMG over the NX8.

 

[B-P-UU]

Owned both, never compared side by side. Both are solid optics. 6x on the low side on AMG feels a little tight FOV wise..
DOF/Parallax is better on the AMG but certainlynot an issue on the 4-32. 32x on the top end is really nice for sizing game.

Both are perfectly suitable hunting optics and I wouldn't let anyone tell you otherwise. Those are probably the 2 best "crossover" designs on the market in my opinion if needing over 20x magnification.

I still have the NX8..

 

[Birddog6424]

AMG, hands down.

This...

I dont think the NX8 is nearly as nice as the AMG. I think the NF is far better as a hunting scope than a competitive scope. But the 32x still suffers from a tight eyebox and the finicky parallax issues. The only improvement I really found in the several 32x I have looked through is it doesn't have such a large area of glass distortion at the edge. Its still there, but its at the very edge.