Comparison of Minox MD60ZR 12-40X, Bushnell LMSS 8-40X and Athlon Cronus Tactical 7-42X spotting scopes
Firstly, I’d like to preface this by saying that I’m no glass expert. All reviews/comparisons are somewhat subjective by nature and this one is no different. I do however shoot a lot of PRS-type matches and this has shaped the requirements that I have for a spotting scope (with reticle).
To back up a bit, the first spotting scope with a reticle that I got was the Bushnell Legend Tactical. My main reason for wanting it was for team matches where sometimes (depending on format and stage times/setup) you can spot for your teammate. It seemed logical to me that a spotting scope with a reticle would permit me to give more precise corrections. Other usage would be spotting paper targets at the range when zeroing and doing load development. Being that I didn’t expect to be able to use it super frequently in it’s main intended use, I wasn’t keen on investing a large sum of cash. The Legend Tactical proved perfect for that.
Fast forward a few years and I discovered the utility of using your own spotting scope at individual PRS-type matches to not only find and study targets prior to the stage but also to watch other competitors shoot said stages. This was made easier by mounting a red dot sight on one of the rails that comes with the legend Tactical and co-witnessing the dot with the spotter’s reticle at 800 yards, allowing me to easily and quickly follow along from target to target as a shooter shot his course of fire. This combined with a better understanding of “trace” and how/where to look for it meant that I was often glued to my spotter in the run-up to my turn to shoot. It was at a PRS match in Alberta this past summer (the Canadian Sharpshooter Classic at RFMA) that I discovered the limitations of the Bushnell Legend Tactical. As the match was mostly shot in what could best be described as an incredibly flat field, watching trace was critical in order to correct for misses as there was next to no backstop to show splash. In the high heat and dry air, I really struggled to see any trace at all that weekend in my spotter. After talking to a few friends who were also there and had higher end glass (and were able to see trace that weekend), I realized that I had found the limitations of that scope and decided it was time to upgrade.
I knew I wanted something significantly better but I also wasn’t quite ready to drop Leupold Mk4 (ballpark $2400cad) or Swarovski (ballpark $3600+cad). This lead me to the 3 spotting scopes that I review here. All 3 of which I found to be far superior to my older Legend Tac. I would be horribly remiss if I didn’t thank Peter Dobson at Hirsch Precision for sending me a Bushnell LMSS to review, to Jerry Teo at Mystic Precision for sending me an Athlon Cronus Tactical for a very short (due to the ineptitude of Canada Post) but pretty critical evaluation, to Scott at Red Star Targets for the 2nd Cronus Tactical (that I purchased) and to Josh Botha for lending me his Minox MD60ZR.
This review was a bit of a challenge in that one of the parameters that was most important to me was the ability to spot trace in different atmospheric conditions. I used the LMSS at a 2-day NRL match in Eastern Wa and the Athlon at a 2-day PRS match in Ontario but what I really wanted to do was compare the 3 scopes side by side in the same conditions. For this I needed a shooting partner and my buddy Craig was happy to oblige although I never did get the chance to truly compare all 3 side by side in all the different conditions that I would have liked to. They were nonetheless compared in sun and rain at steel and paper targets from 100-1500 yards.
Construction/external features:
For the type of usage that a scope like this is intended for, it needs to be both rugged and functional. As well, as I indicated earlier, the ability to mount a RDS is important to me, as is the ability to mount a LRF (for team matches). All 3 of these scopes have a ruggedized exterior that seems as though it would do a good job of protecting the scope although I preferred the finish on both the LMSS and Minox to the one on the Athlon that just felt more “plasticky”. Both the Bushnell and Athlon come with bolts designed to mount rails at the 12:00, 3:00, 6:00(Bushnell only) and 9:00 and the Athlon includes the top rail as well as an elevation adjustable adapter for a LRF. The ability to mount a rail (or modified ARCA plate) at 6:00 is a great feature on the LMSS and more companies should follow suit. The generic single stud mounting point on most spotting scopes is woefully inadequate for the purpose it’s intended for. I’ve never seen one not come loose, even after being loc-tited. The Minox would require the use of a “cage” such as the one sold by Cadex ($300ish) in order to mount any rails and therefore a RDS or LRF. The Bushnell doesn’t include any of the rails and they must be purchased separately to the tune of $300+. Honestly, I’m not really sure why they chose to do things that way considering that the much less expensive Legend Tactical comes with 3 rails included. The Bushnell is manufactured in Japan and both the Athlon and Minox (as far as I’ve been able to find) are manufactured in China. This came as a surprise to me (I found out after purchasing the Athlon) and honestly was kind of a disappointment as I prefer to not purchase things made in the PRC when I have the option.
All 3 spotters come with covers and lens caps but the cover that comes with the LMSS wouldn’t be usable if you attached the rails. It isn’t super critical as in practice, you would just use the lens caps (that are tethered to the scope body) and not the cover. The caps for the Athlon aren’t tethered to the body but the cover is neoprene and designed to have the rail(s) mounted over it and includes front and rear covers. The front lens cap for the Minox is attached to the scope body and the cover is usable as is.
Adjustments:
All 3 scopes are adjusted in essentially the same manner: you adjust focus independently from magnification. All 3 have adjustments that are stiff enough that they won’t be accidentally bumped and moved but not so stiff as to be annoying to use. The Athlon seems to have a bit of “backlash” but it’s only a minor annoyance.
Optical performance:
I won’t get into the technical details/specs such as FOV at different magnifications as they’re mostly available from the manufacturers. What I was looking for mainly was clarity and ability to see trace and mirage. To my eye, the Minox had “the best glass” with the Athlon just a hair behind, followed by the LMSS. My shooting partner preferred the Athlon, followed by the LMSS and then the Minox, he could just never get both the reticle and image properly focussed in the MD60ZR. This goes to show just how much an individual’s eyesight plays into his evaluation of glass. All 3 scopes were quite clear but the Bushnell exhibited quite noticeable chromatic aberration (as evidenced by visible “fringing” around white targets) made more noticeable as you increased the magnification. As well, both the Minox and Athlon resolved detail better when looking at Targets that were in dark spots/heavily shaded, enough so that it was noticeable (to me). The image was sharpest in the Minox, then the Athlon followed by the LMSS with the “dullest” image. This didn’t really make any difference to how easy it was to see or pick up detail with the scopes, just in how the image looked to you. They all picked up trace and mirage well though interestingly enough, the trace looked slightly different in each of them. My shooting partner found that it was easiest to pick up trace in the LMSS as it appeared somewhat “fuzzier and bigger”, again, the vagaries of each individual’s eyes. The Minox had the most forgiving eye box although in use I didn’t find it to be a concern on the other 2 scopes.
Reticle:
The LMSS has a Horus H32 reticle, whereas the Minox and Athlon have their own proprietary mil-based reticles. All of these reticles have 0.2 mil subtensions and both the Athlon and Minox also have finer sub-tensions integrated into parts of the reticle (0.1 for the Athlon and 0.05 for the Minox) for the purpose of accurately milling targets. The Athlon and the Minox also have “rapid ranging” features allowing you to flash-mil man sized targets for rough (and quick) range estimation. The Horus H32 in the LMSS is 0.2 mil spaced grid that goes 5 mils above and below the horizontal axis. I expected to prefer the H32 since I quite like grid reticles in my rifle scopes (I’ve had/have Horus H59s as well as Leupold’s CCH reticle) and was surprised that I honestly liked the Athlon’s reticle best. In practice, the grid of the Horus (especially above the horizontal axis) made it much harder to pick up trace and splash at the target and I found myself holding the entire grid well below the target so as not to obscure it. Certainly not unusable by any stretch but I much preferred lining up the Minox and Athlon reticles at the bottom of the target and having no obstructions (in the case of the Athlon) or minimal obstruction (the Minox reticle only goes 1.0 mils above horizontal) above and below the target. Being that these are spotting scopes and not rifle scopes, you aren’t going to be doing “hold overs” and the grid in the Horus is pretty much unnecessary, in my estimation.
Price/Value:
In Canada, you can purchase the Minox MD60ZR from Go Big Tactical for $1685. The Athlon Cronus Tactical goes for approx $1495 and the Bushnell LMSS with H32 for approx $1580.
With only about a $200 difference from most to least expensive, it’s not a huge price spread. However, for my usage, the ability to mount accessories like a RDS and LRF is a crucial consideration and only the Athlon is able to do so out of the box. The Bushnell requires the purchase of an expensive ($300+ set of rails) or making your own and the Minox would need to be used in conjunction with a “cage” like those from Cadex or Badger Ordnance that are also in the $300+ ballpark.
Summary:
All 3 of these spotting scopes vastly outperform my old Bushnell Legend Tactical. The Minox MD60ZR is (just barely) the better spotting scope of these 3, as far as my eyes are concerned. However, I went with the Athlon Cronus as it’s performance was 99+% of the Minox and the price difference (especially when you factor in what’s necessary to mount accessories) was significant.
Update:
A couple weeks after finishing this writeup the knurled exterior part of the focus ring on my Athlon came un-bonded from the inner ring requiring me to “pinch” it onto the inner ring to adjust the focus. Currently waiting to hear on warranty replacement status so I guess factor that into your decision making [process, haha.
Firstly, I’d like to preface this by saying that I’m no glass expert. All reviews/comparisons are somewhat subjective by nature and this one is no different. I do however shoot a lot of PRS-type matches and this has shaped the requirements that I have for a spotting scope (with reticle).
To back up a bit, the first spotting scope with a reticle that I got was the Bushnell Legend Tactical. My main reason for wanting it was for team matches where sometimes (depending on format and stage times/setup) you can spot for your teammate. It seemed logical to me that a spotting scope with a reticle would permit me to give more precise corrections. Other usage would be spotting paper targets at the range when zeroing and doing load development. Being that I didn’t expect to be able to use it super frequently in it’s main intended use, I wasn’t keen on investing a large sum of cash. The Legend Tactical proved perfect for that.
Fast forward a few years and I discovered the utility of using your own spotting scope at individual PRS-type matches to not only find and study targets prior to the stage but also to watch other competitors shoot said stages. This was made easier by mounting a red dot sight on one of the rails that comes with the legend Tactical and co-witnessing the dot with the spotter’s reticle at 800 yards, allowing me to easily and quickly follow along from target to target as a shooter shot his course of fire. This combined with a better understanding of “trace” and how/where to look for it meant that I was often glued to my spotter in the run-up to my turn to shoot. It was at a PRS match in Alberta this past summer (the Canadian Sharpshooter Classic at RFMA) that I discovered the limitations of the Bushnell Legend Tactical. As the match was mostly shot in what could best be described as an incredibly flat field, watching trace was critical in order to correct for misses as there was next to no backstop to show splash. In the high heat and dry air, I really struggled to see any trace at all that weekend in my spotter. After talking to a few friends who were also there and had higher end glass (and were able to see trace that weekend), I realized that I had found the limitations of that scope and decided it was time to upgrade.
I knew I wanted something significantly better but I also wasn’t quite ready to drop Leupold Mk4 (ballpark $2400cad) or Swarovski (ballpark $3600+cad). This lead me to the 3 spotting scopes that I review here. All 3 of which I found to be far superior to my older Legend Tac. I would be horribly remiss if I didn’t thank Peter Dobson at Hirsch Precision for sending me a Bushnell LMSS to review, to Jerry Teo at Mystic Precision for sending me an Athlon Cronus Tactical for a very short (due to the ineptitude of Canada Post) but pretty critical evaluation, to Scott at Red Star Targets for the 2nd Cronus Tactical (that I purchased) and to Josh Botha for lending me his Minox MD60ZR.
This review was a bit of a challenge in that one of the parameters that was most important to me was the ability to spot trace in different atmospheric conditions. I used the LMSS at a 2-day NRL match in Eastern Wa and the Athlon at a 2-day PRS match in Ontario but what I really wanted to do was compare the 3 scopes side by side in the same conditions. For this I needed a shooting partner and my buddy Craig was happy to oblige although I never did get the chance to truly compare all 3 side by side in all the different conditions that I would have liked to. They were nonetheless compared in sun and rain at steel and paper targets from 100-1500 yards.
Construction/external features:
For the type of usage that a scope like this is intended for, it needs to be both rugged and functional. As well, as I indicated earlier, the ability to mount a RDS is important to me, as is the ability to mount a LRF (for team matches). All 3 of these scopes have a ruggedized exterior that seems as though it would do a good job of protecting the scope although I preferred the finish on both the LMSS and Minox to the one on the Athlon that just felt more “plasticky”. Both the Bushnell and Athlon come with bolts designed to mount rails at the 12:00, 3:00, 6:00(Bushnell only) and 9:00 and the Athlon includes the top rail as well as an elevation adjustable adapter for a LRF. The ability to mount a rail (or modified ARCA plate) at 6:00 is a great feature on the LMSS and more companies should follow suit. The generic single stud mounting point on most spotting scopes is woefully inadequate for the purpose it’s intended for. I’ve never seen one not come loose, even after being loc-tited. The Minox would require the use of a “cage” such as the one sold by Cadex ($300ish) in order to mount any rails and therefore a RDS or LRF. The Bushnell doesn’t include any of the rails and they must be purchased separately to the tune of $300+. Honestly, I’m not really sure why they chose to do things that way considering that the much less expensive Legend Tactical comes with 3 rails included. The Bushnell is manufactured in Japan and both the Athlon and Minox (as far as I’ve been able to find) are manufactured in China. This came as a surprise to me (I found out after purchasing the Athlon) and honestly was kind of a disappointment as I prefer to not purchase things made in the PRC when I have the option.
All 3 spotters come with covers and lens caps but the cover that comes with the LMSS wouldn’t be usable if you attached the rails. It isn’t super critical as in practice, you would just use the lens caps (that are tethered to the scope body) and not the cover. The caps for the Athlon aren’t tethered to the body but the cover is neoprene and designed to have the rail(s) mounted over it and includes front and rear covers. The front lens cap for the Minox is attached to the scope body and the cover is usable as is.
Adjustments:
All 3 scopes are adjusted in essentially the same manner: you adjust focus independently from magnification. All 3 have adjustments that are stiff enough that they won’t be accidentally bumped and moved but not so stiff as to be annoying to use. The Athlon seems to have a bit of “backlash” but it’s only a minor annoyance.
Optical performance:
I won’t get into the technical details/specs such as FOV at different magnifications as they’re mostly available from the manufacturers. What I was looking for mainly was clarity and ability to see trace and mirage. To my eye, the Minox had “the best glass” with the Athlon just a hair behind, followed by the LMSS. My shooting partner preferred the Athlon, followed by the LMSS and then the Minox, he could just never get both the reticle and image properly focussed in the MD60ZR. This goes to show just how much an individual’s eyesight plays into his evaluation of glass. All 3 scopes were quite clear but the Bushnell exhibited quite noticeable chromatic aberration (as evidenced by visible “fringing” around white targets) made more noticeable as you increased the magnification. As well, both the Minox and Athlon resolved detail better when looking at Targets that were in dark spots/heavily shaded, enough so that it was noticeable (to me). The image was sharpest in the Minox, then the Athlon followed by the LMSS with the “dullest” image. This didn’t really make any difference to how easy it was to see or pick up detail with the scopes, just in how the image looked to you. They all picked up trace and mirage well though interestingly enough, the trace looked slightly different in each of them. My shooting partner found that it was easiest to pick up trace in the LMSS as it appeared somewhat “fuzzier and bigger”, again, the vagaries of each individual’s eyes. The Minox had the most forgiving eye box although in use I didn’t find it to be a concern on the other 2 scopes.
Reticle:
The LMSS has a Horus H32 reticle, whereas the Minox and Athlon have their own proprietary mil-based reticles. All of these reticles have 0.2 mil subtensions and both the Athlon and Minox also have finer sub-tensions integrated into parts of the reticle (0.1 for the Athlon and 0.05 for the Minox) for the purpose of accurately milling targets. The Athlon and the Minox also have “rapid ranging” features allowing you to flash-mil man sized targets for rough (and quick) range estimation. The Horus H32 in the LMSS is 0.2 mil spaced grid that goes 5 mils above and below the horizontal axis. I expected to prefer the H32 since I quite like grid reticles in my rifle scopes (I’ve had/have Horus H59s as well as Leupold’s CCH reticle) and was surprised that I honestly liked the Athlon’s reticle best. In practice, the grid of the Horus (especially above the horizontal axis) made it much harder to pick up trace and splash at the target and I found myself holding the entire grid well below the target so as not to obscure it. Certainly not unusable by any stretch but I much preferred lining up the Minox and Athlon reticles at the bottom of the target and having no obstructions (in the case of the Athlon) or minimal obstruction (the Minox reticle only goes 1.0 mils above horizontal) above and below the target. Being that these are spotting scopes and not rifle scopes, you aren’t going to be doing “hold overs” and the grid in the Horus is pretty much unnecessary, in my estimation.
Price/Value:
In Canada, you can purchase the Minox MD60ZR from Go Big Tactical for $1685. The Athlon Cronus Tactical goes for approx $1495 and the Bushnell LMSS with H32 for approx $1580.
With only about a $200 difference from most to least expensive, it’s not a huge price spread. However, for my usage, the ability to mount accessories like a RDS and LRF is a crucial consideration and only the Athlon is able to do so out of the box. The Bushnell requires the purchase of an expensive ($300+ set of rails) or making your own and the Minox would need to be used in conjunction with a “cage” like those from Cadex or Badger Ordnance that are also in the $300+ ballpark.
Summary:
All 3 of these spotting scopes vastly outperform my old Bushnell Legend Tactical. The Minox MD60ZR is (just barely) the better spotting scope of these 3, as far as my eyes are concerned. However, I went with the Athlon Cronus as it’s performance was 99+% of the Minox and the price difference (especially when you factor in what’s necessary to mount accessories) was significant.
Update:
A couple weeks after finishing this writeup the knurled exterior part of the focus ring on my Athlon came un-bonded from the inner ring requiring me to “pinch” it onto the inner ring to adjust the focus. Currently waiting to hear on warranty replacement status so I guess factor that into your decision making [process, haha.
