Rifle Scopes Questions about Athlon

[Panhandle_Pilgrim]

So last time I drank the Kool-Aid on a "Good Buy" was the the Viper PST Gen 1 when Vortex was just gaining momentum and popularity and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I recently inquired on here about some new glass and in my quest for an upgrade I discovered the Athlon Cronus BTR. I can't help but feel a bit of Deja Vu with my Vortex experience. Has anyone had problems with an Athlon? I've read a lot of encouraging things about them, I like the reticle and I like the price and its making my decision difficult between the Mk 5, the Bushnell DMR2 Pro and now, the Athlon.

 

[bfglowkey]

Athlon is a interesting company that has made big jumps in the market using customer feedback and actually delivering. They are some of the nicest folks to talk to if you have to call for any customer service issues. Their budget lines have similar issues as all budget Scopes tend to have...Excel in one or two areas, fall short in others.
As for thier upper tier offerings, they are very well made and perform above their pricepoint. Reticle selection is very respectable and the focus on the floating dot crosshair found in most of their new ares and Cronus are very welcomed improvements. Turrets have gotten much nicer and glass quality has never been an issue. Over all you will be pleased with this scope and like love or hate it give them feed back. They have been listening. Even if you feel it's a trivial matter.

 

[Wyzrd]

The Cronus BTR I had was an awesome scope for the money. Great glass, daylight bright illuminated reticle if you need it, tracked spot on, turrets weren’t the nicest (as far as audible/tactile-compared to an Atacr F1 and Gen2 Razor) but good enough for me, and if anything does happen to your scope, their warranty and customer service dept is GTG. I say buy with confidence. Only reason I got rid of mine was because I got an AMG for a lighter weight hunting rifle, and needed to get a little funds for Christmas shopping. However, if I was in the market for another scope, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Cronus BTR.

 

[Tunnuh]

I have a Cronus BTR that I use for matches here in Texas. I am very hard on the scope as far as heat, cold, rain, mud, barricades that come with shooting in Texas. The tracking, zero stop, paralax and glass are great. I've handled the dmr 2 extensively, as well as the xrs ii. I wouldn't change for anything but the nightforce 7-35 which is out of my price range for now.

 

[spurrnch]

Have numerous Athlon scopes (Ares btr and etr as well as Cronus btr). Have not had any issues other than losing some set screws on the ares (my fault lol). Glass on the cronus and ares etr is quite good when comparing to more expensive products. Also have an mk5, while it is ok, I would pick the Athlon over it in about every area.

 

[skatz11]

I ended up with a Cronus BTR after a long debate between it and the Razor Gen2.

I compared a first gen non BTR Cronus to my fathers Razor Gen2. Image quality and eye box were about even. I found that I liked the floating cross hair a lot.

The turrets on the BTR are much better than that first Cronus. They are very similar to my 5-20 Razor Gen1. They’re distinct and feel pretty good. I think the complaints about them are a little overblown.

 

[AverageGrunt]

Just don’t go cheap on glass and it won’t be a problem...use what you have and save for top tier

 

[Tx_Aggie]

The Cronus is in a different league altogether than something like a Gen 1 (or even Gen 2) PST.

When compared to Vortex products, I've found I prefer the Cronus BTR over a Gen 1 Razor (image quality, eye box, zoom range, reticle). And while I prefer the turrets in the Gen 2, the Cronus seems to be a better value than either the Gen 1 or Gen 2 Razors. If I had been able to spend some time with a Cronus before buying my Gen 2 Razor I would have been very tempted to go with the Athlon product instead.

I actually prefer the Athlon reticle's .2 MRAD windage subtensions over the .5 marks in the Vortex EBR-2C.

 

[gr8fuldoug]

Athlon is a interesting company that has made big jumps in the market using customer feedback and actually delivering. They are some of the nicest folks to talk to if you have to call for any customer service issues. Their budget lines have similar issues as all budget Scopes tend to have...Excel in one or two areas, fall short in others.
As for thier upper tier offerings, they are very well made and perform above their pricepoint. Reticle selection is very respectable and the focus on the floating dot crosshair found in most of their new ares and Cronus are very welcomed improvements. Turrets have gotten much nicer and glass quality has never been an issue. Over all you will be pleased with this scope and like love or hate it give them feed back. They have been listening. Even if you feel it's a trivial matter.

Very well put.

They just released a bunch of new products including a Cronus 15x56 binocular for $699.99 that compares against $1,000.00 offerings from other mfg's.

 

[flatland1]

Very well put.

They just released a bunch of new products including a Cronus 15x56 binocular for $699.99 that compares against $1,000.00 offerings from other mfg's.

I also agree with bfglowkey's assessment of the Athlon business model.

I've been shooting with Athlon Cronus scopes on all my precision 22RF rifles for almost 3 years, and have been very pleased with all four of these scopes, including some early pre-BTRs, later pre-BTRs, and a couple of BTRs on my V-22s. Also have an Ares ETR on a custom 7-08 Improved 30*, and in comparing the optical quality of this scope to both pre-BTR & BTR Cronus, feel the ETR is very nearly as good. Plus the turret clicks/detents on the Ares ETR scopes are much more distinct than the early pre-BTR Cronus were. Not that the Cronus detents give me any problems - I've never had an issue getting just one click when I want it, nor in being able to count clicks when making larger adjustments. I've also got a few Ares BTRs on custom rifles, and actually prefer their floating crosshair aiming point to the floating dots of the ETR & Midas TAC - it's much easier to pick up while shooting movers, and IMHO, they went a little too small with the floating dot. Good folks at Athlon - and good products at good prices.