Rifle Scopes Talk me into or out of a Cronus BTR

BLKWLFK9

Just F'n Send It Podcast
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Minuteman
  • Feb 13, 2017
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    I've never really taken Athlon seriously, probably due to the way they market them with the 500000 pro staffers that want to knock on your door on Saturday mornings and talk to you about their Lord and savior Athlon. But I would be lying if the Cronus BTR hasn't intrigued me from all the reviews and comparisons to high end optics. I'm a NF guy. I love NF optics durability and bomb proof tracking. Glass is great too. Reticle is what is lacking and I'm digging the one in the Cronus. Especially whenever the floating dot comes out. I'm in the market for a new match scope, and move my NF ATACR to my hunting/backup match rifle. I would like another ATACR but in the mil c but it's 1/3 more expensive. The BTR, the Steiner T5xi, Bushnell XRSII, GenII razor, AMG, or another 5-25 ATACR with the MILC. I've never posted one of these types threads before bc it's always been NF for me. Change my mind. lol
     
    Buy a used one and run it. If it doesn’t meet your needs sell it. Worst comes to worst you’ll loose out on shipping when you resell it and call it a learning experience.
    I don’t think you’ll regret it and you can always mount it on a rimfire if you have one. I’ve put the non BTR on my cz when they were on sale for 1k and I’ve just picked up BTR for my 300wm carbon build.
    I don’t think you can do better in the used market for under $1,300-1,500 give or take
     
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    I have the first gen model. The crosshairs are waay to fat and and unusable and Steve123 should be hanged by the neck until death for that. However the glass is good and it tracks. If you got an extra 1 or 2 k laying around get a kahles or Minox but if not the btr is definitely good enough.
     
    I just recently picked up a Cronus BTR and I’m extremely happy I did. I’m a Schmidt & Bender guy and I needed another scope but couldn’t afford another Schmidt. The Cronus is no Schmidt but very impressive. The Mil reticle is very nice to use and doesn’t seem to fat at high magnification all though I rarely shoot above 20x. The turrets have a good feel and not mushy what so ever. Tracking is spot on every time. Side by side comparison with a Nightforce 3.5-15 NSX set on same magnification the Cronus glass is significantly clearer through my eye balls. The parallax is very smooth yet crisp if that makes any sense. When I took the scope out of the box I was surprised at the weight of the scope. It feels like a mini tank which makes me think it’s gotta be tough. Zero stop is so simple it’s ridiculous.
    So I say get the Cronus. I’m very happy I did. It’s my new medium price optic. I’m recommending them to anybody looking for a new scope in that price range.
     
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    I have the first gen model. The crosshairs are waay to fat and and unusable and Steve123 should be hanged by the neck until death for that. However the glass is good and it tracks. If you got an extra 1 or 2 k laying around get a kahles or Minox but if not the btr is definitely good enough.

    LOL, I gave my ideas, my advice, and "about half" of what I wanted didn't come to pass in more than a few of the Athlon scopes you see now. Reticle thickness was entirely not on me as well as some of the recent reticle offerings. If they had thoroughly followed my advice you'd have seen more optimized FFL reticles and scopes in "my opinion", for their price range. Keep in mind I have "0" control over what Athlon does and does not do.

    Unusable, really??!! Could you at least settle for a tar and feathering.

    Instead of pointing the finger and calling people out on the internet, you should be appreciating what "is", because Athlon could have been just another nameless optics Co that doesn't "GET IT" as far as what most of "US" want. You want to see an example of this, just walk down the isles at ShotShow to closely observe the misery. Yuh know, it'd sure be nice if someone actually showed appreciation for once, instead of bitching, which seems to be your special gift in life judging from the past posts. Since I have to retain some sense of professionalism, even though I don't work for Athlon per say, I'll stop there.

    Partly because of me, people have decent inexpensive Athlon options. These scopes are what they are and shooters accept the deficiencies knowing full well what the other scopes offer at near the same price. No perfect scopes exist, BTW, regardless of price.

    Most of the other optics Co's have tried to emulate my ideas, some get it, most don't.
     
    I have 2 Cronus BTRs and as far as features and quality, I have no complaints about either. The glass is great, reticle is very useable (I wish it had the .03mil floating center dot. I'm sure its coming). The turrets are crisp, and track well, the parallax matches given yardages (at least well enough). The zerostop works and is easy to set. There really isn't anything not to like except maybe the turrets are a bit tall....

    steve123 has been at the forefront for Athlon products and I can say with He and the current leadership at Athlon we will all benefit from their collaborative efforts. Anytime a company starts asking for help from people who use their products, not just people on the payroll, good things come out of it.
     

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    I’m loving mine! For the money I don’t think there is a better option. Glass, retical, tracking, durability, etc.
     

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