The new Athlon Ares BTR G3 2.5-15x50, initials, and ongoing thoughts.

[steve123]

I just got this scope yesterday and thought I'd post some whistle wetters about it. Straight off I'll mention I'm loosely associated with Athlon and have been since this company came about. That being said I've gotten a few scopes from Athlon in the past that had things I personally didn't prefer or for whatever reason the prescription in some of them didn't work for my eyes. However I haven't had any out of 20 or so of their scopes have to be sent back for repair which is pretty darn good.

Each generation of scopes has shown improvement in a number of ways is a point I plan on making in this post.
Back a decade or so I had a G1 Ares BTR 2.5-15x50. It was okay for a first try and my only complaints were turrets action feel was too soft and the Image Quality/IQ could have been better. Some felt the IQ was sub par but I didn't, or I should state not for what it cost back then. I remember comparing it to a FFP SWFA 3-15 and I found it superior IQ wise by a decent margin It worked fine and I sold it a year later to a local hunter who killed a deer that fall with it on the gun. Enough on that scope.

I bought a G1 Ares BTR 4.5-27x50 shortly after that which I suppose you could say was a G 1.5 scope. Athlon had made the turrets better on it. I sold it when the Ares BTR G2 4.5-27 came out and got two of these. Once again Athlon had improved the turret feel. I was impressed by this compared to every other competing brand I'd come across. Like I've mentioned before here on the Hide the Ares BTR 4.5-27's prescription wasn't working well with my eyes. So I sold them and got Cronus G2 4.5-29's which do work well with my eyes. Enough on that.

Speaking of the Cronus G2 turrets. I still like the firm action feel, distinctness, the audible click sound, lack of lash, and how well the .1's on the turret match the line on the housing. IMHO they are about as good feeling as a turret can be. I've had older S&B's, NF's, USO, March's and although each brand of turret felt different I wouldn't say that the Cronus G2 turrets are inferior in feel to any of them.

I had headed out to the shop to have a look see, opened the safe to grab what I thought was a Athlon Midas TAC 5-25 sitting on the shelf to have something to compare immediately the new G3 Ares I had just gotten out of the box. It turned out the G3 turrets were even better. Then I looked closer and realized I had grabbed my G2 Cronus instead! What, how could that even be, no way??!!
This is my first positive comment about this new G3. Not only are the turrets wider than the Cronus, not only are they shorter profile, but they feel better in every way. Also because the G3 turrets are wider there's more room between each click. C'mon man on a mid priced scope like this?????!!!!!! Wow I really have to compliment Athlon at this aspect alone!
Not much longer than this I got my Ares ETR 15-60 out to compare, yep the G3 turrets made these already nice turrets feel mediocre.

All the rest of the controls are IMHO just right. Nothing to loose or too tight and no wiggle of the diopter at all. I like the size of the magnification actuator/switchview on the mag ring, it's the perfect size and it can be easily removed as well.

That's all for today but I have more interesting things to bring out. I did mount the scope on a air rifle for now to use it right on my property so I'll edit this post tomorrow with more thoughts then.
Some photos. The other scope is the G2 Cronus.

 

[supercorndogs]

So it's basically the size of the 4.5-29 Cronus....

 

[Bevo]

So it's basically the size of the 4.5-29 Cronus....

I was trying to think of something dumber than this to say, but couldn’t come up with anything.

 

[supercorndogs]

I was trying to think of something dumber than this to say, but couldn’t come up with anything.

You're too dumb to think of something stupid to say. How can we trust you're smart enough to understand what you saw.

 

[supercorndogs]

27.3 oz isn't going to be a deal breaker for a lot of people. I was expecting it to weigh more looking at it next to the cronus.

 

[koja]

Ordered a Ares g2 4.5-30x56 last friday from Doug at Cameraland a week ago friday,had it following Monday,wow!
It was going on a NRL22 build for a family member,it's going on my NRL22,the Gen2 Cronus is going on other rifle. Tuesday-friday, I placed four scopes on my bench in my shop lookin out at 35 yds to 700 yd plates most mounted on trees and old deer feeders. I placed a NX84-32,Zeiss S3525,CronusG2 and the new Ares side by side, Glass wise early a.m ,misty ,NX8 ever so slight over Ares and Cronus,rest of the day the new Ares.
The Ares is longer than Cronus,shorter wider turrets,great for NRL22 and ELR22 work.Ares is the only scope of the four that did not distort image or retical at extreme tavel limits of each scope,great for ELR22.The shortest, 47 mil S3,the worst,maybe 36ish useful mils.
The Ares G2 4.5-30x56 came with a perfect NF type throw lever,sunshade and metal screw on flip scope covers. A lot for $1100 optic.

 

[steve123]

So it's basically the size of the 4.5-29 Cronus....

View attachment 8618807

LOL

The Cronus G2's are already a short scope for that mag range. Also worth mentioning many of us know that when scopes become overly compact "for a variable magnification range" at some point optical compromises begin(not that I understand the physics of why). I like compacts myself but not if the IQ is getting odd then no......

I think I would classify this G3 as normal sized for 2.5-15?? It doesn't feel weighty to me on the 6.8lb air rifle I have it on.

 

[steve123]

Just to try to avoid some confusion here. Also as to current for today.
The Cronus G2 is Athlon's highest grade scope and is manufactured at LOW Japan. Possibly a G3 will come out this year???
The one Koja is referring to is the tier right underneath the C-G2 and is Chinese made at what I was told is the highest rated optics factory there. It's the Ares "ETR" G2 4.5-30x56.
All the other scopes below are Chinese made and some are made at other factories AFAIK.
Next down is the Ares BTR G3 like the one this thread is about.
Then Midas TAC G2.
Then Helos G3
Then Argos G3.
Beyond that there is some overlap on the cheaper lines which I haven't been paying attention to.

 

[supercorndogs]

LOL

The Cronus G2's are already a short scope for that mag range. Also worth mentioning many of us know that when scopes become overly compact "for a variable magnification range" at some point optical compromises begin(not that I understand the physics of why). I like compacts myself but not if the IQ is getting odd then no......

I think I would classify this G3 as normal sized for 2.5-15?? It doesn't feel weighty to me on the 6.8lb air rifle I have it on.

I see where I got mixed up. When I looked up the Viper 3-15 I got the Viper HD instead of the pst2. The pst2 3-15 being a big scope for its mag tange. I saw the Athlon was longer and heavier. I should have caught on when I saw the weight of 22oz that I had the wrong 3-15 Viper. I was quite suprised thinking it was bigger than the pst2 3-15.

 

[steve123]

Some more thoughts for today.

The APRS13 mil reticle is the one in my scope. It has .06 mil reticle thickness for the main cross stadia.

The day I received this G3 a storm was rolling through so it was cloudy and intermittent snow. This lighting condition made the illumination, when at it's highest setting on 6, plenty bright enough to make the cross shaped part of the reticle stand out well, even on 2.5x. Of course it stood out a lot against darker backgrounds and less against the blonde colored grass.

When the reticle was not turned on it wasn't easy to see on 2.5x against dark backgrounds. For me it needed to be on 3x 3.5x to make out it well enough to make a good shot on something. I have old eyes so.....
Against the blonde grass I could see the reticle well enough on 2.5x to make a shot.

Yesterday I walked around in the woods for an hour hoping to shoot a jackrabbit. I left the G3 on 2.5x with the illume on at #6 and it was a very bright day. I saw a rabbit jump up 100Y away which disappeared into the woods a second later. The rest of the time I shot at random stuff like pine cones in trees, cans, twigs, etc. The illume reticle was not as apparent as the day before. I could see it against trees but it wasn't as noticeable and the illume got washed out against the grass so I learned that the next bright day I'll leave the illume off and dial the mag up to 3x or a little more instead.

Some might prefer this, and I suppose I'm fine either way, but the center dot/CD is .05 mil so it's quite small on lower magnification. I'd have preferred .06 mil. But what happened is I could bracket the beginning of the stadia round about it, so .4 mil wide total, and use that to aim with, and doing this works adaquately on low mag. Remember here I'm talking about "low" mag because at some point around 7x the dot becomes apparent to me around then.

The reticle at mid to high power is very nice if someone likes .2 mil reticles.
I didn't mind in the least that it's hair thicker than most competing reticles, instead it's a BIG plus on this scope.
On low mag the main stadia of the reticle looks like a crosshair and the tree kind of disapears.
My biggest take away is the illuminated cross during the first dimly lit day was a totally awesome experience! I loved it. If it was one step brighter in illume it'd be as good as one could have for a MPVO application on low mag and no need for a COD!

One experiment I did was compare the G3 to my S&B PM2 5-25x56. Both on 5x and 15x. I found the .05 mil thick H59 reticle needed to be at 7-8x before it matched the approx thickness of the G3 reticle at 5x. This suprised me?! Translating it back one can utilize the reticle in the G3 on less mag and have more FOV for the same approx reticle thickness, or .01 mil more actually does make a markable difference here.

Athlon without a doubt had found ways to improve the IQ in the G3. LOL, I don't want to get yelled at by you all so I'll just say that it's exceptional.
Backing up a bit I got a SFP Ares ETR 15-60x56 target scope 1.5 years ago. The short of it is the IQ in it is very very nice and it could be considered a G2 ETR scope although not labeled this way. It seriously is "almost" as nice as my S&B and my March Genesis, it's that good. This G3 is close to that ETR, maybe a hair less.

Just to condense things.
I doubt any other turret, on any other rifle scope, in this price range, can compete with these on this scope.
The reticle is great, I really like it with .06 mil for the main.
I really like the lit up cross on low mag! Though I wish it was a step or two brighter for the sunniest days.
The eyebox is huge and roomy on low mag and eye alignment is easy at high mag.
So far it has surpassed what I thought it would be like and I don't say this lightly.
There is literally nothing I can point out as a specific complaint.
IMHO Athlon really really outdid themselves with this scope!

As far as a MPVO.
It's not compact.
It's not lightweight.
It does not have daylight bright illume as far as a super sunny day is concerned.
But otherwise it's crazy how nice it is for the cost and the area in the scope world it should be compared to.
The gun is a FX Royale pcp air rifle.

 

[DM1975]

Your findings are very similar to what I’m getting with a 0.06 mil reticle on the gen2. At 2.5x I can’t see the center dot but I can find the center of the crosshairs well enough to use. For my eyes I can make out the crosshairs pretty well at 2.5x in most applications that I’ve tried so far but I also agree that daylight bright illumination would make it even better. Eventually I would like to get a gen3 to try out. I think the IQ on the gen2 is pretty good so the gen3 being better should be a winner with how they redesigned everything. Thanks for the review.

 

[Longshot85]

Had one with a thermal clip on in front of it yet?

 

[steve123]

Had one with a thermal clip on in front of it yet?

Not me.

 

[steve123]

I mounted this scope on my AR upper in 6mmFatRat a few minutes ago so I'll try to get out to shoot some long range soon and see how that goes.

I hadn't looked at the sunshade and scope caps yet but it turns out the scope caps are threaded so they both screw right onto the scope!!!
The objective end of the sunshade is also threaded so that the cap screws onto it as well.
These caps feel like they are high quality and a magnet system holds them closed.
A very nice bonus and all of which is pretty cool!

 

[jbell]

How is the eye box on these Athlon scopes?

 

[Longshot85]

How is the eye box on these Athlon scopes?

Hard for me to say exactly, I'm sure @steve123 can weigh in better as far as comparing to other scopes. I've got 3x different Athlons on all of my rifles. Are they the most tip top Gucci loaded scopes.....no....do they fit my budget and work well enough to get the job done...yes.

My first one was a Gen 1 Argos BTR on my 6.5cm.....I have shot clay pigeons at 1000 yards, rang steel at 1604 yards, and I hunt long range with them.

I've been off the forum for a while but as a friendly reminder, I used that Argos to make a cold bore shot at 632 yards from a tree stand in the rain and fog near dusk on a small doe. Just trying to show some real world usage

To be clear the video is filmed through a Leupold Mark 4 spotter at 40x mag, then camera (Samsung S7 ) is disconnected and put behind a Sig kilo 2000 to verify range on camera for viewers

 

[Chickentoast]

What does loosely associated with Athlon mean? Stopped reading after that - as soon as I hear custodial engineer instead of janitor, I can't continue. Guess I'm old. You either work for them, have worked for them, work(ed) for them from time to time, don't work for them, or never worked for them.

 

[steve123]

What does loosely associated with Athlon mean? Stopped reading after that - as soon as I hear custodial engineer instead of janitor, I can't continue. Guess I'm old. You either work for them, have worked for them, work(ed) for them from time to time, don't work for them, or never worked for them.

I've helped in the suggestions of different features and reticles designs and get dealer discount pricing as well as have been given a few scopes throughout the years. So I tend to get enthusiastic when the next year rolls by and I try different Athlon products. Many of which I tested and sent back.
I was employed with Athlon for a month 5 years ago which didn't work out because I found out the hard way I'm a horrible salesman, lol.

Not to be rude but I don't care what others think, it just is what it is. I present the information as I see it, and either a person likes a product or they don't, which is out of my control, and whatever happens, happens. The way I think is if I see a problem or a downside with whatever product I'm using, whether I've paid for it or not, I point it out, and I've always done this which people that have read my posts might even remember.

Have a nice day!

 

[steve123]

How is the eye box on these Athlon scopes?

It's massive on 2.5X and normal on 15x.

 

[Chickentoast]

I've helped in the suggestions of different features and reticles designs and get dealer discount pricing as well as have been given a few scopes throughout the years. So I tend to get enthusiastic when the next year rolls by and I try different Athlon products. Many of which I tested and sent back.
I was employed with Athlon for a month 5 years ago which didn't work out because I found out the hard way I'm a horrible salesman, lol.

Not to be rude but I don't care what others think, it just is what it is. I present the information as I see it, and either a person likes a product or they don't, which is out of my control, and whatever happens, happens. The way I think is if I see a problem or a downside with whatever product I'm using, whether I've paid for it or not, I point it out, and I've always done this which people that have read my posts might even remember.

Have a nice day!

Now I can read your review - thanks for clarifying! I've had an Ares, 2 Midas, and Cronus over the years - company was great and they had / maybe still have the best Chinese glass.

 

[260284]

Had one with a thermal clip on in front of it yet?

I am running the Gen2 with a super yoter C/iRayCH50 and it is great. I have it on a 6 creed and 500 is my farthest kill so far.

 

[Longshot85]

I am running the Gen2 witha super yoter C/iRayCH50 and it is great. I have it on a 6 creed and 500 is my farthest kill so far.

Awesome man, how much further out you think you could take one out ....say ideal conditions....also...what core is that super Yoter 384 or 640?

Additinally.....what are you using to range them at night ?

 

[DIBBS]

Appreciate the review @steve123

I have a couple Athlons, and really like the ETR. Crisp clicks on the elevation adjustments.

The cheaper Athlon has mushy turrets but does okay on a rifle that doesn't get used a lot.

 

[260284]

Awesome man, how much further out you think you could take one out ....say ideal conditions....also...what core is that super Yoter 384 or 640?

Additinally.....what are you using to range them at night ?

I sighted it in at 8x and have done a majority of my shooting at night out to 350 or so at 2.5x. It all depends on the wind here in Kansas. I like to get them close, the longer shots are only when they hang up or are going away. I am using the Vortex Impact 4000 for ranging them. The Super Yoter C is a 640 core made by iRay.

 

[Longshot85]

I sighted it in at 8x and have done a majority of my shooting at night out to 350 or so at 2.5x. It all depends on the wind here in Kansas. I like to get them close, the longer shots are only when they hang up or are going away. I am using the Vortex Impact 4000 for ranging them. The Super Yoter C is a 640 core made by iRay.View attachment 8622443

Sweet rig, I bet it's a lot of fun

 

[steve123]

Appreciate the review @steve123

I have a couple Athlons, and really like the ETR. Crisp clicks on the elevation adjustments.

The cheaper Athlon has mushy turrets but does okay on a rifle that doesn't get used a lot.

Thanks for saying so Craig! I see your posts and wish I lived closer because it'd be nice to meet you some day. The nearest I've been in the last 10 years is southern WY by Alpine.

 

[260284]

Sweet rig, I bet it's a lot of fun

I don't get any runners with the 6 creed. I think I would rather hunt coyotes than anything at this point in my life.

 

[JMo22]

I sighted it in at 8x and have done a majority of my shooting at night out to 350 or so at 2.5x. It all depends on the wind here in Kansas. I like to get them close, the longer shots are only when they hang up or are going away. I am using the Vortex Impact 4000 for ranging them. The Super Yoter C is a 640 core made by iRay.View attachment 8622443

So I'm a complete newb when it comes to clip-on thermals with optics...it looks like the centerlines aren't in line with each other, is that not an issue? How do you get the two optics sighted in together? I'm wanting to run a similar setup with my AR but I am having a hell of a time finding a good beginner's guide to it all.

 

[steve123]

I managed a short long range session this morning from 9:30 to 11:30. Wind was 5 mph when I arrived and about 15 when I left. Mid 50's to low 60's.

The place I go and shoot from is in black cinders here in northern AZ. This is significant because the mirage gets pretty bad by a certain point when shooting prone off the bipod which is amplified by magnification. Cinders radiate heat waves like crazy. However one upside is it helps one tell what the wind is doing a little better.

Within 6 shots I was zero'ed and reset the elevation turret but had forgotten to measure the exact scope height for the new mount before I left the house. I guessed at 2.6" so will need to get that correct.

This AR upper with 22" barrel I used is a 6mmFatRat. 95gr SMK .5 BC, at what I thought was 2872 fps.
I noticed I was hittng high at 500Y and even higher at 636Y, and blamed it on not knowing the exact scope height. Thought I better get out the Garmin to check and it turned out the velocity was 2924 fps so it was a fail of a tracking test on my part. At least I know for next time. Kind of cluster, lol.
Could have been from pooring 2 pounds of H4895 into what was left of my 8lb container?? The barrel only has 400 rounds through it so maybe it sped up??

The small plate is 4" wide and the bigger one is 1' wide.

I mostly stayed at 15x and shot at 230Y, 395Y, 636Y, and 787Y. I tried 10x and 12x at 787Y and remembered why I like 15x better. I'll take 12x over 10x that's for sure.
3 shots at 230Y dialing .4 mil up and aiming off .3 mil.

395Y, dialed 1.5 mil and held off .3 to .5 mil.

500Y was about the same except I was hitting .1 mil higher on the plate. I aimed lower and there were bullets scattered around enough I didn't take a photo of it.

636Y, 3.5 mil dialed and .6-.7 hold off, wind picking up, and I noticed I was hitting high again so I dialed down to 3.4 mil. Groups are over lapped a bit.

I shot at a rock around 1 foot in size at 787Y, wind and mirage was getting nasty and I didn't hit it but 3 for 8 with 4.9 mils dialed and holding off .9-1.1 mil. Out of ammo anyway....

Maybe because I have the diopter dialed way out for my eyes, not sure, but I had the side focus at infinity for 636Y and 787Y, so will have to check that later too. Though the IQ was as good as could be expected considering the conditions.

I did NOT get everything right this time but it was fun nevertheless, especially not having shot this upper in months.
Yuh know it was so weird that I could hit stuff anyway with this super thick reticle ??!! I'mkiddingofcourse.

Those scope caps are fantastic!

Not much else to say at this point but will visit this thread as I keep using the G3.

 

[LeftyJason]

Been looking forward to this since you mentioned you were going to be doing this last week.

Considering one of these for my AR. Was also considering the dnt 3-18 coming up with the possible hide reticle but that might take awhile. I think I will finally get an rrs tripod this year first.

In its life I started with a leupold mark AR 3-9x40 sfp, put my razor 2 4.5-27 on it before I got my Tikka, and it now has a vortex strike fire on it.

The leupold was back 2010 before I k ew any better. The 9 seemed low for what I wanted to do with it. The razor looked off, and the strike fire doesn't seem enough.

Have since taken off the vfg. Bipod moves to everything.

18" white oak spr, pof lower, stag lh upper, Timney single stage, strike rail, ubr Gen 1 stock, tbac u7 g2.

Bonus if I go for this is it will give me a new brand. Only duplicate companies is my 2 savage lh 22's that I would like to sell, Tikka t1x and T3x, 3 tbac cans (22td, u7, fly 9), 2 vortex (razor and strike fire), and my 3 green dot holosuns (eps, eps carry, 403).

 

[Longshot85]

I sighted it in at 8x and have done a majority of my shooting at night out to 350 or so at 2.5x. It all depends on the wind here in Kansas. I like to get them close, the longer shots are only when they hang up or are going away. I am using the Vortex Impact 4000 for ranging them. The Super Yoter C is a 640 core made by iRay.View attachment 8622443

Sweet rig

 

[Longshot85]

Been looking forward to this since you mentioned you were going to be doing this last week.

Considering one of these for my AR. Was also considering the dnt 3-18 coming up with the possible hide reticle but that might take awhile. I think I will finally get an rrs tripod this year first.

In its life I started with a leupold mark AR 3-9x40 sfp, put my razor 2 4.5-27 on it before I got my Tikka, and it now has a vortex strike fire on it.

The leupold was back 2010 before I k ew any better. The 9 seemed low for what I wanted to do with it. The razor looked off, and the strike fire doesn't seem enough.

Have since taken off the vfg. Bipod moves to everything.
View attachment 8622933
18" white oak spr, pof lower, stag lh upper, Timney single stage, strike rail, ubr Gen 1 stock, tbac u7 g2.

Bonus if I go for this is it will give me a new brand. Only duplicate companies is my 2 savage lh 22's that I would like to sell, Tikka t1x and T3x, 3 tbac cans (22td, u7, fly 9), 2 vortex (razor and strike fire), and my 3 green dot holosuns (eps, eps carry, 403).

That 18 in WOA is begging for an FFP optic, mine loves 77 gr Smk and TMK .... factory IMI Razorcore 77grn (which is an SMK) shoots great too

 

[260284]

So I'm a complete newb when it comes to clip-on thermals with optics...it looks like the centerlines aren't in line with each other, is that not an issue? How do you get the two optics sighted in together? I'm wanting to run a similar setup with my AR but I am having a hell of a time finding a good beginner's guide to it all.

I had it direct attached to my scope, but found I had to re-zero whenever I took it off and put it back on. I went with the chassis mount and didn't have to change a thing. The fov is the same and the zero doesn't change when I take it off and back on.

 

[WeR0206]

I managed a short long range session this morning from 9:30 to 11:30. Wind was 5 mph when I arrived and about 15 when I left. Mid 50's to low 60's.

The place I go and shoot from is in black cinders here in northern AZ. This is significant because the mirage gets pretty bad by a certain point when shooting prone off the bipod which is amplified by magnification. Cinders radiate heat waves like crazy. However one upside is it helps one tell what the wind is doing a little better.

Within 6 shots I was zero'ed and reset the elevation turret but had forgotten to measure the exact scope height for the new mount before I left the house. I guessed at 2.6" so will need to get that correct.

This AR upper with 22" barrel I used is a 6mmFatRat. 95gr SMK .5 BC, at what I thought was 2872 fps.
I noticed I was hittng high at 500Y and even higher at 636Y, and blamed it on not knowing the exact scope height. Thought I better get out the Garmin to check and it turned out the velocity was 2924 fps so it was a fail of a tracking test on my part. At least I know for next time. Kind of cluster, lol.
Could have been from pooring 2 pounds of H4895 into what was left of my 8lb container?? The barrel only has 400 rounds through it so maybe it sped up??
View attachment 8622691

The small plate is 4" wide and the bigger one is 1' wide.

I mostly stayed at 15x and shot at 230Y, 395Y, 636Y, and 787Y. I tried 10x and 12x at 787Y and remembered why I like 15x better. I'll take 12x over 10x that's for sure.
3 shots at 230Y dialing .4 mil up and aiming off .3 mil.
View attachment 8622695

395Y, dialed 1.5 mil and held off .3 to .5 mil.
View attachment 8622710

500Y was about the same except I was hitting .1 mil higher on the plate. I aimed lower and there were bullets scattered around enough I didn't take a photo of it.

636Y, 3.5 mil dialed and .6-.7 hold off, wind picking up, and I noticed I was hitting high again so I dialed down to 3.4 mil. Groups are over lapped a bit.View attachment 8622723
I shot at a rock around 1 foot in size at 787Y, wind and mirage was getting nasty and I didn't hit it but 3 for 8 with 4.9 mils dialed and holding off .9-1.1 mil. Out of ammo anyway....

Maybe because I have the diopter dialed way out for my eyes, not sure, but I had the side focus at infinity for 636Y and 787Y, so will have to check that later too. Though the IQ was as good as could be expected considering the conditions.

I did NOT get everything right this time but it was fun nevertheless, especially not having shot this upper in months.
Yuh know it was so weird that I could hit stuff anyway with this super thick reticle ??!! I'mkiddingofcourse.

Those scope caps are fantastic!

Not much else to say at this point but will visit this thread as I keep using the G3.

Thanks for the write up. Im currently considering ares btr G3 4.5-27x50 and tac g2 5-30x56 for a 6 arc gas gun build. I believe these both have the same glass and the main difference is the tac g2 is 34mm tube and ares is 30mm. From what you know is there any other big difference between the two (tac is also 3oz lighter)? The tac g2 is a few hundred cheaper so Im leaning towards it but any insight would be appreciated. The use case for the scoop would be target shooting and potential hunting. I can’t figure out why they’re such a big price difference between the two especially since they both use the same HD glass, etc.. I think maybe the Ares has locking turrets and the TAC doesn’t? To me I’m not sure if that feature is worth a couple hundred extra dollars and isn’t extremely necessary for my use case.

 

[steve123]

Thanks for the write up. Im currently considering ares btr G3 4.5-27x50 and tac g2 5-30x56 for a 6 arc gas gun build. I believe these both have the same glass and the main difference is the tac g2 is 34mm tube and ares is 30mm. From what you know is there any other big difference between the two (tac is also 3oz lighter)? The tac g2 is a few hundred cheaper so Im leaning towards it but any insight would be appreciated. The use case for the scoop would be target shooting and potential hunting. I can’t figure out why they’re such a big price difference between the two especially since they both use the same HD glass, etc.. I think maybe the Ares has locking turrets and the TAC doesn’t? To me I’m not sure if that feature is worth a couple hundred extra dollars and isn’t extremely necessary for my use case.

It looks like that 5-30 G2 MT has retained a capped windage but has illumination now whereas 1st Gen MT's didn't have illume before. Still pretty lightweight for a 34mm tube and 56mm objective at 30oz and 30 mils of travel.

The G3 Ares BTR 4.5-27 has a 30mm tube with 50mm objective. It has 24 mils travel and like you said is lighter weight. The turrets don't lock and the windage is exposed.

The ETR G2 4.5-30 is the heaviest at 36 oz, has 32 mils travel and locking windage. Likely the best Chinese glass. I had the 1st Gen ETR 4.5-30 and it was definitely superior in IQ and turret feel to the 2nd Gen Ares BTR I owned at the same time.

If I were to guess the gap between the G3 Ares BTR, the TAC G2, and the ETR G2, has closed a lot?? I don't see how a scope can be made much better than this G3 is because there isn't much to improve on?? It's a diminishing returns thing.

But out of curiosity I'd like to try a G2 ETR and a G2 TAC!

I'd say study all the specs carefully, decide what your priorities are, and go from there.

 

[WeR0206]

It looks like that 5-30 G2 MT has retained a capped windage but has illumination now whereas 1st Gen MT's didn't have illume before. Still pretty lightweight for a 34mm tube and 56mm objective at 30oz and 30 mils of travel.

The G3 Ares BTR 4.5-27 has a 30mm tube with 50mm objective. It has 24 mils travel and like you said is lighter weight. The turrets don't lock and the windage is exposed.

The ETR G2 4.5-30 is the heaviest at 36 oz, has 32 mils travel and locking windage. Likely the best Chinese glass. I had the 1st Gen ETR 4.5-30 and it was definitely superior in IQ and turret feel to the 2nd Gen Ares BTR I owned at the same time.

If I were to guess the gap between the G3 Ares BTR, the TAC G2, and the ETR G2, has closed a lot?? I don't see how a scope can be made much better than this G3 is because there isn't much to improve on?? It's a diminishing returns thing.

But out of curiosity I'd like to try a G2 ETR and a G2 TAC!

I'd say study all the specs carefully, decide what your priorities are, and go from there.

Thanks, will do!