I have had a ton of scope brands. Athlon is my favorite on a budget. I have a rimfire, midas tac, and ares BTR gen 2. I strongly prefer them over arken.
Athlon scopes?
- Thread starter bluealtered
- Start date
Very good budget scopes. Great value for money. Back when the Vortex Viper PST Gen1 was the go-to value scope, Athlon appeared out of nowhere with the Argos BTR giving 80% of the performance for 50% of the price. People were initially skeptical but they have since proven themselves as good performers.
Ackman
Gold $$ Contributor
Athlon makes a good scope. I've a couple Argos, very good for the price, and an Ares also good to my eyes. And a few of the newer 4-20x50 Heras scopes with 1"tubes and SFP which are better for some things. According to Athlon the Heras is a step above the Argos glass wise, but below the Ares. A Sightron S TAC 4-20X50, also SFP, was recently acquired at a good price. A perfect opportunity to do a side by side comparison. Both are MOA, and I like both reticles. At Cameraland the Athlon costs a bit less but they're basically very comparable price-wise. (When they first came out, Cameraland had them on a very attractive introductory July 4 sale. They went fast)
Sightron is about 1-1/2" longer with 30mm tube, MOA and this one is duplex, wire reticle, has caps on the turrets, good clicks, a nice flip up throw lever, and comes with flip up covers. It's on a sporter weight 700 / Lilja / 22-250AI truck gun. Zero at 200, set, put caps back on and forget.
Athlon is shorter and has a nice SFP etched reticle also MOA, with unobtrusive holdover crosshatches, for whatever they're worth. I don't mind them. Very nice click adjustments, locking windage. Has a zero stop. Doesn't need a throw lever. On an AI Sako / Hart / 221 for ground varmints.....open turrets and elevation adjustments so the zero stop will be nice.
Optics......Not tested at a range on those optical paper things. On the side of a slope I can look at houses from 100 to 300yds, to 700-800yds, to a mile. And highway signs about 1-1/2miles. In all that there are also many details for comparison. The Sightron glass isn't up to SIII, but those cost twice as much. Still this S TAC is very nice.. The Athlon has about the same grade glass. Both have pretty good eyeboxes. After going back and forth with the two rifles, looking and looking trying to decide which looked better/sharper/brighter, they both looked good and the same to my eyes. No difference. Of the two I'd probably get another Heras.
Sightron is about 1-1/2" longer with 30mm tube, MOA and this one is duplex, wire reticle, has caps on the turrets, good clicks, a nice flip up throw lever, and comes with flip up covers. It's on a sporter weight 700 / Lilja / 22-250AI truck gun. Zero at 200, set, put caps back on and forget.
Athlon is shorter and has a nice SFP etched reticle also MOA, with unobtrusive holdover crosshatches, for whatever they're worth. I don't mind them. Very nice click adjustments, locking windage. Has a zero stop. Doesn't need a throw lever. On an AI Sako / Hart / 221 for ground varmints.....open turrets and elevation adjustments so the zero stop will be nice.
Optics......Not tested at a range on those optical paper things. On the side of a slope I can look at houses from 100 to 300yds, to 700-800yds, to a mile. And highway signs about 1-1/2miles. In all that there are also many details for comparison. The Sightron glass isn't up to SIII, but those cost twice as much. Still this S TAC is very nice.. The Athlon has about the same grade glass. Both have pretty good eyeboxes. After going back and forth with the two rifles, looking and looking trying to decide which looked better/sharper/brighter, they both looked good and the same to my eyes. No difference. Of the two I'd probably get another Heras.
Orr89rocz
Silver $$ Contributor
I have a midas btr gen 2 4.5-27. Its fantastic. Tracks great. I compared it to trijicon tenmile, zeiss v4 and my sightron s3 all at the same powers of 20-24x or so. Sightron was best especially at last legal light but it was a 56mm vs 50 for the others. Athlon was equal with the Zeiss V4 and both were better than trijicon tenmile. To my eyes. Athlon impressed me. Also shot my friends midas hmr 3-15x and it was good too but didnt have anything to compare to at that time
doclu60
Silver $$ Contributor
I have two Midas 4.5-27X50 G2 HD MOA scopes. Bought them both on sale from a vendor a few years back. Think I paid about $525ea for them shipped. For the money, I am very happy with both. Everything between 100yd bench and out to 250yds PD hunting, (on a .17hmr) they have performed above their price point. I had a previous lower cost Athlon, forgot what model, but was not happy with it and sent it down the road. Glad I upgraded in price and chose the Midas.
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