Hey yall, been a lurker for a bit and wanted to see if Athlon optics are a good optic to start with an FX impact. I’m brand new to PCP guns and I haven’t seen the normal firearm optics (vortex/leupold/eotech/nightforce).
Athlon Optics recommendations
- Thread starter Lucasdao4
- Start date
I have several Athlon optics on airguns and on ELR PB's. I like them. Positive, tactile clicks, clear glass, mostly affordable. My 6.5Creedmoor has an Athlon Midas Tac on it and I can regularly reach out and bang steel at 900 yards with it. Some may find the reticles a bit busy, but that's a matter of preference.
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Thanks sir! I’m used to my Leupol Mk5 and my Eotech Vudu 5-25. I love a great Christmas tree reticle but wanted to see if you’d still be able to utilize these types of reticles.
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Absolutely. I have a plethora of scopes, but my favorites tend to be the Arkens and Athlons... Mainly for their price, I'll admit. My ELR shooting buddy runs Nightforce scopes on his rigs and neither he nor I can tell a difference in clarity on his vs mine (unless he's just being kind, but I sure cant). I wont profess that the Athlons or Arkens are as gorilla proof as the Nightforce, however.
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Copy that, for these uses with pcp guns with almost no recoil I don’t see anything wrong with a “lower tier” optic. Appreciate your responses sir!
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I have two Midas Tac scopes and one Helos. I have been happy with all of them. Very positive clicks on the turrets and they track very well and return to zero when asked. I would happily recommend Athlon scopes.
Kenny
Kenny
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Competitive Field target ... a bunch of us are using the newer HERAS series & Loving them !!!
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You're GTG with Athlon. They have a wide range of models to suit different budgets. From what I hear, the warranty is good, but I've never had to use it. A lot of their models focus/parallax down to 10 yards so they fit right in for airgunners.
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Check out "Cyclops" on youtube. He's the real deal on optic reviews.
My friend really likes Athlon scopes because the reticle is easier for him to see than *gasp* Hawke reticles. He has several.
I am a Hawke fanboi, I have several Hawke 2-7x32 Airmax scopes on my springers. I like "coming home" to the same scope no matter the rifle.
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After buying four different brands of scopes the previous four years to see how they stack up against Athlon's equivalents - where applicable, I still have to give Athlon the nod for best brand overall for the cost. The stand out attribute to me is the turret feel! One can buy substantially more expensive scopes and have turret action feel fall far short of most Athlon scopes, and to this day few higher end scopes feel as nice as Cronus G2 turrets. I have a March Genesis that has great turrets but I can't say they are superior in distinctness, lash, or marks lining up when compared. I also have a Vortex Razor LHT which is a $2000 retail scope and the turrets on this scope are dismal compared to the Cronus G2.
A surprise 1.5 years ago was when my new Athlon ETR 15-60 was compared to the higher end scopes I have in the Image quality/IQ aspect. This $1100 scope was as nice as some and barely behind the best.
I could go on but you get the gist.
A surprise 1.5 years ago was when my new Athlon ETR 15-60 was compared to the higher end scopes I have in the Image quality/IQ aspect. This $1100 scope was as nice as some and barely behind the best.
I could go on but you get the gist.
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I have a Athlon Optics Argos HMR 4-20x50mm BDC 600A (SFP) mounted on my FX Wildcat MK3. I love it. Its clear, has positive clicks, the parallax adjustment is really accurate and allows me to range the target without having to use my range finder. At max zoom the image is fantastic. No blurriness and or ghosting at the edges and a good eye relief so I do not find myself struggling to get a full clear image. The reticle is clear and I highly recommend it for the price. Comparatively, I purchased a Vector Optics Veyron 6-24x44 MPR-V5 (FFP). Not really my favorite. At 20x (max being 24x), I find the image quality to be not that great and the eye relief is mediocre at best. It is so hard to get a clear image as I find myself constantly having to adjust my eye to get a full image but the eye relief is really bad in my opinion. The parallax adjustment knob is really tight and is not accurate, unlike the Athlon. Just do not enjoy using this scope. I bought it from Krale and paid $280 shipped to the US and I wish I would not have wasted my money and purchased another Athlon scope instead.
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Thanks for posting this. My next budget scope is probably going to be your scope, but the MOA reticle instead of the BDC. I was wanting to purchase from Cameraland, but they have been out of stock for some time. Krale currently is selling your scope for $409, so you must have gotten it some time ago.
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The Athlon was for $320 from Optics Planet. Seems to be going for same price right now too.
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As for bargain brand optics I have become partial to Vector Optics. I'm amazed at how good the glass is. and it's a nice looking scope with a beautiful matte finish.
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Hi Lucas,
glad you came out of the lurker's shadows and started posting.
From your experience with powder burners you know scopes pretty well, I'd assume.
You probably also have noticed that there are some differences between scopes usable for powder burners — and scopes for airguns.
One critical feature is the minimum parallax — since our airgun distances are much shorter.
Unfortunately, most online stores are not helpful in giving you filters to find the scopes that have 10y or 15y minumum parallax.
Another critical feature is the adjustment of the elevation, since airguns' PBR is pretty limited:
Either the ability to adjust elevation of a shot via an exposed turret — or using holdover with an appropriate reticle (some like to use both).
Again, stores rarely give you that kind of filter when browsing their scope offerings....
➠ My frustration at their failure — and the complexity of scopes features in general — has driven me to comb through manufacturers' webpages and catalogs and write up Scope Specs Tables — for scopes particularly suited to airgunning.
So far, I have 3 Tables:
➊ Short scopes, and those that are 3-12x | 3-9x
➋ 4-16x | 3-18x | 4-20x
➌ 6-24x | 5-30x | 4-24x | 4-20x
What magnification ranges are you looking for?
Matthias
glad you came out of the lurker's shadows and started posting.
From your experience with powder burners you know scopes pretty well, I'd assume.
You probably also have noticed that there are some differences between scopes usable for powder burners — and scopes for airguns.
One critical feature is the minimum parallax — since our airgun distances are much shorter. Unfortunately, most online stores are not helpful in giving you filters to find the scopes that have 10y or 15y minumum parallax.
Another critical feature is the adjustment of the elevation, since airguns' PBR is pretty limited:Either the ability to adjust elevation of a shot via an exposed turret — or using holdover with an appropriate reticle (some like to use both).
Again, stores rarely give you that kind of filter when browsing their scope offerings....
➠ My frustration at their failure — and the complexity of scopes features in general — has driven me to comb through manufacturers' webpages and catalogs and write up Scope Specs Tables — for scopes particularly suited to airgunning.
So far, I have 3 Tables:
➊ Short scopes, and those that are 3-12x | 3-9x
➋ 4-16x | 3-18x | 4-20x
➌ 6-24x | 5-30x | 4-24x | 4-20x
What magnification ranges are you looking for?
Matthias
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This is a good scope for a FFP hunting scope. Larger reticle at lowest power for easy seeing, low magnification for quick on target acquisition, a parallax adjustment that is generous enough to be set for mid-range field use or dialing for precise longer range target shooting, decent high-power magnification for longer ranges, good turrets, decent small footprint/weight, decent price, christmas tree reticle for holding over.
athlonoptics.com
Helos BTR GEN2 2-12x42 FFP IR MIL | DMR Scope
A wide range field of view with ample magnification. A DMR scope ideally suited for riflemen preferring a MIL based reticle option.
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Athlons are great scopes. I have several including Midas Tac, Helos and Heras and I like all of them. I now lean toward the Heras line because they are available in SFP which I prefer.
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100moa elevation
High Definition Lanthanum Lens
Second focal plane.
30mm main tube
Parallax 10 yards to infinity.
Nice floating dot reticle.
Zero stop
For an airgun, it's unbeatable.
Only the dot lights up in red, thus killing any wash out from the entire reticle lighting up.
The glass is very good. Comes with a very nice set of medium rings. And a throw lever for the zoom ring. And a pretty nice set of flip up end caps.
Vector Orion pro max
High Definition Lanthanum Lens
Second focal plane.
30mm main tube
Parallax 10 yards to infinity.
Nice floating dot reticle.
Zero stop
For an airgun, it's unbeatable.
Only the dot lights up in red, thus killing any wash out from the entire reticle lighting up.
The glass is very good. Comes with a very nice set of medium rings. And a throw lever for the zoom ring. And a pretty nice set of flip up end caps.
Vector Orion pro max
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Piggy backing on my other post.
Sample of one but my 3-ish year old Vector Continetal 5-30 gradually was the cause of odd POI issues. These were infrequent but enough to put me 1-3 points out of the top score at FT matches. Same with my daughter when sharing my gun. I thought it was my pellets until I got a Athlon Ares ETR on my Thomas. Mysteriously I was back to the scores I used to have back a season and a half before.
I sent it in last year and they sent me a newer generation which sat in the safe new for a long time. I recently mounted it on a older pcp but I'll be keeping a closer eye on it this time with my fingers crossed.
The turrets still fall short of the Athlon Helos G2 line but the upside is the weight is lower and I like the larger dot in the Vector reticle. Do I wish I had gotten a Helos G2 6-24 back then instead, yes I do.
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