Rifle Scopes Ordered a Ares BTR 4.5-27 for $549

I saw that too. Tempting...

MK Machining was offering a throw lever and a level for free with purchase of scope.

All authorized Athlon dealers are offering the Ares BTR 4.5-27x50 - APLR3 FFP IR MIL through June 3rd for only $549.99, including the supporting vendors of this forum

Lawless said:

Did you guys send out an email or anything Doug? Wish I had known that.

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Yes, we sent one out and we posted about it here multiple times

Just my luck, I didn’t pay attention and paid full price for one. Damn good sale at both places.

The level and throw lever is like a $70 value... I just paid $20 for the throw lever, and I didn't get a level :\

I'm torn over this or the PST Gen 2 5-25x for $699 ($760 with tax/shipping). I need something for a prairie dog .223 bolt action. Wondering if the PST Gen 2 is worth $200-$250 more than the Ares BTR.

I ordered one from cameralandny today. I wish I had known about the free throw lever and level though.

I have one coming as well! I already had the funds for another Tac until I saw this.

Cotay said:

I'm torn over this or the PST Gen 2 5-25x for $699 ($760 with tax/shipping). I need something for a prairie dog .223 bolt action. Wondering if the PST Gen 2 is worth $200-$250 more than the Ares BTR.

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That's kind of a personal choice. You may just have to get both and decide for yourself.

ILya

rangerlong said:

I ordered one from cameralandny today. I wish I had known about the free throw lever and level though.

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I ordered from bluelineoptics.com no tax free shipping and got the level and throw lever for 549.99

Highly recommend them. Ryan their owner is great to work with.

I also got an ETR from them as well. Prompt shipping.

I've heard lots of talk about the Athlon's, but haven't had a chance to look through one. Is this scope that good? It seems like the features would make it pretty good on a rimfire, but I have zero experience with them.

how does this optic compare to a gen 2 pst?

sleeplz said:

how does this optic compare to a gen 2 pst?

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I’ve been trying to find a direct comparison as well.

Just picked up the Athlon today. Way better than the lower cost Athlon scopes. I also have a PST Gen 2.
For my eyes.
Glass clarity is the same with a bit brighter color in the PST Gen 2.
Turrets are stiff on the Vortex out of the box but loosened up after a month. Turrets on the Athlon are slick. Many YouTube videos show the fix for this. Clean off the excess grease. Haven’t done it yet, so I can’t say.
Zero stop is great on both. Better than the NF SHV that I have.
Gridded reticle is cleaner in the PST Gen 2. The Athlon reticle looks way better in person than on the web.
Markings on the PST Gen 2 turrets are clearer, but not to the point of the Athlon being worse.
PST Gen 2 came with a sunshade. Athlon did not ($30).
I got my PST Gen 2 for $800ish, happy with that price. Would not pay full retail for that optic.
$550ish for the Athlon and could not be happier.

Can’t box test till this weekend. Barring poor tracking, hands down the Athlon at this time over the PST Gen 2.

Cotay said:

I'm torn over this or the PST Gen 2 5-25x for $699 ($760 with tax/shipping). I need something for a prairie dog .223 bolt action. Wondering if the PST Gen 2 is worth $200-$250 more than the Ares BTR.

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I mean, by percentage, hell no the PST Gen 2 isn't worth 35%+ over the Ares BTR. Calling a spade a spade here. But "worth $xyz more" always becomes a judgement call in scopes. Up to you and your budget.

I've had both the pst2 and the ares btr,
Honestly both tracked good for me glass looked the same (to me)
Only difference was turret feel. And I wouldn't call one better than the other just different I guess.

For the price difference I would say the athlon is a no brainer.
Just my. 02

I love Vortex, but Athlon is edging out them in the sub 1k optic arena with price. I've owned both generations of the PSTs and loved them, but for price and nearly the same clarity Athlon is my preference. They offer more options in this price bracket (quality seems appropriate for every price level too). I think people have started to assume that since the PST costs more that it should be better, and maybe is in some regard, but I find it a wash when comparing them to the Midas line.

I’m assuming the $550 scopes are the early version with the 3 set screws on turrets?

The product description at bluelineoptics says “All Ares BTRs ship with updated turrets for better tracking”

Looks like I’ll be ordering from them, thank you.

gr8fuldoug said:

All authorized Athlon dealers are offering the Ares BTR 4.5-27x50 - APLR3 FFP IR MIL through June 3rd for only $549.99, including the supporting vendors of this forum

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Is Athlon discontinuing the BTR or is something different coming out? Just trying to understand why they dropped the bottom of the market out on these.

DrainTheSwamp2017 said:

Is Athlon discontinuing the BTR or is something different coming out? Just trying to understand why they dropped the bottom of the market out on these.

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I'd assume that they will announce a Gen 2 at SHOT in January as they did last year with the Midas BTR to Midas BTR Gen 2

DrainTheSwamp2017 said:

Is Athlon discontinuing the BTR or is something different coming out? Just trying to understand why they dropped the bottom of the market out on these.

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Doug,

Little help here man.

Tell em to put the APLR3 reticle in the Midas TAC line, all .2's, like most of those new reticles that the expensive scopes have. .5's are so 2016...

Just ordered one from Doug. Does anyone know the dimensions of the outside of the ocular and objective of the Ares BTR for fitting scope caps?

steve123 said:

Doug,

Little help here man.

Tell em to put the APLR3 reticle in the Midas TAC line, all .2's, like most of those new reticles that the expensive scopes have. .5's are so 2016...

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I have forwarded this to the powers that be

gr8fuldoug said:

I'd assume that they will announce a Gen 2 at SHOT in January as they did last year with the Midas BTR to Midas BTR Gen 2

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They are dropping the bottom out on the price for an announcement in 7 months? Seems a bit premature but I guess if they wanted them stocked and ready to ship at shot then nows the time to make space...

Trying to remember when I got my midas btr on sale now... has it been a whole year? Is the btr gen2 even available yet? I havent noticed them listed anywhere other than athlons website. Edit: Some looking tells me they are, just removed the good reticle so I guess no one wants it now which is why there so little mention of them.


I called Athlon up and I couldnt get them to tell me that they were discontinuing it. I phrased it a couple different ways and they refused to even get close to that term each time going into a long wordy explanation that they wanted space on the shelves and they had lots of them. The closest to detailed info I could get out of the phone rep is that they were trying to make room for more newer sku#s coming from the factory. They wouldnt say what those new sku#s were either so I assumed the btr was getting the ax or at least new reticles.

What I will say, which again is just my opinion, the folks at Athlon are good listeners. They pay attention to what's being said on the forums and constantly evolve their offerings. Changing reticles, turrets and designs to grow their products. They seem to be doing it all very correctly

How’s the eye box on this scope?

rangerlong said:

The product description at bluelineoptics says “All Ares BTRs ship with updated turrets for better tracking”

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Just got the BTR from them, and confirm it is the updated turrets that use the single unscrew cap that I open with a coin.

I asked also why they were pushing it out at this price, and from what I heard, the ETR has been selling really well and they have a whole load of BTRs. They are unloading it so they can get some more cash reserve back and not hoard a large quantity. At $850 vs $1050 for BTR/ETR, people were gravitating towards the ETR.

Hopefully someone has experience for my question…
How well does it hold up to recoil on a .308? Plan on using it in PRS/NRl as well as F-class shoots.
Thanks

It’ll hold up fine

Put the one I got yesterday on a 308. Will find out this weekend how it performs. FYI took the turret off to perform the slick turret fix. Thats a no go, this model does not have the grease the others have. So, looks like the factory out of the box feel is final. No worries, you just need to be mindful of how easy they are to turn.

Thanks for that, give me 20 minutes and I'll test it out. Eye box is a non issue, so far during set up and dry fire practice.

Pulled the O rings on elevation and windage. This is a must do. Turrets now have a slight audible click and a much more tactile feel. Thanks for the heads up.

Lawless said:

Speaking of the Argos, is there a turret shim kit available that anyone knows of?

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Ya, call Athlon, they send them out pretty regularly.

I agree on the Argos. It was my first LR scope and I learned a shit ton behind that thing.

I ordered 2 yesterday. Hard to pass up at this price. I’ve been using a Midas Tac and like it quite a bit. It’ll be interesting to compare the 2.

Yes, I'm shipping these with a level/lever installed at $549.99. Will be getting more on the way today...bring on the backorders, they won't be long!

tyler

Lawless said:

In the review I posted above, it states it is very good.

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I bought one a month ago and I think the eyebox is extremely tight. I spend as much time trying to keep my eye centered as I do trying to line up the crosshairs on the target. Tiring and frustrating. But...I seem to be the ONLY person here who thinks that or has any problem, so I hope it's just mine and something's wrong with it. CL wouldn't take it back so I shipped it back to Athlon this morning to have it checked out. Hopefully I got a bad one and I'll get another. $30, but oh well.

Shipping it back was a chore too! UPS Store, which was the wrong place to take it. Asked me what was in the box and not thinking I said riflescope. The lady grimaced, "we can't ship anything having to do with firearms". I argued about it and finally said "OK, call it a telescope". Luckily she said that would work and shipped it. Seriously??

OLD308 said:

Just picked up the Athlon today. Way better than the lower cost Athlon scopes. I also have a PST Gen 2.
For my eyes.
Glass clarity is the same with a bit brighter color in the PST Gen 2.
Turrets are stiff on the Vortex out of the box but loosened up after a month. Turrets on the Athlon are slick. Many YouTube videos show the fix for this. Clean off the excess grease. Haven’t done it yet, so I can’t say.
Zero stop is great on both. Better than the NF SHV that I have.
Gridded reticle is cleaner in the PST Gen 2. The Athlon reticle looks way better in person than on the web.
Markings on the PST Gen 2 turrets are clearer, but not to the point of the Athlon being worse.
PST Gen 2 came with a sunshade. Athlon did not ($30).
I got my PST Gen 2 for $800ish, happy with that price. Would not pay full retail for that optic.
$550ish for the Athlon and could not be happier.

Can’t box test till this weekend. Barring poor tracking, hands down the Athlon at this time over the PST Gen 2.

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To be 100% clear, part of what you're paying for with the PST is a scope that isn't made in China. Whether that's worth the cost premium is an individual choice, but that is a glaring omission when discussing the difference in the 2 scopes and including price as a deciding factor. Traditionally, Chinese scopes have not been as solid optomechanically as optics from other countries (Philippines like the PST2, for one example).

Lawless said:

This has been true and from lower end manufacturers it’s true from a lot of countries. I think it is changing however and my 4 Sig Romeo 5s are a good example.

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I don't disagree. My point was that it's worth mentioning that if optical performance and overall package is similar and price is not similar, then it's not just because Vortex wants to charge more.

Remove the O-ring from the turret it makes it 10 times better. I just took mine out of my elevation turret and compared it to my windage turret. The elevation turret is now audible you can feel the clicks the windage is mushy and has no sound. Definitely a noticeable improvement removing the O-ring