BTR 4.5-29x56 and XRS2 4.5-30x50
50/50 target and hunt
Better reticle?
Glass?
Tracks better?
Options?
Pros/cons
50/50 target and hunt
Better reticle?
Glass?
Tracks better?
Options?
Pros/cons
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Rifle Scopes Athlon BTR vs Bushnell XRS II
- Thread starter bjay
- Start date
Interesting, I like to know if anyone has experience on shooting with both too. Matching or similar reticle.
I've shot both. So has @jram, as we shoot together. I have the Cronus BTR and he has the XRS II. I prefer the floating cross hair rather than the cross hair of the g3 reticle. I had a Bushnell with the G2. However, glass is too close to call between the two. XRS II shows no CA. Athlon shows just a slight amount. I like the Athlon turrets better. Flip a coin. The reticle was the deciding factor for me. I feel the eyebox on the Cronus BTR is very forgiving. If you're in North Texas I can show you. Both track dead on.
Ty brother.. unfortunately im from HAWAII..
Is the reticle g3 thicker than IR from athlon or the same?
Ty brother.. unfortunately im from HAWAII..
Is the reticle g3 thicker than IR from athlon or the same?
Both are great scopes. I really like a floating cross hair reticle on the Cronus BTR, but I have three scopes with the g3 so it’s what I’m comfortable with. I have no complaints at all with my XRS2, it’s VERY clear glass.
Edited to change description of reticle from floating dot to floating cross hair.
Edited to change description of reticle from floating dot to floating cross hair.
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The Cronus BTR has the floating center cross. The Ares ETR has a floating center dot reticle. I would assume we will see the floating door reticle in the Cronus BTR by 2019 SHOT show if enough people ask for it. I can't speak for the XRS but I really like both the Cronus BTR and Ares ETR.
Deciding on some scopes for a couple of rimfire trainers....placed the following scopes on a granite surface plate after adjusting diopter and parallax individually...evaluated athlon ares btr , etr , cronus btr, bushnell 4.5x18, and an xrs gen 1 4.5x30. A friend also adjusted the scopes to his eyes and did the same experiment and we compared notes.
Optically the btr and 4.5x18 were closer in performance and the ETF was noticeably better and the xrs /cronus were maybe better to my eyes. MY buddy ranked the area btr and the bushnell "GAP special" as similar in performance and the xrs slightly below the ETR and cronus btr as similar in performance with the ETR being maybe a fuzz better up close....
I decided on the ETR for my rimfire project and he decided to stick with the Bushnell 4.5-18 since he bought multiple ones from GAP recently
Optically the btr and 4.5x18 were closer in performance and the ETF was noticeably better and the xrs /cronus were maybe better to my eyes. MY buddy ranked the area btr and the bushnell "GAP special" as similar in performance and the xrs slightly below the ETR and cronus btr as similar in performance with the ETR being maybe a fuzz better up close....
I decided on the ETR for my rimfire project and he decided to stick with the Bushnell 4.5-18 since he bought multiple ones from GAP recently
Awesome. I am debating on what to put as a scope on my .300 that I use primarily for hunting. I have been debating between the bushnell 4.5-18 and the ARES BTR. I have two Cronus scopes and I just think to my eye they have incredible glass and I like the eyebox. Maybe I'll try out the ARES BTR...
Enough folks have been asking so I agree with your prediction
thanks for the writeup
wondering why you use a granite surface plate to evaluate rifle scopes......i'm quite new to all of this and wish to learn
wondering why you use a granite surface plate to evaluate rifle scopes......i'm quite new to all of this and wish to learn
@want2learn-
Some guys like Ilya Koshkin have tripods set up with multiple mounts to let a person focus each scope and then slightly move their head back in forth to get a side-by-side comparison between optics. I am to lazy too make one and I have a nice heavy/stable/easy to roll over by the shop door mitutoyo surface plate that I can lay optics on after focusing them and move my head back and forth. The important feature isn't the surface plate, it's being able to "go back and forth" between scopes focused at the same point, quickly and easily. The mind is a funny thing, "remembering" the exact details of an image to compare to the new image your seeing is harder than some think, giving yourself a steady stream of visual feedback makes it easier to form opinions based on what your eyes see, and what I process visually as good / bad will be different than what you process so take all evaluations with a grain of salt to acknowledge the difference between visual perception and the sample size of the evaluation........
Some guys like Ilya Koshkin have tripods set up with multiple mounts to let a person focus each scope and then slightly move their head back in forth to get a side-by-side comparison between optics. I am to lazy too make one and I have a nice heavy/stable/easy to roll over by the shop door mitutoyo surface plate that I can lay optics on after focusing them and move my head back and forth. The important feature isn't the surface plate, it's being able to "go back and forth" between scopes focused at the same point, quickly and easily. The mind is a funny thing, "remembering" the exact details of an image to compare to the new image your seeing is harder than some think, giving yourself a steady stream of visual feedback makes it easier to form opinions based on what your eyes see, and what I process visually as good / bad will be different than what you process so take all evaluations with a grain of salt to acknowledge the difference between visual perception and the sample size of the evaluation........
Yep, I have and so has Tunnuh. Both are very similar, to my eyes the XRS2 is slightly (very slight) more clear and exhibits zero CA, where the Cronus exhibits a very slight amount amount of CA. The Cronus has a larger obj lens and is noticeably brighter. Tunnuh may disagree, I would tag him but not sure how to do that.
If i were to upgrade my swfa 5-20hd..are these scopes consider as on upgrade? Or is it even worth paying the extra 5-600 for any of these scopes????
BJAY-
If you only need one scope (ie sell SWFA) and get a cronus or gen 2 Bushy- I would say pass. Nicer glass and features yes but not enough nicer to do the deal considering how poorly used SWFA HD's are selling these days. If you are talking about moving the swfa to another rifle and wanting good glass on what previously held the SWFA, go for it.
If you only need one scope (ie sell SWFA) and get a cronus or gen 2 Bushy- I would say pass. Nicer glass and features yes but not enough nicer to do the deal considering how poorly used SWFA HD's are selling these days. If you are talking about moving the swfa to another rifle and wanting good glass on what previously held the SWFA, go for it.
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