Rifle Scopes Athlon Cronus btr gen 2 vs Burris xtr III

[chase5597]

I've decided to upgrade optics for PRS. Rounded it off to either Cronus or the xtr III but can't seem to make up my mind.

Reasons to go with one over the other?

I love right next to athlon HQ so it would be easy to reach if I had a problem which is why I'm leaning that way but if anyone has info to help that would be great.

 

[st1650]

Between those 2, I’d go Cronus.
Between the Cronus and the new XTR Pro I’d go with the Pro.

Cronus is to me the best value in its category for weight/glass/reticle/features.

 

[Birddog6424]

I've yet to put a Cronus alongside one of my XTRIIIs that has as good of clarity.

Two of the guys that regularly shoot my local matches run the Cronus BTR, both of them give up brightness and clarity to my Burris'..

I've regularly used one of those Cronus' in comparisons, including as recently as this Saturday when we had a ZCO, Gen III Razor, MK5 and Cronus BTR in a line up with my XTR Pro.

The Burris also has better FOV, a larger sight picture, and capped windage.

 

[Neurotic]

In my view, the only thing the XTR3 does better than the Cronus is FOV. Where the Cronus is better everywhere else. My XTR3 example performs poorly with CA and stray light.in conditions where the Cronus has minimal CA and no lighting issues.

I really want to prefer the XTR3, but aside from packaging and FOV it doesn't seem much better than my XTR2. Which isn't saying the XTR3 is bad, but my XTR2 is very nice.

 

[Birddog6424]

In my view, the only thing the XTR3 does better than the Cronus is FOV. Where the Cronus is better everywhere else. My XTR3 example performs poorly with CA and stray light.in conditions where the Cronus has minimal CA and no lighting issues.

I really want to prefer the XTR3, but aside from packaging and FOV it doesn't seem much better than my XTR2. Which isn't saying the XTR3 is bad, but my XTR2 is very nice.

Yeh, that's crazy. I've heard you talk about your XTR3 before. I've never seen one with bad CA control. It's there in a few I've looked through, but I've never even seen even a moderately bad one. And I've seen dozens. I'd really like to see what yours looks like. It definitely doesn't jibe with any of mine. Or quite a few posters I've seen who have shared their opinion of these two scopes on other threads. We talked a lot about the XTR3 versus the Cronus a year or so ago here on the Hide. Most of the posters really favored the Burris.

But everyone sees these things different sometimes. Different aspects of a scope appeal to different people. It honestly sounds ds to me like yours isn't the standard. There's something going on there from an optical standpoint.

 

[beetroot]

I've not seen a XTR3 yet, but based on reviews that's what I'd go for (and what I will get when the illuminated models come out).
I have a Delta Stryker which is very similar to the Cronus, there are two things I don't like about, the reticle and narrow FOV.

The reticle on the Cronus looks much better than the Delta one but I can't help but feel like there aren't enough numbers in the tree, especially using the R/H side of the tree I feel like it'd be easy to get lost once you started holding over 4mil+ with a bit of windage.
The FOV of the Cronus is the same as the Delta which for me is just too narrow, it might not worry you but I don't like the FOV/sight picture from my Delta.

Other thing is it seem's like the windage on the Cronus is not capped or locking which I personally don't like, being that I have bumped my external windage on scopes before and I virtually never dial for wind, I much prefer the idea of a capped windage turret.

Otherwise the normal advise fro choosing between scopes applies:
-Decide on budget
-Choose a reticle you like (most are pretty good these days, but still a few turds out there)
-Choose whuch features you like (FOV, locking turrets etc)

 

[Neurotic]

Yeh, that's crazy. I've heard you talk about your XTR3 before. I've never seen one with bad CA control. It's there in a few I've looked through, but I've never even seen even a moderately bad one. And I've seen dozens. I'd really like to see what yours looks like. It definitely doesn't jibe with any of mine. Or quite a few posters I've seen who have shared their opinion of these two scopes on other threads. We talked a lot about the XTR3 versus the Cronus a year or so ago here on the Hide. Most of the posters really favored the Burris.

But everyone sees these things different sometimes. Different aspects of a scope appeal to different people. It honestly sounds ds to me like yours isn't the standard. There's something going on there from an optical standpoint.

I've seen a few other posts noting the XTR3 poorly controlling CA, but it's certainly not a common comment. It looks great in some conditions, but the CA can be very noticable at times. One time I just happened to have a Cronus next to the XTR3, and it had none of the issues the XTR3 presented.

The XTR3's image quality feels very similar to the Crimson Trace 5 series scopes I had, and I wouldn't be surprised if the XTR3's glass came from the same place (JOL). Although, I feel the XTR3's larger FOV stressed the system more, resulting in the start light issues. It could just be their glass doesn't agree with me.

My qualitative image quality rankings in this range:
- Cronus BTR 29x
- Bushnell XRS2
- Vortex Razor LHT 22x
- Sightron S3 24x
- Bushnell LRTS 18x
- Burris XTR3 18x
- Burris XTR2 20x
- Crimson Trace 5 18x
- Bushnell Forge (SK) 15x

 

[flatland1]

I've bought & used Cronus scopes on various rifles from the earlier versions to the BTR, and now on to the Gen 2 with the new turrets. Have never been disappointed with the optical quality, but the earliest knobs had somewhat mushy click detents, and the reticle was thicker, which was only an issue when set at max 29x and shooting very small targets in PRS-type 22RF matches. It took some shooting in 22RF precision matches to learn to like the thinner BTR reticle, and IMHO, it's still too fine at lower magnification, though the fine + center is great for aiming at small targets at full power. I've only got one of the newest Gen 2 versions in service, on a Vudoo Three-60 for a few months now. The newest turrets have the most distinct & audible click detents yet on a Cronus. In fact, they're so distinct that I see no reason to have a covered windage knob. Since this scope is on a 22RF rifle, the elevation knob will get a work out when practicing or shooting matches with targets from 25-300+yds. Another few months of shooting this rifle should tell me whether the new turret click detents will wear-in over time.

 

[NewsShooter]

Can't go wrong with either of them, I have a couple of the 3-18 Burris XTRIII's and they're nice. I'd have to try the 5.5-30 but I'm sure it would be close between them. I really like the Athlon reticles and prefer it over the Burris SCR2.